We are happy to unveil “exercise in mediumship #3: genealogy of refusal” by Adele Dipasquale, the fourth chapter in our new series of Open Letters!

The Open Letters project invites The Hague artists to occupy our large storefront window with messages of urgency and vulnerability.

“exercise in mediumship #3: genealogy of refusal” consists of the reproduction of a ‘ouija board’—the object used to communicate with spirits during seance—where all the letters have been crossed and the only possible remaining reply is ‘no’. Eventually, inside the board there are some of the answers given by Joan of Arc during the trial in 1431 when asked about the nature of her ‘voices’. When forced to speak with the binary language of the patriarchal inquisition, Joan of Arc refuses its grammar. The work engages with forms of defiant silence and refusal and is inscribed in an ongoing exploration of practises of mediumship in a (his)story of silenced women. The project reflects on using one’s own body (or one’s own body of work) as a physical vehicle for someone else’s voice. What does it mean to be a channel for somebody else’s voice? To literally embody someone else’s voice as during seance? Then, are feminist practices forms of mediumship practices?

Adele Dipasquale (IT, 1994) is a visual artist based in The Hague. Working across various mediums as moving images, analog film, voice experimentations and writing, their work explores the politics of language and the relationship between magic and words. Their latest research is investigating forms of silence, acts of defiant mutism and practices of mediumship in feminist genealogies. They currently are artist in residency at Cripta747 (Turin, IT) where they are working on a film on how to lose your voice with a group of young children.

“exercise in mediumship #3: genealogy of refusal” is on view in our front window for the duration of a month, and is freely accessible from the street at any time. 

Image credit: Spirits talks n.1 (video still), 2022, by Adele Dipasquale.