Anri Sala
No Barragan No Cry, 2002 (left)
Color photograph
This photograph was inspired by a sculpture in Mexican architect Luis Barragan’s garden – a response to his creative vision and its physical surroundings. / Susanne Van Der Lingen
time after time, 2003 (right)
Single-channel video and stereo sound
Duration 05:26 min
In this work, Sala’s camera documents a solitary horse trapped in the middle of a highway, next to a median strip. The lights of a fast-moving car briefly expose the horse’s famished state, then all is dark again, an action that is repeated several times.
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
After Three Minutes, 2007 (both sides of the door)
Two-channel video installation
Doldrums, 2008 (on the floor)
Altered Brady snare drums, loudspeaker parts, snare stands, drumsticks
The custom-made snare drums conceal a set of inbuilt speakers, playing high and midrange frequencies (corresponding to the audible sounds) and inaudible low frequencies (that create vibrations on the drum skin, prompting the rat-a-tat of drumsticks).
time after time, 2003 (right)
Single-channel video and stereo sound
Duration 05:26 min
In this work, Sala’s camera documents a solitary horse trapped in the middle of a highway, next to a median strip. The lights of a fast-moving car briefly expose the horse’s famished state, then all is dark again, an action that is repeated several times.
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
After Three Minutes, 2007 (both sides of the door)
Two-channel video installation
Doldrums, 2008 (on the floor)
Altered Brady snare drums, loudspeaker parts, snare stands, drumsticks
The custom-made snare drums conceal a set of inbuilt speakers, playing high and midrange frequencies (corresponding to the audible sounds) and inaudible low frequencies (that create vibrations on the drum skin, prompting the rat-a-tat of drumsticks).
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Jardin Botanico (roja, violeta, azul, bianco, verde), 2009 (on the walls)
Doldrums, 2008 (on the floor)
Altered Brady snare drums, loudspeaker parts, snare stands, drumsticks
The custom-made snare drums conceal a set of inbuilt speakers, playing high and midrange frequencies (corresponding to the audible sounds) and inaudible low frequencies (that create vibrations on the drum skin, prompting the rat-a-tat of drumsticks).
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Jardin Botanico (roja, violeta, azul, bianco, verde), 2009 (detail; right)
Doldrums, 2008 (on the floor)
Altered Brady snare drums, loudspeaker parts, snare stands, drumsticks
The custom-made snare drums conceal a set of inbuilt speakers, playing high and midrange frequencies (corresponding to the audible sounds) and inaudible low frequencies (that create vibrations on the drum skin, prompting the rat-a-tat of drumsticks).
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Reminiscent of Max Ernst and André Masson’s surrealist works—or more recently Cy Twombly—the series follows the tradition of automatic drawings as a means of expressing the subconscious. The front presents the colored pencil and crayon drawings by Edi Rama, while the back shows the negative of the colorful compositions traced and expanded by Anri Sala.
Doldrums, 2008 (right)
Altered Brady snare drums, loudspeaker parts, snare stands, drumsticks
The custom-made snare drums conceal a set of inbuilt speakers, playing high and midrange frequencies (corresponding to the audible sounds) and inaudible low frequencies (that create vibrations on the drum skin, prompting the rat-a-tat of drumsticks).
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Reminiscent of Max Ernst and André Masson’s surrealist works—or more recently Cy Twombly—the series follows the tradition of automatic drawings as a means of expressing the subconscious. The front presents the colored pencil and crayon drawings by Edi Rama, while the back shows the negative of the colorful compositions traced and expanded by Anri Sala.
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Long Sorrow, 2005
HD video transferred from super 16 mm color film, stereo sound
The work is a succession of tinted situations. Its protagonist is the free jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc. In the film, the musician’s improvisations build a cathedral of sound, imbued with a sense of mounting tension.
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Long Sorrow, 2005
HD video transferred from super 16 mm color film, stereo sound
The work is a succession of tinted situations. Its protagonist is the free jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc. In the film, the musician’s improvisations build a cathedral of sound, imbued with a sense of mounting tension.
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Answer Me, 2008
HD video, stereo sound
Duration 04:51 min
Filmed in a former surveillance station in West Berlin, the work narrates a woman’s attempt to communicate with her partner whose drumming drowns out her words, except for her recurring plea: “answer me.”
Doldrums, 2008 (on the floor)
Altered Brady snare drums, loudspeaker parts, snare stands, drumsticks
The custom-made snare drums conceal a set of inbuilt speakers, playing high and midrange frequencies (corresponding to the audible sounds) and inaudible low frequencies (that create vibrations on the drum skin, prompting the rat-a-tat of drumsticks).
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Le Clash, 2010
HD video projection, Dolby Digital 5.1
Duration 08:31 min
In this work, performers play renditions of the song Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash through a barrel organ and a music box outside a derelict concert hall in Bordeaux.
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Score, 2011
Score of Le Clash, 2010, for barrel organ, carved into wall
In the referenced work, performers play renditions of the song Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash through a barrel organ and a music box outside a derelict concert hall in Bordeaux.
Photo © Guy L'Heureux
Anri Sala
An exhibition that can be viewed like a single work of art: that is what visitors will experience at the MAC in this presentation of works by Anri Sala—the artist’s first solo exhibition in Canada, and his largest in North America.
A unique opportunity to discover the remarkable art of Anri Sala, the exhibition comprises a dozen recent major works, including videos, photographs, a sculpture and an installation created for the Musée.
Visitors move seamlessly through the show as if it were a single piece, for the artist considers the process of exhibiting his works as important as that of producing them. Sala reconfigures the space in an innovative way to establish new relationships between the pieces. The staggered screening of the films, the quality of the light, the way the images are projected and the sound of the ten snare drums (Doldrums, 2008) dispersed throughout the galleries create a magical atmosphere. Just as one film ends, another begins, requiring visitors to reorient themselves according to the rhythm of the projections and the beat of the drums.
