Silence

Political conflicts and arguments are deadlocked and often represent personal interests, economic superiority, and a gain of power rather than the interests of the people and the environment. The problems of globalization demand the rejection of a misinterpreted concept of individualism. They demand a rethinking of people’s stuck concepts and ideologies that led them to this self-scourging, almost self-destructive mindset that has replaced the essence of their existence. What happens when they create a momentum which silences politics, economics, and the ego of each individual? A deliberate silence of each individual as well as a collective silence of all human beings as an expression for a unified system. How would they encounter themselves in such a space and how would they encounter their environment? Would they be able to reform society with this deliberate silence? If sound and sense was blotted out, what would be heard? This film consists of parts of the Silent Archives which is a collection of speeches by people of public interest. The film was made with the help of an algorithm that scans speeches to find and cut out pauses made by the speakers. Queuing up those cut-out sequences they form a continuous silence. This short film is a selection of speeches that went through this process. The Silent Archive is accompanied by an installation that presents all those moments of silence and makes them tangible through moving images and sound.

Dmitry Zakharov (DE)
Dmitry Zakharov (born 1986 in Moscow) is a media artist based in Cologne and Berlin. His works draw from his aesthetic sense for colours, textures and fabrics which often involve fluids, flashing lights and anatomical shapes In his artworks, Zakharov examines the fundamental aspects of humankind in interaction with the digital world that they inhabit. He conveys issues surrounding life and death or space and time, by visualising them through innovative media technologies. Thus, he transforms those very abstract topics into tangible experiences.
The artist’s progressive approach finds its roots in his experience as musician and VJ as well as in his early projects in zoological specimen. His diverse experiences liaise in Zakharov’s works and produce a unique mixture of abstract shapes and organic structures.