Milan
13th edition
BABEL
Babel in Milan presented an exhibition project in dialogue with the Historical Archive of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico. Underneath a splendid vault with lunettes, a constellation of micro-stories represents the ideal building blocks of the tragically impossible project: the construction of the mythological tower of Babel, the metaphor that guided the current edition of the Video Sound Art Festival.
Guest artists: Ali Kazma, Pierre Huyghe, Camille Henrot and Edith Dekyndt.



EXHIBITION
Ali Kazma
Written
Calligraphy
Clerk

Ali Kazma, Written, Calligraphy e Clerk, installation view. Video Sound Art XIII edition, Historical Archive of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, 2023. Ph. Francesca Ferrari
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In his videos, Ali Kazma documents human activity, exploring the technical skills and forms of resistance of the human body that, by their nature, remain invisible or little known.
In the Resistance series (from 2012 onwards) the body becomes a medium of signs to be transmitted, an object of study, a place where everyone can resist.
The series includes the film Calligraphy, in which the gestures of the Turkish calligrapher Ömer Faruk Dere are focused on from different angles. The human body is portrayed in the continuous personal effort to ensure its own continuity through actions. The calligrapher is filmed sharpening his writing instrument and tracing characters and symbols of traditional Islamic art on a white sheet of paper. The gestures are precise, disciplined and testify to the high technical skill required.
In Clerk, the clerk of a notary’s office affixes the stamp of approval on a large number of documents: this is done quickly, a speed that sets a rhythm. The sound, cadenced by the stamp on the sheets, through repetition is transformed into an overwhelming music. The habitual and monotonous gesture, thanks to musicality, takes on a new, human value: a typically alienating action becomes a demonstration of the mastery of the gesture, the ability to complete one’s tasks.



Camille Henrot
Cynopolis
Spatial Film

Camille Henrot, Spatial Film, installation view. Video Sound Art XIII edition, Historical Archive of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, 2023. Ph. Francesca Ferrari
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Camille Henrot’s research focuses on the relationship between myth and history and the mechanisms underlying the process of understanding and memory. In Spatial Film, the artist proposes a visit inside Yona Friedman’s flat. In its own way, the film presents an archive commented by Yona’s voice that includes her objects, works, and philosophy books. The space is filmed in 16mm by the artist from a point of view that could be that of a dog. In particular from the perspective
of Baltkis, Yona Friedman’s dog and a key character in the 86-year-old architect’s universe.
The conversation develops on various topics, film, technology and creative processes, then shifting the point of view to the dog Baltkis. The footage conveys a wandering feeling, conceptually for the
themes dealt with and visually for the artist’s aesthetic choice.
In the film, Cynopolis captures Saqqara, site of the first pyramids now inhabited by a pack of wandering wild dogs. The camera follows the animals, wanders with them. The images alternate in a parallel between archaeological excavations, gestures of waste workers sorted by women on the outskirts of Cairo. Camille Henrot presents the dogs of Cynopolis as archetypal entities, guardians of sacred abandoned places but also as wretches in their filth. We see this overlap between environment and point of view, between the sacred grandeur of the past and the decadence of the present.



Edith Dekyndt
A is hotter than B
Martial M

Edith Dekyndt, A is hotter than B, 2005, installation view. Video Sound Art XIII edition, Historical Archive of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, 2023. Ph. Francesca Ferrari
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Edith Dekyndt’s research focuses on processuality. In all her works, she moves towards strategies of separation; colour becomes a feature in itself, articulated in bodiless forms, in oil stains or in the form of gas in a room. The videos restore the fragility and airiness of the medium as one of its inherent instabilities, again, turning towards a dematerialisation.
In Martial M, two hands, each equipped with a magnet, carefully manipulate iron powder so that the shapes obtained on the left and right appear symmetrical to each other.
The event that takes place on a small scale in these two hands refers to the two poles of the earth that generate the magnetic field.
In A is Hotter than B a frozen block of black ink is diluted in an aquarium, spreading arabesques on a white space.
Pierre Huyghe
Blanche-Neige Lucie

Pierre Huyghe, Blanche-Neige Lucie, 1997, installation view. Video Sound Art XIII edition, Historical Archive of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, 2023. Ph. Francesca Ferrari
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Eclectic artist Pierre Huyghe’s main interest is the real, an opportunity to experiment with new interactions, including collaborations, interpersonal relationships and social dialogues.
In the work Blanche-Neige Lucie, the artist films Lucie Dolène, the French voice of Walt Disney’s Snow White, as she describes her struggle to safeguard her performing rights, which were alienated by Disney. The speech is dissociated from the image and Lucie Dolène’s story is conveyed as a subtitle. Pierre Huyghe’s is a reflection that starts from the imagery of one of entertainment’s best-known characters and reveals the personal suffering of a real existence.
13th edition
Babel
30th November – 3 December 2023 Milan
Location
Historical Archive of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
With the contribution of:
Fondazione Banca Monte di Lombardia
In collaboration with:
Historical Archive of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
With the support of:
CNAP – Centre national des arts plastiques
Curated by Video Sound Art
Art direction and curatorship
Laura Lamonea
Curatorial team and Open Call coordination
Erica Petrillo
Education
Thomas Ba, Laura Lamonea
Production
Lino Palena
Press office and communication
Francesca Mainardi, Rebecca Canavesi
e Caterina Migliore
Communication consultant
Valentina Letizia
Graphic identity
Martin Groch
Download the exhibition guide
BABEL, the 13th edition