A+ (2021) DV, 4’30”, colour, sound
A+ explores the possibilities of problematising images and language that are explicitly political. One of the key methods in the Media Blackout Series is the development of a process of image negation that methodically ends in black; the duration of each piece is determined by the time this process takes. For A+, I employ a different method: rather than negating the image, the video gradually reveals a photograph while withholding part of the sound, which is then played backwards. In this way, the slogan is obliterated, giving way to other, unfixed meanings conveyed through the sounds of the protestors.
In contrast to Media Blackout I and Media Blackout III, A+ begins with abstraction and gradually reveals a figurative image. It draws on a well-known media image from the Gezi protests: a photograph of a grey-haired woman hurling a small stone with a catapult, combined with the sound of protestors from another protest in Turkey. As the image is fully revealed through zooming out, the sound of protestors chanting a slogan is gradually reduced. The video then further complicates the relationship between sound and image by playing them in reverse and layering them, following a predetermined process.