Rainer Ganahl's Language and Conflict at Wallach Art Gallery

Rainer Ganahl's exhibition at the Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, New York, from September 28 to December 10, 2006, presents him as a figure on a mission to resolve global conflicts through language, post-structural theory, and cross-cultural dialogue. The show documents projects including language-learning cassettes for Korean, Arabic, Russian, and Greek; photographs of leftist intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Homi Bhabha, and Griselda Pollock lecturing to student groups; videos where Ganahl repeats phrases such as "I am not a terrorist" and "I only believe in dollars" in various languages; T-shirts and postcards with pleas like "Please teach me Russian, German, Chinese" sent to figures including George Bush and Susan Sontag; and the series "The Language of Immigration" featuring video interviews with concentration camp survivors to preserve nearly forgotten history. While ostensibly advocating international understanding, the works often suggest failed communication, leaving visitors questioning whether progressive political ideas extend beyond classrooms and whether current immigration and security policies contradict the dream of cross-cultural dialogue.