Tim Etchells: Words/Worlds

This lecture is part of the Campus Program by the Wiener Festwochen | Freie Republik Wien

A playful dive into language as a tool for artistic expression / Presented by the Department of Sprachkunst

Wiener Festwochen

Artist, writer and performance maker Tim Etchells draws on diverse aspects of his practice with written and spoken language. From theatre performances with Forced Entertainment to public space neon installations and published essays and fiction, Etchells’ work with words explores both the speed, clarity and vividness with which language can communicate narrative, image and ideas, and its amazing propensity to create rich fields of uncertainty and ambiguity.

This public talk offers a playful dive into language as a tool for artistic expression and an introduction to some of the strategies and concerns that have motivated Etchells’ work as a writer and an artist across almost four decades.
Tim Etchells is a British artist and writer whose work shifts between performance, visual art and fiction. He won international fame as the leader of the Sheffield-based performance group Forced Entertainment. Moreover, his work outside this context has been exhibited numerous times by prestigious institutions worldwide and comprises collaborations with distinguished artists from a variety of disciplines, including Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, Marino Formenti, Taus Mahakacheva, Vlatka Horvat and Elmgreen & Dragset. In 2016, the Forced Entertainment ensemble was awarded the International Ibsen Award for its groundbreaking contribution to contemporary theatre and performance. A collection of short fiction by Tim Etchells, Endland,was published in 2019. Forced Entertainment and Tim Etchells have performed several times at Wiener Festwochen, most recently in 2013 in the context of the festival parcours Unruhe der Form and in 2021, together with violinist Aisha Orazbayeva, with the production Heartbraking Final. How Goes the World is part of the series Histoire(s) du Théâtre at the NTGent and premiered in November 2023. L’Addition was presented at last year’s edition of the Festival d’Avignon.