Superman
/5
- Superman
- 2002
- video, color, sound
- 5min, 58sec
In the screen incorporated into the tummy of Laa-laa from the Teletubbies, Sokol Beqiri inserts his own video story. His testimonial about confinement in his studio during the 1999 war makes him vulnerable as he recounts the struggle to maintain composure for his family’s sake and assure them that they would be safe. In Teletubbyland, the colorful baby-like creatures receive stories from children in faraway lands and channel them through their tummy-screens. The children are the narrators of their world, which intersects with that of the adults. In his own story, Beqiri is both a child and an adult. And in revisiting his time in the studio, he taps into a traumatic experience. He is torn between his own fear, which infantilizes him, and the duty of embodying a Superman-figure for others. This trauma resists linear narrativization. In an attempt to become the storyteller of this experience, several beginnings ensue but to no avail, with the narrative—and the artist, in tears, along with it—consistently breaking down.
During and after the war, Kosovo received huge international media coverage with journalists from all over the world producing news about the country. An American TV station that was paying a visit to Kosovo sat down with Sokol and wanted to learn more about his experience during the war and as a refugee. During their informal conversation, which took on the form of a testimonial, Beqiri was asked if he could be filmed. The footage was sent by the station to Sokol later on. Beqiri has always been fascinated by the hypnotic effect that the Teletubbies’ storytelling had. And he recognizes that just like purple Tinky Winky, green Dipsy, yellow Laa-Laa, and the tiny red Po, he too—in the guise of Superman—tried to show his family the value of resilience and survival in a horror-stricken world. E.K.
During and after the war, Kosovo received huge international media coverage with journalists from all over the world producing news about the country. An American TV station that was paying a visit to Kosovo sat down with Sokol and wanted to learn more about his experience during the war and as a refugee. During their informal conversation, which took on the form of a testimonial, Beqiri was asked if he could be filmed. The footage was sent by the station to Sokol later on. Beqiri has always been fascinated by the hypnotic effect that the Teletubbies’ storytelling had. And he recognizes that just like purple Tinky Winky, green Dipsy, yellow Laa-Laa, and the tiny red Po, he too—in the guise of Superman—tried to show his family the value of resilience and survival in a horror-stricken world. E.K.