Before Language | ST4 THE PROJECT

06 April 2019 - 11 May 2019 | Club House Gammarth


S for Sfax, Supporters, Street, Script, Sign, Style, Spirit, Scrabble, Selfie, Spontaneity, Stage, Speculation, Sponsor, Show, Satisfaction, Signature…
T for Tunisia, Teenagers, Tandem, Technique, Talent, Texture, Task, Trend, Tilt…
4 for Four, For…
ST4 does not literally stand for “4 Tunisian Street Artists” (there are only two), nor does it mean anything specific about Sfax or terrorism, and even if it’s hard to believe, Yassine and Sadok no longer know exactly what their group name means. It’s as if the name itself, born from countless philosophical and economic debates framed by contemporary art, chose them without reason. Since then, they’ve used it as a slogan, without making meaning the top priority.
Are you strong? Or what! Who can say better? It doesn’t matter!

From a young age, captivated by the CSS ultras—not so much for football itself but for their passionate modes of expression—Yassine and Sadok began painting collectively in a joyful, popular atmosphere, guided by a shared passion and belonging to an active youth community. Initially working in separate groups, they met in 2013 and discovered a shared passion for street art, subtle yet full of promise.
ST4 was born, with no project beyond painting in the streets.

After an initial phase of stylistic exploration inspired by global street art, they began experiments in letter-based murals, supported by applied sketches. The group quickly decided to develop not a vocabulary for language but an alphabet, with infinite graphic variations, creating a reflective visual meta-language—or simply, concrete poetry. Just as the group’s name lost itself between potential and actual meanings, the exhibition Before Language enjoys saying nothing, while showing how one communicates.
ST4 does not calligraph letters in cursive. It avoids the trend of illegible calligraphy, showing its compositions without the orientalist veil of classical unreadability. Nothing is hidden because there’s nothing to say, and there’s nothing to say because there’s everything to see.

While the Tunisian contemporary art market favors accumulating symbols to enrich artworks with ready-made, politically correct interpretations, ST4 focuses solely on its plastic exploration without imposing false commitments. ST4 does not comment on domestic violence, work on clandestine immigration, prove any necessity, critique, transgress, sublimate, or transcend… It is engaged only in the economy of its own project and has no need to cite street art history or claim anti-system credentials to give depth or legitimacy to its creations. This allows them to move seamlessly from paper to wall, wall to canvas, clandestinity to funded projects, street to gallery, and back—enjoying every learning opportunity along the way.

Supported by Galerie Yosr Ben Ammar, this exhibition crowns six years of experience, without summarizing their journey or presenting a final phase—only the beginning of many to come. At the usual post-opening lull, Yassine and Sadok casually affirm they are already working on the next project. Visitors are free to play Scrabble with the letters, explore each isolated sign, and let curiosity lead the way.


ARTISTS: ST4 the Project


︎ Viewing Room

Artworks