Only a Truncated and Imaginary Vision (2019)

This installation forms part of Fragments from Algiers, a series of works investigating the first Third World Filmmakers Meeting, held in Algiers in 1973. At its center, a still image of the Sahara desert, unearthed in the filmmakers’ archive, is projected through a peephole, forcing the viewer into an intimate yet partial encounter. The image looms within the exhibition space like a fragment of memory, an apparition both concrete and elusive.

Accompanying the projection is a sound composition by the artist that layers and interlaces cicada calls recorded across different continents. The cicada’s voice functions as metaphor: a signal of generational awakening after long periods of dormancy, echoing the spirit of Third World solidarity that animated the 1970s. At the same time, its repetitive cadence recalls the mechanical rhythm of a film projector, collapsing natural and technological sound into one.

Through this interplay, image and sound conjure the fragility and persistence of unfinished histories. The work suggests the sensation of a mirage, half-seen, both real and imagined, while reflecting on the ever-open possibility of unearthing collective dreams and revolutionary projects that remain latent.




Presented in 2019 at Biquini Wax ESP, Mexico City, in an exhibition organized by Kirsten Mairead Gill.

Carmen Amengual, Only a Truncated and Imaginary Vision, Digital projection.
Installation view, Biquini Wax ESP, in Mexico City, 2019

Carmen Amengual, Only a Truncated and Imaginary Vision, Digital projection.
Installation view, Biquini Wax ESP, in Mexico City, 2019

Carmen Amengual, Only a Truncated and Imaginary Vision, Digital projection.
Installation view, Biquini Wax ESP, in Mexico City, 2019