Originally refused an export licence, Paradjanov’s extraordinary film, The Colour of Pomegranates (1969, 88 mins, DVD), traces the life of 18th century Armenian poet Sayat Nova.
Rather than using conventional biographic techniques, the film strings together a series of painterly images to correspond to moments of Sayat Nova’s life: angels descend, pomegranates bleed their juice into the shape of a map of Armenia and the poet changes sex at least once in the course of his career. The result is a stream of religious, poetic and local iconography that has an arcane and astonishing beauty.
Park Nights 2009
Park Nights is an annual series of events staged every Friday night in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. The 2009 programme included music, theatre, performances, talks and film screenings. The season culminated in October with Poetry Marathon, the latest in the Gallery’s acclaimed series of Marathons, conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Gallery Co-Director.
All events were held in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009, designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA.
