My 3-channel video work “Baku/Baki-Anadil”, which I filmed in 2016 during my residency in Azerbaijan, is on display since June till December 2024 at the art center YARAT in Baku, which has the work in its collection since 2016.

The 3 channel film shows different elements of Azerbaijan: Ottoman history, Islamic culture, Soviet architecture and the oil industry as they simultaneously influence everyday life. The film juxtaposes these contradictory images in micro-narratives: a traditional family living next to oil field Bibi Heybat preparing a fish dish; the positioning of a “jacket”, the metal structure that is the first to be lowered into the water when an oil platform is built; sandstone workers walking past fragments of a facade; the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center, designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid; and “Khazar Island”, a private halted construction project 30 km south of Baku. The images are partly accompanied by electronic music of @Shargiyya”. The title of the film is Baku spelled in Arabic, Latin and Cyrillic, the alphabets that have been used in Azerbaijan for 130 years. Baki is the old Arabic pronunciation of Baku and Annadili means mother tongue. In 2016 I made a public billboard with animations of these alphabets of different sayings and oil pieces accompanying the video.

I am very grateful for the beautiful time I could spend with Alesger and his family, Fuad, Shabnam and Shargiyya who showed me the people of a country besides its politics which I consider being present in this piece of art.

“Unobservable Dreams” at YARAT Contemporary Art Center Baku, 13.06. – 30.12.2024