So what is the message? Is it stating a fact, offering a suggestion or being ironic? As is usually the case with art, there are no doubt many interpretations, and the answer, at least to why it was erected, is hopefully within the exhibition, which runs until 29.04. Not the answer to what you or I might think or be provoked to feel regarding this statement, but what the artist was thinking… Since I’m an optimist and always root for the underdog, which in the greater global scheme of things is definitely my/our mother tongue, I know how I instinctively interpret this message. To paraphrase Endel Ruberg of Jõekääru summer camp of yore: „Eestlane, MÕTLE eesti keeles!” ((If you’re) Estonian, THINK in Estonian!) Thinking is thankfully the land of no grammar.
But do you think in a language or just think? Do you dream in language or simply dream? I have a feeling “Use it or lose it” inevitably implies speech or tongue wagging so to speak, but one must start somewhere. Regardless of what the artist may think. Estonian proverbs: Enne mõtle, siis ütle – First think, then speak. Rääkimine hõbe, vaikimine kuld – Speaking is silver, being silent is gold(en). And then there’s the ancient Estonian saying “Just do it!”. Happy anniversary, kallis mother/father tongue!
Riina Kindlam, Tallinn
