The article discusses an artistic event "Emotions Icelandic Awakes" organized by the Reykjavik City Library as part of the national celebrations for Icelandic Language Day. It examines the potential of affording genuine attention to language as a matter of emotional inquiry for the process of intercultural exchange. We reflect on the role of public institutions in providing an inclusive space that facilitates intercultural communication and where agency and language ownership is discursively determined by the participants. We consider inclusive public spaces as places of 'enacting hospitality' and counterspaces that may help to deconstruct the hegemonic position of Icelandic language in contemporary public discourse regarding immigrants in Iceland.