BMA Presents Anri Sala’s Film 1395 Days Without Red

The Baltimore Museum of Art’s (BMA) Black Box program continues this fall with Anri Sala’s film 1395 Days Without Red on view in the re-envisioned Contemporary Wing September 14, 2014–February 22, 2015. The 43-minute film recreates the terror and uncertainty civilians endured during the siege of Sarajevo.

Both on and off the screen, despite the constant threat of death, the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) continued to practice and play. 1395 Days Without Red laces scenes of the SPO rehearsing the First Movement of Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique with a musician making her way through what became known as Sniper Alley. Sprinting through the streets, the music runs through her head. At each crossing, she hesitates, holds her breath, and pushes through.
After reading art historian and critic Michael Fried’s insightful analysis of Sala’s work in his book Four Honest Outlaws: Sala, Ray, Marioni, Gordon, Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman was inspired to invite Fried to select a work by Sala for presentation in Baltimore. “This is a rare opportunity to view the work of a tremendously talented contemporary artist through the perspective of one of the great art historians of our time,” Hileman said. “In addition to the exhibition, Fried and Sala’s public talk this winter, is not to be missed.” The free artist conversation will be held in the BMA’s Meyerfoff Auditorium at 2 p.m. on February 21. There the artist and art historian will discuss the impact of narrative, sound, and the limits of language in Sala’s evocative films.

Anri Sala (Albanian, b. 1974) lives and works in Berlin and Paris. Widely exhibited internationally, his award-winning cinematic works feature evocative music generated by subjects in politically or psychologically charged situations to suggest how sound represents emotional tensions and the human capacity for perseverance.

Art historian Michael Fried is the J.R. Herbert Boone Professor of Humanities and the History of Art at The Johns Hopkins University. His more recent publications include Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before (2008), The Moment of Caravaggio (2010), and Four Honest Outlaws: Sala, Ray, Marioni,
Gordon (2011).

The exhibition is curated by the artist and Michael Fried, The Johns Hopkins University J. R. Herbert Boone Chair in the Humanities, and organized by Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman.