Gilgamesh Contemporary II Feb.2024 Trailer ©Asmaa Alanbari, music © Oguz Kaplangi

Below: research and development

Painting with light for narration with video projections

Gilgamesh Contemporary is the culmination of research on how light, sound & movement can be narrate a story in an immersive manner. In Alanbari’s adaptation of the eponymous ancient epic, the hero embarks on an adventure in search for eternal life. Her message is, “what is the point of finding eternal life if there is nothing worth living forever for, given the climate emergency we are in?” Cherishing our endangered cultural heritage is equally part of the message, as the public is invited to engage with both endangered natural & cultural heritage through immersion with video projections of artefacts and nature, both at risk of being destroyed by our time starved way of life.

Like a mirror, ‘Gilgamesh Contemporary’ reflects what contemporary society is going through at this point in history, one where urban life is time-starved and in a perpetual hunt: chasing after success, after work, after beauty. In an uncertain and competitive world, the individual seeks to be numbed. Meanwhile natural and cultural heritage are dying, and we have our head in the sand.

The ancient poem of Gilgamesh addresses the same issue of the thirst for time: its hero went to the depths of the sea to find the plant of eternal youth. Although we may not all be searching for that plant, we are all focusing our efforts on our legacy, whether it be in the form of children, art works, money, a reputation etc…this is our way of wanting to be eternal.

In Alanbari’s newly written adaptation of the original myth, the audience is immersed in sensory stimulation wavering between traditional and contemporary visuals and sounds. The adaptation challenges the process of erasure and is an invitation to engage with our natural treasures as well as tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Tangible heritage is either in museums or sites with varying extents of accessibility, and at times abroad in difficult to access sites or worse, areas where war is rife, and artefacts are destroyed by violence or neglect. Intangible heritage are the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through generations by word of mouth and are increasingly forgotten or at risk of becoming irrelevant. ‘Gilgamesh Contemporary’ immerses its audiences in visuals of endangered natural sites, ancient works of Mesopotamian art from the Louvre, the British Museum and the Museum of Mosul as well as the traditional sounds of live music. They are juxtaposed with scenes and sounds from contemporary urban life allowing the audience to engage with heritage not as an idea but immersively through the senses.

These images of R&D were performed at The French Culture Institute In collaboration with oud maestro Ehsan Al Emam, contemporary dancer performer Yen-ching Lin, and violinist & composer Layth Siddiq.

Below: ancient artefacts from The British Museum & The Louvre were the at the heart of several animations, inviting the public to experience them in an immersive manner

Below: research on the technicality of how light hits surfaces & alters both the original art work and the space. The result is an ephemeral architecture of light: