The opening notes of Eugène Pottier’s L’Internationale would be familiar to many: the song has been utilized as the official communist and socialist song for movements worldwide since the mid-nineteenth century. It was the Second International and Third International Communist Parties’ hymn, after taking its title from the First International; the Soviet Union’s national anthem from 1918 to 1944. L’Internationale was originally intended to share the tune with La Marseillaise, France’s national anthem, but by 1888, it had its own melody. The lyrics’ translation into so many other languages, becoming a de facto anthem for leftist movements throughout China, Germany, England, numerous South Asian countries, as well as independent socialist, Marxist, and anarchist movements called for a distinctive sound.
Artist Anri Sala’s Take Over (L’Internationale) – screened at Frieze Los Angeles – trades in the song’s political charge for an elegant rehearsal. A piano begins to play on its own before veering off course, banging down discordantly before the skilled hands of musician Clemens Hund-Göschel take control. He seems to be able to train the inanimate keys, as they play themselves in tune and continue the arrangement after he lifts his up. He hits the keys with force; they meekly continue playing themselves without making a sound. The hands come back, slowly, finessing the song from the keys. The camera finally pulls back for a single shot: the piano and its player sit alone in a plywood-covered room. A single high window suggests the room shares a wall with a nightclub: rainbow reflections from a disco ball’s paillettes float across the walls.
More of a sound piece with a visual component than a film with a score, Sala’s Take Over (La Marseillaise) (2017) is nearly indistinguishable from his L’Internationale. Shown together, and on a loop, there is a contraction in one’s reinforcement of a national identity, and consequent expansion into a call to a movement transcending any such boundary. Sala grew up under communism in Albania; the delicate pull between the two performances here faintly underline how each allegiance song’s promise of protection from the other is nearly indistinguishable.
Anri Sala’s Take Over (2017) screened at Frieze Los Angeles on 16 February 2019. For more information regarding the fair’s programme, click here.
Main image: Anri Sala, Take Over, 2017. © Esther Schipper, Berlin and kurimanzutto, Mexico City; photograph: Andrea Rossetti
Jennifer Piejko is a writer and editor living in Los Angeles.
尤格·波蒂埃的《国际歌》的开场白对很多人来说都是耳熟能详的:自19世纪中叶以来,这首歌一直被作为官方的共产主义和社会主义歌曲用于世界各地的运动。这是继第一国际之后的第二次国际和第三次国际共产党的赞歌;1918年至1944年的苏联国歌。《国际歌》原本打算和法国国歌《马赛曲》分享这首曲子,但到了1888年,它有了自己的旋律。这首歌词翻译成许多其他语言,成为中国、德国、英国、许多南亚国家的左翼运动以及独立的社会主义运动、马克思主义运动和无政府主义运动的一首事实上的颂歌,要求有一种独特的声音。艺术家安里·萨拉(AnriSala)的《国际歌》(L’Internationale)在洛杉矶的弗里泽(Frieze Los Angeles)上映,用这首歌的政治色彩进行了一次优雅的彩排。钢琴开始自己演奏,然后偏离了轨道,在音乐家克莱门斯·亨德·G·谢尔的熟练掌握下,不和谐地敲击着。他似乎能够训练那些无生命的钥匙,因为它们能按自己的曲调演奏,并在他举起手后继续演奏。他用力敲击琴键;它们温顺地继续演奏,没有发出声音。手慢慢地回来,把琴键上的曲子演奏得很好。照相机终于停下来拍了一张:钢琴和它的演奏者独自坐在一个胶合板覆盖的房间里。一扇高高的窗户显示房间与夜总会共用一面墙:迪斯科舞厅球上的亮片反射出的彩虹飘过墙壁。相比一部配乐的电影,萨拉更像是一部有视觉成分的音乐剧(2017年《马赛曲》),他的《国际音乐剧》几乎无法与萨拉的《国际音乐剧》区分开来。总之,在一个循环中,一个人强化国家身份的过程中会出现收缩,并随之扩展为一个超越任何这类边界的运动的号召。萨拉在阿尔巴尼亚的共产主义下长大;这两个表演之间的微妙的牵扯隐约地强调了每首效忠歌曲保护对方的承诺几乎是无法区分的。Anri Sala的接管(2017年)于2019年2月16日在洛杉矶弗里泽进行了筛选。有关展会计划的更多信息,请单击此处。主要形象:Anri Sala,接管,2017年。礼貌:埃丝特·施佩尔,柏林和墨西哥城库里曼祖托;照片:安德里亚·罗塞蒂·詹妮弗·皮耶科·詹妮弗·皮耶科是居住在洛杉矶的作家和编辑。中楣周/洛杉矶中楣安利萨拉电影
FRIZE特稿 ARThing编译