In Frequencies We Cannot Name: Language, Sound, Silence

In Frequencies We Cannot Name starts from the idea that language is never neutral: it carries traces of power, colonial history and the limits of translation. This exhibition explores how we experience cultural expression when it is not immediately understandable, and why this lack of understanding can be valuable. The absence of direct legibility is not seen here as a shortcoming, but as a space for encounter and other forms of knowledge.

The curatorial framework of the exhibition builds on the theories of thinkers such as Édouard Glissant and Rizvana Bradley. Glissant’s concept of opacity refers to the right to remain opacity and not have to be fully explained or translated. This idea resists colonial ways of seeing and categorising, such as ethnographic documentation and missionary translations, which determined what was recognised as understandable or meaningful — and which continue to influence how cultural “others” are approached today. In line with this, Bradley challenges Western aesthetic norms with her theory of anteaesthetics. Bradley argues that Black and indigenous cultural expressions do not arise within dominant aesthetic systems, but precede them or function outside them. They do not exist as deviations from a norm, but as complete, autonomous systems of meaning with their own logic and integrity.

In Frequencies We Cannot Name invites us to approach these cultural expressions without attempting to translate them into familiar frameworks. Here, opacity is not an obstacle to be overcome, but a conscious position — and a form of cultural self-determination.

In collaboration with Mu.ZEE

Curated by : Rita Ouédraogo

With works by : Otobong Nkanga, Sammy Baloji, Randa Maroufi, Maryam Najd, Saddie Choua, Younes Baba-Ali, Pei-Hsuan Wang, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, Patrick Gaël Wokmeni, Grace Ndiritu, Léonard Pongo, Jacqueline Mesmaeker, Roland Gunst and Joris Ghekiere.

Opening Saturday 7.03
Tuesdays to Sundays, 12pm > 5pm
Closed on Mondays, and on April 5 & 6
until Sunday 10.05.26

Location
Nes 45
1012 KD – Amsterdam (NL)

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