Anri Sala punches the walls

Albanian video artist Anri Sala has hole-punched the walls of London's Serpentine Gallery with the score of his latest film, Tlatelolco Clash (2011), which features a barrel organ playing a distorted version of The Clash's Should I Stay Or Should I Go. The perforations pass right through the gallery's walls inviting the sounds of Hyde Park into the enclosed space. Also on show and set to the same soundtrack is Le Clash (2010) featuring performers playing the song through a barrel organ and music box outside a derelict concert hall in Bordeaux. It creates an echo of the two film soundtracks throughout the gallery as they are played simultaneously, but out of sync with each other.

Anri Sala, Long Sorrow as a live duet next to the soundtrack to Tlatelolco Clash (2011)

Sala's early videos and films reflect his personal experiences of social and political change in his native Albania. Intervista (1998) is the juxtaposition of two videos, the first of Sala's mother being interviewed at a Communist Party congress in 1977. The video which was originally silent, has been dubbed by lip readers to reveal the words being said. The second part of the film is his mothers reaction to the video 20 years later. "It's absurd," she says, "it's just spouting words." Less surprised by the political ideals she voiced than by the manner in which she spoke, she begins to reflect on the dreams of the communist period, prompted by her son's questions.

Sala's films more recently show a growing importance for sound and the relationship it has with the images he creates. Answer Me (2008), filmed at an abandoned Buckminster Fuller Berlin surveillance dome built in the mid-50s, emits a low sound which is echoed further in the Serpentine exhibition by Doldrum, a snare drum which vibrates to the frequencies of the film's soundtrack.

Anri Sala, Answer Me (2008)

Elements of performance run through all of Sala's works. Long Sorrow (2005) shows a saxophonist playing at the top of a tower block - he seems to float in space above the trees below him. At the Serpentine Long Sorrow will be accompanied by a live saxophonist playing a ‘duet’ with the film, before finally performing a solo when the film ends.

If you like the sound of Anri Sala's work there's lots more in his book including notes on several of his key projects and extracts from an ongoing conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist spanning Sala's career. Order the book here.