Many Movements are One explores the intricacies of a bilingual upbringing. As a first-generation Australian with German heritage, multidisciplinary artist Lina Buck investigates the duality of identity. Shaped by two very different ties, the works explore the impact of site and the influence of language in forming individual and collective identities. Developed from still images, video, installation, sound, text, found objects and fabric, the exhibition consists of three predominant artworks.
​
Language has a common plan. A word is a pairing between a sound and a meaning. It is composed of vowels and consonants, which do not have meaning but, when grouped, ordered, or multiplied, form speech categories such as nouns or verbs, from which meaning is developed.
​
Many Movements are One celebrates the physicality of language as ‘groupings’, presenting points in mapping moments of discussion and exchange. Still images and text hang on printed fabric. Viewers are invited to walk amongst words, images and sentences drawn from discussions and dialogue with the artist’s family and friends. This large installation artwork draws out these moments, utilising negative space to reflect on the intimate and fleeting moments of exchange. Celebrating the beauty and complexity of the unfolding narratives as streams of connective points, that layer and overlap one another.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​​​
​​
​
​
​
​
​
The exhibition includes a large moving-image projection artwork that investigates notions of a ‘utopian motherland’ as a powerful catalyst for imagination. Presenting the ocean as a body, where water bridges land and where voices and song drift across waves. A smaller and more intimate video work titled Feuerzangenbowle documents a celebratory German tradition. It is a tradition that takes place in winter and over the festive season, inviting audiences to reflect on their traditions and the broader implications of globalisation on personal and societal identity.
​
Language gives voice to our experiences, memories, and stories, transforming spaces into places imbued with personal and collective significance. Many Movements are One seeks to celebrate the unique connectivity that language provides, bridging contexts and fuelling the notion of identity as evolving, intricate and multi-faceted.
​
Exhibited at the Cardinia Cultural Centre 2024-25.
Documentation by Harry Rook