{"id":54540,"date":"2017-07-25T16:26:28","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T14:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=54540"},"modified":"2017-07-25T16:26:28","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T14:26:28","slug":"anri-sala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/anri-sala\/","title":{"rendered":"Anri Sala Is the Artist Unpacking Politics through Music"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\" Anri Sala, Title Suspended (Sky Blue)<\/em>, 2008. Courtesy: the artist and Hauser & Wirth, Photo: Ellen Page Wilson<\/p>\n

On a bright April morning, sunshine pours through the sky-lights of Berlin gallery Schipper\/Johnen. In one room are colourful geometric statues by Angela Bulloch. Opposite these hangs \u201cThem Apples\u201d, a collection of 44 drawings by Anri Sala, part of the 42-year-old artist\u2019s current exhibition, \u201cTake Over\u201d. In the adjoining room is the titular video work, a two-channel film projected back-to- back on a wall that divides the room in half. Here, Sala engages two historically significant musical compositions: \u201cLa Marseillaise\u201d and \u201cL\u2019Internationale\u201d. Originally written in 1792 during the French Revolution as a song of freedom and rebellion, La Marseillaise is now France\u2019s national anthem. In 1871, a socialist movement adopted the tune and rewrote its lyrics to create its own anthem, L\u2019Internationale; it wasn\u2019t until 1888 that an original musical score was composed. Even then, however, as Sala notes, the existing lyrics dictated the development of a new rhythmic pattern. So despite it becoming a workers\u2019 song, it remained closely related to its French counterpart.
\n\u201cWhat is interesting for me is the space between one anthem and the other, and the ensuing space that it projects. It\u2019s at once a space of con- cord and dissonance, bearing the intimacy of an intricate musical and political relation,\u201d Sala explains. \u201cYou could say that the political trajectory of each anthem has somehow fluctuated over time, but when you think about it, it\u2019s the listener\u2019s partisanship, allegiance and prejudge that have shifted and wavered. What has oscillated is who is listening to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" Anri Sala, Take Over, 2017<\/p>\n

Having been raised under communism, L\u2019Internationale evokes memories of childhood, while La Marseillaise reminds him of his time living in Paris and his dual citizenship. The video at Schipper\/Johnen, however, is presented without any biographical information, allowing each viewer to recognise and relate to both songs according to their own personal history and project individual meanings onto the artwork.\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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“Everything about L’Internationale and Le Marseillaise is not so much about where they stand [in history], but where we stand in relation to them” \u2013 Anri Sala<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\n\u201cDepending on how you relate to the ideals of L\u2019Internationale on the one hand, and the dire legacy of the communist regimes on the other, the way you feel about it upon hearing its tune can continuously fluctuate,\u201d says Sala. \u201cA person from the Baltic republics, whether progressive or conservative, might feel very different towards it [than] from an activist situation far away from the Russian borders. Likewise, someone from the Maghreb could approach La Marseillaise very differently from a French citizen, whether left- or right-leaning. In both cases, the background of who is listening may turn an evocative and ennobling tune into the soundtrack of the occupier or the coloniser.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" Anri Sala, Ravel Ravel Unravel,<\/em> 2013. French Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia \u2013 55th International Art Exhibition<\/p>\n

