Words have the power to move us. They transform reality and the way we perceive it. “To say is to do.” Confronted with an ongoing stream of fear-inducing political and media chatter, it is important to reconsider our relationship to words. Words Rot on Paper is a performance, which using a device as fragile as it is vital, urges us to reinvest in words, those that are disappearing, those that persist, those that we have forgotten, and those that we erase. So that the act of “saying” becomes trustworthy again, it is not enough to say it; we must give substance to the word and embody it. In a ritualistic fashion, the artist manipulates piles of newspapers, whose decomposition and reconstitution bring forth a vocabulary of resistance.

Javier del Olmo is a Buenos Aires-based visual artist and architect. His work unfolds across a wide range of media, from visual poetry and painting to urban interventions, performance, and curating.

The performance program presented at FRAC Champagne-Ardenne as part of this 7th edition of the Faraway Festival was curated by Mabel Tapia, an independent researcher and curator. Born in Buenos Aires, she lives and works in Paris. Her research focuses on 21st-century artistic practices that bridge the use of archives and political action.