This weekend the Ruya Shop is screening the film The Silence of Ani (2015) by Francis Alys.
Location: Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad
Time: 10am – 2pm
Date: Friday 18 May – Saturday 19 May
The Belgian contemporary artist Francis Alÿs’ film The Silence of Ani takes place in the ancient Armenian city of Ani on the Turkish border. It was commissioned for the Istanbul Biennial for 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 bird call. Children play a game of hide and seek along the ruined city, calling each other by blowing through duduks (ancient double-reed woodwind flutes). The sounds of the wind and the flutes slowly turn into a ballad about the future and an elegy of the past. The children get tired and fall asleep on what is left of Ani.