ferenj

multimedia installation
venice biennale architettura
2023



dir. ainslee alem robson
sound design sarah ibrahim

installation design kidus hailesilassie, ainslee alem Robson
cinematography domo jones
super 8 reel mildred ‘miv’ robson
photogrammetry production ainslee alem robson
cast tewabech belachew, melkamayehu belachew, betelhem Shiferaw

showcased at 
La Biennale di Venezia 18th
International Architecture Exhibition

curated by
the founder of the African Futures Institute, Lesley Lokko

ferenj

multimedia installation
venice biennale architettura
2023




What does it mean for “home” to be constructed immaterially via fragments of culture and oral history distorted by the filter of time and migration? What does it mean to have a diasporic identity tied to nostalgia that is at times real and at times fabricated out of necessity?

This adaptation of Ferenj is a continued meditation on the concept of home and identity in diaspora, drawing on scenes from the original VR work, family archives, and new scenes honouring the beauty of the landscapes of inner city Cleveland.

Using crowd-sourced videos and processing them with photogrammetry resulted in irregular fragments with missing pieces. This technology’s inability to portray reflective surfaces reflects my own experience of hyper-visibility and invisibility in identity. Ferenj's fragments form a curated collection of reconstructed memories portrayed as digital artifacts spanning impossible geographies.