Samarra

Samarra is an interactive video installation consisting of a black box with a single projection. A pointing device (mouse) over a slightly illuminated plinth allows the viewer to trigger and overlap several video sequences (total of 75) hidden in the different areas of the screen. This landscape and the narratives that transform it are built from fragments of videos shot along the year 2017 nearby a beach that has the same name – Samarra is also the name of the city to where, according to the arab legend made famous by John O’Hara, a slave tries to escape from death. Physically and virtually artificial, this landscape centred on an abandoned quarry at the edge of a cliff, represents an island, a timeless place where, just like in the arab legend, nothing can find us, not even the memories lying inside the surrounding ocean.

Shown in 2017 at Sonae Media Art Award – Museu Nacional de Arte Contêmporanea, Lisbon