Linear A is a still-undeciphered Minoan script used on the island of Crete between 1800 and 1450 BCE. The script was first identified in 1900 and is closely related to another script called Linear B, which was eventually deciphered to be an early form of Greek. Linear A remains unreadable because the referent language—likely a pre-Greek Minoan tongue—is unknown. The script therefore occupies a strange place in scholarly history: it is visually legible yet semantically silent.

The exhibitions in this space borrow the spirit of partial legibility and silent mystery. But materially and metaphorically, they speak volumes.

Linear A is located in the complex of alternative spaces at Real Tinsel, 1013 West Historic Mitchell Street, Milwaukee, WI 53204