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© Melik Ohanian
DAYS, I See what I Saw and what I will See (2011)
© Melik Ohanian
DAYS, I See what I Saw and what I will See (2011)
© Melik Ohanian
DAYS, I See what I Saw and what I will See (2011)
© Melik Ohanian
DAYS, I See what I Saw and what I will See (2011)
© Melik Ohanian
DAYS, I See what I Saw and what I will See (2011)

Days I See What I Saw And What I Will See

Lo Schermo dell’Arte Film Festival Florence  •  Italy [IT]

Melik Ohanian
DAYS. I See what I Saw and what I will See, 2011, 42′
HD video transferred on DVD, double videoprojection – double-side screen

Cango Cantieri Goldonetta
November 21/25
Wednesday 21 – Friday 23 h 3.00 – 8.00 pm
Saturday 24 – Sunday 25 h 12.00 am – 8.00 pm
FREE ADMISSION

DAYS was produced in 2011 for the Sharjah Biennial, but was never screened there because it was deemed in direct contrast with the interests of the sheikh who financed the exhibition. Ohanian shows the horrible conditions in which many Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants are forced to live, while practically confined to a work camp; a very different reality from the opulent image public opinion has of life in the Arab Emirates.

The movie camera, installed on a 100-meter-long network of tracks, filmed day and night the space in front of it. Every day, the artist dismantled and replaced the dolly, moving the shot 100 meters forward, thus obtaining two distinct videos, with respectively diurnal and nocturnal images. The editing produced two singular long takes which represent 1,100 meters of space the camera traveled through the streets of the camp, for a total duration of 42 minutes. The two versions are projected concurrently on two sides of the same screen, going beyond the traditional borders of a film projection.

Born in France in 1969 to an Armenian family, Melik Ohanian works between New York and Paris. He has participated in many international exhibitions, including the Sao Paolo Biennial, where he represented France in 2004; the Berlin Biennial; the Sydney Biennial; the Moscow Biennial and the Venice Biennial, 2007. He has presented his installations, produced with various types of support, in one-man shows in Tokyo, New York, Paris, Shanghai, London, Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Geneva, Santiago de Chile.