Jan VOSS and Einar GUÐMUNDSSON
Conversation, 1977
Conversation is made up of two booklets / “two volumes”. The work is bilingual: it includes text in Icelandic and in German (with a translation). The translation (from Icelandic) is by Dieter Roth.
The project is arranged as a “conversation” between Voss and Guðmundsson, but with a specific twist: each takes turns writing on a typewriter, reacting to what the other just wrote. Importantly: they do not speak the other’s language (German vs Icelandic). Thus, the conversation becomes one of guesses, partial understanding, mis‐interpretation, and creative projection. Each writer responds in their own linguistic frame, trying to guess meaning or react to what they feel the other said.
Size: approximately 18 × 13.7 cm, one part is about 22 pages, the other about 29 pages. Edition size: 1,000 copies (2nd edition). Binding: simple stapled / softcover style (two booklets).
Background: Conversation is a cross-lingual experiment, it highlights the ways misunderstanding and translation are not just obstacles but can be generative — producing creative friction, unexpected meanings, poetic effects. The piece situates the “conversation” not as simple communication, but as performance/artwork: you see the mechanics (typewriter, response) and the conceptual frame (not understanding, trying to understand).
Conversation, 1977
Conversation is made up of two booklets / “two volumes”. The work is bilingual: it includes text in Icelandic and in German (with a translation). The translation (from Icelandic) is by Dieter Roth.
The project is arranged as a “conversation” between Voss and Guðmundsson, but with a specific twist: each takes turns writing on a typewriter, reacting to what the other just wrote. Importantly: they do not speak the other’s language (German vs Icelandic). Thus, the conversation becomes one of guesses, partial understanding, mis‐interpretation, and creative projection. Each writer responds in their own linguistic frame, trying to guess meaning or react to what they feel the other said.
Size: approximately 18 × 13.7 cm, one part is about 22 pages, the other about 29 pages. Edition size: 1,000 copies (2nd edition). Binding: simple stapled / softcover style (two booklets).
Background: Conversation is a cross-lingual experiment, it highlights the ways misunderstanding and translation are not just obstacles but can be generative — producing creative friction, unexpected meanings, poetic effects. The piece situates the “conversation” not as simple communication, but as performance/artwork: you see the mechanics (typewriter, response) and the conceptual frame (not understanding, trying to understand).