CONQUEST OF ARGENTINA / ARJANTIN’IN FETHI by Melisa Yağmur Saydı | Turkey, France (2022)
The videographic space is a metamorphic space for me. The elements of scenography, acting and sound allows me in this film to comment on the relevant issues through parody and symbolism. Conquest of Argentina satirically criticizes the dominant narrative of Turkish history that constructs the history of Turkey around a concept of conquest centering “the Turkish race”. The satire is conveyed through text, set design, body language and voice. The film reuses memorized phrases and clichés, and displaces banal symbols such as the flag and the image of territory, challenging its audience to rethink them. The incompleteness of the scenographic elements underlines the fragility and artificiality of this historical narrative. Plastic rocks stacked on top of each other, appearing hard from outside but being soft inside, become a metaphor of nation-state historiography. Thus, Conquest of Argentina criticizes the military aggressions and expansionism of the current government on the one hand, and the problematic relationship with the past, with minorities and with territory on the other hand.
Bio
I was born in Istanbul in 1998. I first studied film and anthropology. During my bachelors I did an exchange year in Chile where I shot my first documentary. Afterwards, I studied arts at Beaux-Arts de Marseille where I started to deepen my researches on video art, 2D animation and experimental film. My work has been shown at Festival OVNI where I received the Sud Emergence Award, at MAM Rio for Festival ECRÃ, ExtraCity Antwerp, MAC Marseille, Friche la Belle de Mai, Northwest Film Forum and at various other exhibitions. I’ve also been politically active in LGBTQ+ and diasporic activism in France and in Turkey. Since 2023, I’m a part of QAZ (Queer Autonomous Zone) a network of queer artists exploring LGBTI+ politics beyond nation-state borders and geopolitical divisions, through art and community building. I am currently based in Istanbul where I continue activism and my researches on experimental film.
Director : Melisa Yağmur Saydı aka melagro Actress : İlayda Türbedar
Pebbles Underground is focused on showcasing and promoting experimental, avant-garde, underground, and no-to-low budget projects by artist-humans from all over the world. Absurd, uncanny, witty, humorous, slow-video – all are welcomed, and loved.
Pebbles Underground is an independent project not funded by any government or corporation, and we intend to keep it that way. Main source of funding is personal donations from humans organizing the project, who are artists themselves, and the main drive of the project is formed by the energy and involvement of the organizers, and the public.
