Gabriella Choueifaty
WORKS
2006 (2018–2024)
Single-channel video, 5 min 49 sec
There are two horse tracks in Beirut. The second, built in 1922 and a vestige of the French mandate, still stands today as the safeguard of the purebred Arabian horses. Located in the heart of the city, this vast green space welcomes racegoers once a week, often accompanied by their families.
On the tracks, the horses run in circles, and the start becomes the finish. The camera here acts as the instigator of a game, becoming a window for fabulation. The film proposes a simple apparatus: an immobile operator and a 180° pan, showing in the same shot, the shot and the reverse shot. In this way, the camera expands the game, crossing the boundaries between the dream and the real, and gathering them in the same frame.
The kids become what they wish, as they reach the speed of a horse. This work reflects on themes of immobility, movement, and repetition.
No subtitles are provided for this work.