Joueur de flûte

For some 30 minutes, an old man, naked, plays Berber music on the flute. The camera, placed close to the ground, offers a view from below, thus giving the status of living monument to the protagonist of Joueur de Flûte (“flute player”). But this impression of greatness brought about by the filming arrangement is offset by the nakedness of the model, which makes him more vulnerable.

Meswad, the flute player, is an imam and a friend of Adel Abdessemed who accepted to be filmed in this video after a long chat with the artist. The melody coming out of his instrument and the beat he produces with his feet are lively and dance-like, thus bringing unexpected lightness to the naked body. An artist of pleasure and desire, Adel Abdessemed has produced here a discreet and poetic work that will be remembered.

Adel Abdessemed's film Joueur de Flûte was first shown by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition The Passage of Time at the Tri Postal in Lille, in 2007-2008.