In this film at Schipper\/Johnen, Sala depicts the entwined history of these songs through a pianist and Disklavier that struggle with the ongoing tension between the two anthems as well as their relationship to each other, the relationship between man and machine. Each channel of the video opens with a close-up of the keyboard, the black and white keys pressed in unison but in contrasting rhythms. Rather than musical melodies, listeners hear only the sound of the keys pumping up and down, thudding like soldiers marching in formation. The pianist enters and begins teaching the Disklavier until the space between man and machine is gone and the two synchronise to perform a recognisable melody \u2013 La Marseillaise in one video and L\u2019Internationale in the other. Shortly thereafter, the Disklavier reverts to the anthem it is programmed to play; the machine nullifies human agency. No matter the individual viewer\u2019s relation to each song, the videos beg viewers to consider individual agency \u2013 or the lack thereof \u2013 when facing any powerful regime.
\nIn addition to this, four glass panels that protrude from both sides of the projection screen give the exhibit a sculptural element: the videos reflect, perspectives shift, and the sound changes according to the viewer\u2019s physical location. Sala suggests that \u201cthis is something that\u2019s also been in my earlier works \u2013 how to push a medium to the point where it could suggest another medium\u201d. For example, his sculptural work \u201cTitle Suspended (Sky Blue)\u201d (2008) becomes film-like, as two mounted rubber gloves per- form animated movements that establish a beginning, middle and end. Sala carefully calculates the technical aspects of his work, like the spacing of musical notes in a score or a site-specific display technique, yet artworks remain open to interpretation due to the absence of objective signs. He sets the stage and establishes an initial concept, but allows his audience to choose the final message.\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\nSome of the themes in Take Over are present in \u201cThem Apples\u201d. Depicting 44 apples, each with one bite, the series confronts an ongoing political issue. The drawings, which are based on pho- tographs, hang on the wall arranged like notes composing an imaginary score of the German national anthem, and each item of fruit was originally bitten by a Syrian, Afghani or Iraqi refugee living in Berlin. \u201cTo me, who the people would be who would bite these apples was very important,\u201d Sala says. \u201cEverything about L\u2019International and Le Marseillaise is not so much about where they stand [in history], but where we stand in relation to them.\u201d After a brief pause, he cites Adam and Eve, Snow White and even Macintosh: \u201cThe apple also has this undefined notion… somewhere between the symbol of the fall and eternal loss, and the metaphor of curiosity, deliverance and eventual emancipation.\u201d
\nUnlike \u201cTake Over\u201d, however, \u201cThem Apples\u201d directly addresses Germany\u2019s controversial open refugee policy (the country has allowed more than one million refugees to legally enter and apply for asylum in the last two years). By composing the anthem with representations of refugees, he removes the distance often present in his work, and forces the viewer to confront what\u2019s going on in the world now. \u201cI like the influence of time, the distance and detachment of time, and what it brings to our judgement \u2013 whether it\u2019s conscious or subconscious, subjective or objective.\u201d But when it came to the refugee crisis, \u201cthere was a certain urgency and it was important to carry that urgency along\u201d.\n<\/div>\n

\"\" Anri Sala, Them Apples, 2017<\/p>\n

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“I prefer to use time as a filter that procures freedom from the bullying of the current” \u2013 Anri Sala<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\nThis year, Sala was invited to contribute to Venice Biennale\u2019s main show, \u201cVIVA ARTE VIVA\u201d, where similar friction between pairs like time and space, human and machine, emerged. His multifaceted piece, \u201cAll of a Tremble (Encounter 1)\u201d, presents an encounter between two wall- paper patterns over 100 years old. Sala found the two original materials \u2013 signifying the shift from artisanal craftsmanship to mechanised mass production \u2013 and combined them to establish a tension between two worlds: \u201ctwo tastes, two grandmothers, two people\u201d. The wallpaper roller also rotates against a backdrop with more than 160 teeth and functions like a music box, playing both Eastern and Western scales. Here, Sala again draws attention to the tension between human agency and the ma- chine; between the audience and their relation- ship to the music; between time and society\u2019s understanding of history.
\nThe appeal of Sala\u2019s artistic output lies in his work\u2019s ability to shift in accordance with each viewer\u2019s perspective. Although he often presents distinct concepts, no two people experience his videos, drawings and sculptures the same way, as each visual symbol, musical score or combination thereof can assume various meanings based upon individual circumstances. This \u2018distance\u2019 between the artist, the viewer and his work, is itself an important aspect of Sala\u2019s practice. And although it could be argued this space between subject and object provides critical padding, Them Apples is a laudable move away from this cool detachment \u2013 even though, as the artist indicates, he is unsure if he will continue in this specific bent. \u201cI prefer to use time as a filter that procures freedom from the bullying of the current,\u201d he says.
\n\u201cTake Over<\/a>\u201d by Anri Sala is on display at the 57th Venice Biennale, which runs until 26 November 2017<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anri Sala is the Albanian artist exploring historical and political realities through music and physical encounters<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11856,139],"tags":[2665,946,1473,9020,1238,1420],"class_list":["post-54540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleek-art","category-art","tag-anri-sala","tag-installation","tag-music","tag-political-art","tag-venice-biennale","tag-video-art"],"acf":{"main_category":null,"legacy":"1","exclude_from_ads":null,"hero_title":null,"subtitle":null,"hero":null,"teasers":null,"facebook_image":null,"related_articles":null,"next_article":null,"sleek_card_focus":null,"content":null},"yoast_head":"\nAnri Sala Is the Artist Unpacking Politics through Music<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anri Sala is the Albanian artist exploring historical and political realities through music and physical encounters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/anri-sala\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anri Sala Is the Artist Unpacking Politics through Music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anri Sala is the Albanian artist exploring historical and political realities through music and physical encounters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/anri-sala\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sleek Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sleekmag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-25T14:26:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sleek\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7\u00a0Minuten\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sleek Magazine\",\"description\":\"Sleek is Germany\u2019s leading independent media house\/brand for creativity and innovation located in Berlin the creative capital of the world. 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