Weerwoord - Brecht Beddeleem

Weerwoord is an ode to stuttering and the result of a years-long search for acceptance. Where stuttering often makes you invisible as a speaker, here you take centre stage.

The lectern gives stuttering a platform and a voice. Every word you speak travels through the piece of furniture and returns to your ear as an echo after 110 milliseconds. Fluent speakers immediately start to hesitate because of the delay, while people who stutter often find calm and control in it. In that way, the installation truly speaks back.

Even the material itself stutters. A ripple-bending technique creates a tangible ‘hesitation’ in the furniture. It symbolises the struggle to gain control over stuttering.