Rirkrit Tiravanija Quotes

I'm always amazed at how much people 'get' when I'm performing overseas. I've never had to change my act on my international shows; I just make sure that I've taken some time to get to know the people in those countries before I perform. That's been really useful.

Working overseas is more difficult in that it's much more complicated to get people to open their hearts to you and to tell you information.

Regardless of whether you speak the language or are familiar with a culture, the picture should hold up.

Translating one region's works for another region has a beauty with an inborn connect. We might speak different languages but our culture and history is one.

Getting access to diverse civilizations should be easy, and languages are the gateway to that.

I am a citizen of the planet and I want to do films that appeal to people, not communities.

Art and cinema is not restricted to any language.

Language should not be a barrier for an actor; I want the world to see my work and not limit it to Hindi-speaking audiences.

There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.

The difficulty that many foreign authors face in having their works translated into English has effects far beyond the United States.

Man is used to the fact that there are languages which he does not at first understand and which must be learned, but because art is primarily visual he expects that he should get the message immediately and is apt to be affronted if he doesn't.

I've always seen movies in English with Spanish subtitles. For audiences around the world, the language is less important than if it's a good film.

Even when well translated. can we really understand what other cultures are talking about?

In art it is always as though the question is what the work of art is really about.

People look to 'Dear White People' as an encyclopedia of our culture. But it's also art, and there are characters with different perspectives.

It's hard when you are trying to ingratiate yourself in a completely foreign world. It takes a long time.

I like to work with artists from around the world. There are so many new inspiring filmmakers.

When art works travel from place to place, what you have is the opportunity to engage with the intellect of another person who has made a thing that should have enough information in it in the way it's constructed to start thinking about why that picture got made - not why it is relevant to you.

You never know how you're going to go down as an English commentator in Australia.

To be able to come back to Nigeria and get so much love for my work is my biggest life blessing. I've always hoped to never get lost in translation with me being British-born.

As an American married to an Englishman and living in France, I've spent much of my adult life trying to decode the rules of conversation in three countries. Paradoxically, these rules are almost always unspoken.

I just love what art can do and what it means for us; that it can cross barriers. It can speak to us across space and time and culture.

I think the best part of learning a language is that you can see the country's culture through the language. And it gives you different levels of understanding of that culture when you really try to dig in and learn it.

I think once you understand a language, you understand the culture surrounding it as well.

I think the audiences abroad are older and come from a more mature society. They have a different understanding of whats happening as art.