Opening of the installations of the tribute "Welcome to the Desert"

The opening of the installations Welcome to the Desert ΙΙ: Will They Find Us Not? and Welcome to the Desert ΙΙΙ: Oliver Laxe - HU/هُو took place on Saturday, November 7th, at MOMUS-Experimental Center for the Arts, with Galician filmmaker Oliver Laxe in attendance, along with the Festival’s Artistic Director, Orestis Andreadakis, and the new Artistic Director of MOMUS-Experimental Center for the Arts, Sofia Eliza Bouratsis.

HU/هُوَ is an installation conceived by Oliver Laxe for the Museo Reina Sofía, now presented for the first time outside Spain, adapted to the space of MOMUS-Experimental Center for the Arts, in dialogue with the tribute Welcome to the Desert, for which Oliver Laxe serves as guest curator.

The work springs forth from the creative process, research, and recordings that culminated in Sirāt, one of the most riveting cinematic experiences in recent years. In Islamic tradition, sirāt is the bridge that traverses hell and leads to paradise, an image of spiritual transit; HU/هُوَ, “He,” is regarded as the first sonic manifestation of the divine, a sacred breath from which creation is born. The installation transports us into a spiritual universe, where the pursuit of transcendence begins with the dancing body, a body that remembers, and with the appearance of the sacred within the natural, architectural and sonic landscape. The end result is a physical, sensorial, and synesthetic experience that alludes to a re-enchantment of the world.

Sofia Eliza Bouratsis first took the floor, thanking MOMUS’s Board of Directors, the entire museum team, as well as the General Director, Fani Tsatsaia for the warm welcome and trust. “It is a great joy and deeply moving for me that the first exhibition I have the honor of inaugurating in this capacity is that of Oliver Laxe, within the framework of the greatest celebration of our city, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival,” Sofia Eliza Bouratsis stated.

She then went on to welcome the filmmaker and thank him for his work, stressing: “The installation you are about to see is one of those stories that take on a life of their own. It is a transition, a journey from hell to paradise. It is a story of transcendence, or rather, a succession of transcendences, where despair blends with the landscape, the vast expanse, the absolute beauty, the pulsating rhythm of life and dance, and thus, somehow, life triumphs over death. This is art. At least, the art that moves us and at times, even challenges us. But one that also knows how to open up within us a horizon of possibilities so that we may endure a life that is stronger than we are, as the poet from Thessaloniki, Zoé Karelli, once said. I’d also like to thank the Festival team for our very first, enjoyable collaboration. This synergy is incredibly important for all of us and for our respective art forms, so here’s to the beginning of a wonderful collaboration!”

In turn, the Festival’s Artistic Director, Orestis Andreadakis, thanked the MOMUS team, the organization’s General Director and Artistic Director, and the Festival staff, as well as Oliver Laxe for the honor of his presence in Thessaloniki on the occasion of the 67th edition.

Oliver Laxe thanked the Festival and MOMUS for the trust they placed in his work, so that the multifaceted tribute Welcome to the Desert could become a reality, remarking: “In everything in life, as well as in art, there is always a limit, a constraint to what sound and image can convey. As a filmmaker, I have a constant fear that I may not be able to push past this limit through my images. It is a common fear, known to all filmmakers: could it be that, after all, what we’re doing isn’t enough? In a museum space, you are given another opportunity. Prior to shifting my focus to cinema, I was involved in the exhibition field, so it’s not the first time I’m in such a space. Exhibitions push these limits farther, making it possible for someone to transcend them.”

“The most important thing for me in this installation is its large-scale sound system, and I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my collaborators, who brought it along, all the way from Spain. It was my preference to place the sound system within the installation, so that it would evoke a temple, and we could connect with the object’s devotional aspect, just as the Greeks in antiquity did. I believe that this doesn’t need to be immediately perceived by visitors: they can return to the exhibition and, at a later time, come into contact with whatever it may have awakened within them. In many people, this innermost process demands quite a lot of time, and the emotional response comes much later. I’d also like to share some details with you: in the installation, among others, we see the image of a wounded landscape, as well as images of temples in Iran. I wish for this “wounded” landscape to serve as a starting point for connecting with the collective trauma we all carry hidden within us.”

At this point, the Festival’s Artistic Director, Orestis Andreadakis, pointed out that there is yet another chapter to this polyprismatic exhibition, located within the West Guardhouse at the entrance of the Port, titled Welcome to the Desert ΙΙ: Will They Find Us Not? This multimedia installation invites audiences to descend into a desert landscape. Sand covering the floor, unexpected objects, maps of some of the planet’s vastest desert expanses, two extended reality works, a slideshow with iconic images from the films featured in the tribute, as well as quotes, sayings, lyrics, passages and words connected to the tribute’s many layers of meaning, welcome visitors to their first stop on the Festival’s pier, all accompanied by the captivating electronic sounds composed by Kangding Ray for the Sirāt soundtrack.

INFORMATION AND OPENING HOURS

UNTIL SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15th

WELCOME TO THE DESERT II

WILL THEY FIND US NOT?

MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATION

West Guardhouse, Gate 1, Port of Thessaloniki

Multimedia installation, 2026: sand, haystacks, images and maps of deserts, slideshow, XR works, digital sound

Conceived and curated by: Orestis Andreadakis, Music: Kangding Ray, XR works curation: Lazaros Boudakidis, Slides curation: Irini Petraki, General coordination: Alexandros Diakosavvas, Coordination support: Natasha Pandi, Exhibition design: Irini-Dafni Sapka, Production: Danis Kokkinos, Audiovisual management: Akis Stavropoulos, Graphic design: Menelaos Georgiou, Slides printing: Photodigitalweb

Daily 13:00-21:00, throughout the Festival’s entire duration

Free admission

WELCOME TO THE DESERT ΙΙI

OLIVER LAXE: HU/هُوَ – AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION

MOMUS– Experimental Center for the Arts

(Warehouse Β1, Pier Α, Port of Thessaloniki)

HU/ هُوَ, audiovisual installation, 2025: speaker stack, multi-channel 16mm projection transferred to digital, color and sound, 18΄

Direction: Oliver Laxe, Production: Xavi Font, Music: Kangding Ray, Cinematography: Mauro Herce, Oliver Laxe, Editing: Cristóbal Fernández, Post-production: Pablo Lamosa, CUBE Conceived by: Oliver Laxe, Sound design: Kangding Ray, Organized by: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía & Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Curated by: Julia Morandeira Arrizabalaga, Chema González [In dialogue with the tribute “Welcome to the Desert,” curated by Orestis Andreadakis], General coordination: Xavi Font, Alexandros Diakosavvas, Exhibition design: Irini-Dafni Sapka

Daily 10:00–22:00, throughout the Festival’s entire duration

Free admission