Andrius Arutiunian – End Pull, 2024

A composer by training, Andrius Arutiunian works with hybrid forms of sound in installations, video works and performances. His multidisciplinary work explores nonWestern knowledge, esoteric and vernacular narratives, and alternative ways of organising the world. It often challenges the notion of musical, social and political harmony through hypnotic and enigmatic sound forms.

Shot in the ancient riverbed near the hydro town of Jermuk, Armenia, End Pull examines the “relationship between history, deep time, and repetition”. The film acts as a homage to Michael Snow’s 1967 film Wavelength. In tune to Snow’s artwork, the camera’s perpetual zoom allows it to scan layers of rocks, minerals, and geological formations set to a slowly rising soundtrack. The film is accompanied by two off-screen voices — the ancient Armenian-Zoroastrian demons by the names of Hārut and Mārut, who in various religious traditions are bound with water, plants, infinity and renewal, and are known for inventing fiction, magic, and the distillation of intoxicating substances, such as alcohol and perfume. In End Pull, Hārut and Mārut find themselves in a time where they do not belong, awoken by nearby artillery blasts and gold mine excavations. The subterranean shifts and contemporary political context superimposed over the repetitive camera pull create a disjointed and hallucinogenic rhythm.