Lexical exploration piece.

Wortfreiheit explores the space that is still available between the words in a dictionary by inventing new words that would be there - if they existed yet.

The program that runs Wortfreiheit contains around 225000 word entries from an online dictionary. From this alphabetically ordered collection, it repeatingly selects two neighbouring words. The letters that are identical in the two words are kept, and several different endings are generated, following rules of language and word construction that were previously deduced from all the words contained in the dictionary. In this way, several new words are created that would be entered into the dictionary between the two words that have been selected in the beginning.

The existing and the new words are then displayed in alphabetical oder, on two sheets of paper that are standing upright next to each other, like pages of a book. It is up to the viewer to decide which words make sense to him and which not. The paper pages are also used as speakers that produce language-like sounds whose texture changes with the words that are diplayed.

Media: Cardboard, Speakers, Wood, Projector.
Dimensions: ca. 50 x 40 cm.