The End of Time

"For some time, I have been exploring the idea of the END and its meaning. An end somewhere is normally a beginning somewhere else. And, what is it? How do we live the idea of The END? One of man's main questions is: what’s after death? What's after the end of humanity? The end of time. What are the material things that could possibly remain to testify about life, emotions and social relations?

I made this work for Documenta13 in 2012. It was an accompaniment to the Time Capsule project, which presents a script for a possible preservation scenario for the  Arab Image Foundation. This film seeks to base the architectural gesture presented by the Time Capsule at Karsaue Park, in Kassel, in a human story. I do believe that humans' connection to preservation starts with the preservation of life, facing inevitable death, and the preservation of love and desire, facing their volatility. What remains once both love and desire cease to exist is material, inert things, like clothes and belongings.

After making Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright, I felt I missed characters on screen, so I wanted to work with figures. The End of Time is a dance for three characters and, at the same time, it is a parable on love beginnings and endings. It is about two lovers, meeting and leaving, meeting other people and leaving them, as if they recite over and over a basic human condition. But as they do, they leave material traces. That's the where the idea of a museum starts."

Akram Zaatari in a statement to PLATFORM:VB (October 2013)