SILENCE OF ANI, video by Francis Alÿs (Turkey)

13min – HD – Color
Artist: Francis Alÿs
Collaboration, DOP, Editing: Julien Devaux
Sound Editing & Mixing: Félix Blume
Francis Alÿs’ “Silence of Ani” comprises a display of Armenian duduks (ancient double-reed woodwind flutes) and videos. The story takes place in Ani, an ancient Armenian city near the border with Turkey, a fitting setting, not least in this biennial, which takes place during the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. The video shows the breathtaking and uncanny scenery of the valley of Ani, while the wind whistles through like a birdcall. Then children playing duduks in a game of hide and seek, slowly turn into a ballad about the future and an elegy of the past. But as the children approach one another the mood can induce an emotional discharge, exposing some viewers’ traumas. But children get tired and fall asleep on what is left of Ani, as though it’s a call for us to wake them up, wake ourselves up, and rejoice in the spirit of togetherness and peace.

Presented during the Biennial of Istanbul in 2015, Rotterdam Film Festival 2016,