Melik Ohanian presents BORDERLAND — Act XIV at the Bourse de Commerce. Shown for the first time in a single-screen version, this film echoes his exhibition ALTERATION, For a long time in Time at Galerie Chantal Crousel.

Initiated in 2017, BORDERLAND is a long-term project, now unfolding in fourteen acts and taking multiple forms throughout its various presentations.
Based on Rudy Wurlitzer's novel Flats (1969), the script, co-written by the artist and Dominique Quessada, takes place on the roof of the studio where Melik Ohanian worked in Brooklyn for several years. The film is the result of an omnivisional device consisting of four cameras mounted on four tracking rails installed on the four sides of the almost square roof: north, east, south, and west. Following the rails, and always visible in the images, the cameras are in constant lateral movement from one corner to the other. The tracking movements are revealed to be driven by cranks operated by the actors themselves. As such, the film consists of four sequence shots, filmed continuously over 55 minutes. BORDERLAND — I Walked a Far Piece was first presented at the 14^th Biennale d’Art contemporain de Lyon in 2017, in the form of a four-screen installation inviting viewers to occupy the center of the projection space.

BORDERLAND (2017–2024) is not just a film or a filmic device. As Melik Ohanian states: “BORDERLAND attempts to survive its own condition of being a work.” It has unfolded in fourteen acts, like so many occurrences that each expresses the work without ever summarizing it, taking different forms: film, performance, concert, writing, theory, lecture.

The screening will be preceded by a conversation between the artist and Dominique Quessada, writer and philosopher, moderated by Anne Bertrand, critic and art historian. As seats are limited, we invite you to sign up via this link.

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