Overview

Chantal Akerman produced NOW for the Venice Biennale in 2015, shortly before her death. Presented on multiple large screens, this seven-channel video installation consists of images of desolate landscapes and a soundtrack that combines singing, street noise, and the sounds of engines and gunfire. The overlapping images appear in rapid movement, creating a chaotic sense of transit through a desert region. Akerman collected the images and sounds with a Blackberry phone camera while travelling in conflict zones in the Middle East. She deliberately erases any clues of a precise geographical location, instead portrays chaos and violence without context—a world of conflict embedded in everyday existence.