Wael Shawky - I am Hymns of the New Temples
WAEL SHAWKY
I am Hymns of the New Temples
Karantina, August 31, 2023 – February 17, 2024
beirut
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Shawky's film is based on the search for a visual representation of this permeability, this transmission. The prelude is certainly the story of the emergence of the mythological cosmos, or mankind, with the narrative elements pointing to its transcultural origin. The film’s storyline imperceptibly draws us in, as we follow the woes of humankind, the endless cycle of life and death, the merciful and vengeful gods dichotomy: myths turn into beliefs, only to become forgotten realities centuries later, fictions that we still nonetheless rely on to explain the world around us. As in a Greek tragedy, the final scene of the film prophesies human dystopia and the eternity of the gods, the symbolic pillars of western cultures. The characters, marionettes-like and imperfectly human, evolve in a hybrid state, their final song become emblematic of the sins of future generations, as children's voices take over, literally heralding the future.
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