A Community Under Construction

“We have to decide for ourselves what we want. We are the ones who know about our needs and what is happening in our community,” said Omayra Peréz, the lead in the film “Comuna Under Construction” by Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler.

Upon an invitation by local cultural-creative NGO Utopiana, Oliver Ressler recently came to Armenia. Ressler incorporates direct interventions with art in political movements, and for the Taipei Biennial 2008, he curated an exhibition on the counter-globalization movement, called “A World Where Many Worlds,” which was also shown at Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Canada, this year. 

While in Yerevan, Ressler screened “Comuna Under Construction,” which follows the developments of Consejos Comunales (community councils) in various Venezuelan towns where inhabitants decide on their concerns collectively via assemblies. The film screening took place with the participation of numerous Armenian artists from the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (IDHR) and was followed by a Q&A and a lively discussion. 

Ressler also gave another presentation, titled “One No, Many Yesses,” where he screened another one of his films “What Would it Mean to Win?”, filmed on the blockades at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany in June 2007. The screening was preceeded by a presentation on his works incorporating art in political movements.