Valentin Noujaïm & Space Afrika: The Dark Wood
Valentin Noujaïm, Space Afrika
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH, UK SW1Y 5AH
Mon closed, Tue-Sun 12-11pm (Exhibition closes 8pm, Cafe closes 9pm, Bar 12-10:30pm, Bookshop and Box Office close 11pm)
Admission
Free Admission
Members+ and all Patrons gain free entry to all cinema screenings, exhibitions, talks, and more.
About
_The Dark Wood_ is a new film and sound installation by Space Afrika & Valentin Noujaïm, featuring the film _Opera Omnia_ (2025). Across film, dialogue and sound, the exhibition approaches urban space as a site of memory, recurrence and disappearance. Shot on 35mm, _Opera Omnia_ follows a night-time passage through Manchester. Drawing on Dante’s _Inferno_ as a loose point of departure, the film moves through themes of descent, return and encounter. Dante’s text continues through a new dialogue-based work and a sound installation composed by Space Afrika for the exhibition. Together, the works hold image, voice and sound in close relation, moving through repetition, interruption and drift. The city appears not simply as setting, but as a place in which traces, histories and voices continue to accumulate.