Language Shift
26 July – 23 September 2018
Language Shift was an exhibition of work by artist Mary Kuper that responded to the National Poetry Library’s collection of poems in European languages.
As languages die out at the rate of one every two weeks, the National Poetry Library launched its Endangered Poetry Project in 2018 with the aim of collecting poems in as many of these languages as possible.
For the Language Shift exhibition, Kuper created visual works which exist as equivalent worlds to the poems they respond to and collectively create a visual map. These new works responded to languages that feature on UNESCO’s world map of endangered languages including Breton, Alsatian, Sardinian and Shetlandic.
Also on display were poetry films and poems in translation from the Talking Transformations project, curated by Ricarda Vidal and Manuela Perteghella. Talking Transformations focuses on the idea of ‘home’ and ‘migration’ and exists as a series of poems which have been translated across languages. These poems were also made into films to show part of the poems’ journey through different parts of Europe: the UK, Romania, Poland, France and Spain.
Language Shift ran at the National Poetry Library from Thursday 26 July to Sunday 23 September 2018.
For your visit
National Poetry Library Southbank Centre
The National Poetry Library is open six days a week.
Tuesday, 12 noon – 6pm
Wednesday – Sunday, 12 noon – 8pm
Getting here
The National Poetry Library is on Level 5 of our Royal Festival Hall.
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
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Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Study & library use
The library is London’s only space dedicated to poetry study. Visitors studying another subject or looking for a place to work are kindly asked to find an alternative space in the Royal Festival Hall.