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GERICHTSSPRACHE
BIG – Bundes Immobilien Gesellschaft
Art and Architecture
Klagenfurt/Celovec, 2007

This monument is placed in front of the district court in Klagenfurt/Celovec, Austria.
It questions the laguage politics of the Austrian state to its minorities. Giant letters (hot type) forming the German word «Gerichtssprache» refer to the definition and distinction between the terms «Amtssprache» [official language], in some parts of Carinthia German and Slovenian and «Gerichtssprache» [language of the court], in Klagenfurt/Celovec – capital of Carinthia – German only. To pronounce this German compound noun «Gerichtssprache» correctly from a Slovenian point of view, the «s» of «sprache» has a little «v» (caron) on its horizontal surface.

Curators: trafo.k – Elke Smodics, Renate Höllwart
Architects: ARGE Zeytinoglu-Bucher