The Words of Others: León Ferrari and Rhetoric in Times of War

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The voice of a generation, Ferrari is best known for his politically charged work that challenged authoritarianism of all types, from the Argentinian dictatorship and the Catholic Church to the U.S. war in Vietnam. REDCAT will focus on Ferrari's literary collages using appropriated texts, which represent a kind of experimental writing at the intersection of visual arts, performance, theater, literature, and activism. The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a series of restagings of Ferrari’s landmark 1966 work Palabras Ajenas (The Words of Others). Previously staged only twice, in 1968 and 1972, this literary collage is an imaginary dialogue among 160 historic figures, composed of fragments from contemporary news-wires and historical texts. For its staging of The Words of Others, REDCAT has produced a new English translation based on intensive research in Ferrari’s archives.