Brian Dailey’s ambitious artwork, WORDS, is the creative summation of an odyssey that has taken him to 120 countries over the course of seven years. WORDS is the artist’s investigation into the impact of globalization and its effect on key human structures of language, society, culture, and environment.
Working within a geopolitical environment, Dailey visited public and private venues in all regions of the seven continents. In each country, he set up his camera and green-screen and invited random individuals to participate. Together with a local facilitator he presented each participant in his or her native language thirteen words: peace, war, love, environment, freedom, religion, democracy, government, happiness, socialism, capitalism, future, and United States. Each participant was asked to express – in a single word – the first impression each of these nouns evoked. The choice of national background flags provided participants the option to declare their societal allegiance and/or cultural affiliation. In total, 131 countries are represented in this video work.
WORDS Introduction Video
Running Time: 2 Minutes 09 Seconds
WORDS Single-Channel Video
Running Time: 40 Minutes 04 Seconds
The WORDS project includes four supplemental works comprised of three multifaceted print series, Tous les Mots, WORDS on WORDS, and Whitewash, as well as a single-channel video, Voices in Motion; all of them take as their starting point the diverse responses provided by the project’s nearly 3,000 participants.
The multi-screen installation premiered on January 27, 2018 at the American University Museum in Washington D.C.
Participating Countries:
Algeria, Angola, Antarctica, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, Îles des Saintes, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Congo, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In the majority of countries visited, we relied on local guides and generous support from ToursbyLocals.
