Words over Swords is a multichannel sound installation inspired by Mexico’s historic diplomatic protest against the Nazi occupation of Austria at the League of Nations on 19 March 1938, voiced by Mexican delegate Isidro Fabela.

The work reflects on the power of words and diplomacy as alternatives to violence, drawing its title from the opposition between language and weaponry. Using historical speech recordings and archival military sounds from 1938, the composition unfolds as a spatial narrative that moves from words to swords and back again.

Through spectral processing and multichannel spatialisation, the installation transforms archival material into an immersive sonic environment experienced by passers-by in the TONSPUR Passage. The work proposes listening as an act of political reflection, reminding us that language—rather than force—can shape collective history.