Answer Me

Long sorrow, 2005

Anri Sala

Serpentine Gallery

As the Serpentine duo Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton Jones (curators, writers, museum directors...) achieved their 2nd place again in the Art Review Power list this year, they keep bringing forth great shows. The last one I viewed there this summer was Michelangelo Pistoletto´s cardboard labyrinths, this time it is Anri Sala's video's accompanied by live music.

The Albenian Artist Anri Sala has seen it as his mission to represent the social and political changes that his country is going through, his work is dominated by the importance of sound related to images. Next year Anri Sala is having a solo exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Paris. 

Long Sorrow though is filmed in Berlin where he now lives, the jazz musician Jemeel Moondoc performs while suspended outside the window of an empty apartment on the eighteenth floor, of a public housing estate. At first you only view the contours of the musician's head and the tops of skyscrapers, which looks pretty grim. As the film progresses it turns greener and greener until it seems like a park in the middle of the housing estate. It feels like quite a concert treat since another saxophone player in the gallery is playing live a duet with Jemeel Moondoc in the film...

Long Sorrow, 2005

When Long Sorrow ends the saxophone player leads us into the next room where Tlatelco crash is being shown.

Tlatelco clash, 2011

Tlatelco clash, 2011

Tlatelco clash, is filmed in the ruins of the Tlatelcolco site in Mexico City, where different people brings fragments of the same musical score into a barrel organ.

Tlatelco clash, 2011

I interpreted this a bit like we are all given our own personal predetermined musical score and somehow it all links us together in one long song. I was explaining this a little to my husband when I got home saying that I would probably have been given a very dramatic heavy score, but he said no, I think it would be a more happy "Lalalala"... and yes I would hope for that too.  

With the happy and light lalalala I will wish you all a great weekend!!!

With Love

Kristin