Angelica Mesiti's Polyphonic Exhibition at Palais de Tokyo

Angelica Mesiti's exhibition 'Quand faire c’est dire' at Palais de Tokyo (Feb 20–May 12, 2019) explores performative language through video installations. The title references J.L. Austin's 'How to Do Things with Words' (1962). The show opens with 'Citizens Band' (2012), featuring four migrant musicians performing in unconventional settings: a Cameroonian percussionist in a Parisian pool, an Algerian raï singer in the Paris metro, a Sudanese taxi driver whistling in Brisbane, and a Mongolian throat singer in Sydney. 'Mother Tongue' (2017), shot in Aarhus, Denmark, presents overlapping communities—municipal workers, Palestinian dancers, scouts, schoolchildren, circus students, and housing estate residents—highlighting diversity within urban life. Mesiti, born in Sydney in 1976 and based between Australia and Europe, emphasizes music and gesture as forms of language. The exhibition includes a couple performing in a living room and two singers executing Vaughan Williams' 'Serenade to Music' in sign language. Mesiti's work unites individuality and multiplicity, showing how speech and action shape identity and community.