DOHA

The film Doha (2017–2019) runs without any images. In short and concise sentences, Julier recounts a personal experience. The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull affected air traffic worldwide, and the artist got stranded in Doha. At the airport hotel, an excerpt of Beethoven’s piano piece For Elise plays on repeat. Over breakfast with an Italian man, a French professor, and a Chinese paleo-botanist, Julier philosophises about volcanoes and eruptions that spark the invention of stories (from Mary Shelley to Jules Verne) and about the absence of the word “landscape” in the Chinese language. While reading this story that reminds us of the forces of nature, we listen to the piano music—muffled by the background noise of unintelligible mumbling, a ringing telephone, and the footsteps of other hotel guests. Images appear in our heads as if we were part of the conversation, and we wonder whether we, too, are involved in the construction of narratives about nature. – Text: Sarah Mühlebach