A series of scenes that seem both familiar yet brand new. A grouping of characters that seem to live in an eternal present conditioned by everlasting chaos and unrest. A set of locations marked by darkness and yet illuminated by the intensity of those that inhabit them. A narrative that instead of answering a specific question, is in itself a search for answers.

Mounira Al Solh’s new film installation, Dinosaurs, takes its inspiration from four different films by John Cassavetes. Culling vignettes from Opening Night, Husbands, The Killing of A Chinese Bookie, and Faces (originally titled Dinosaurs and used as the title of this exhibition), Al Solh directs her friends to reenact specific scenes wherein the act of drinking reveals moments of intimacy, aggression, and loneliness. Invoking Cassavetes as both a means of study and a lens, Al Solh reflects on the relationship between substance and evaporation, exploring how alcohol can become instrumental in confronting fate. Dinosaurs’ fragmented scenes build a fragile portrait of a place in flux, a loose narrative that continues to unravel and unhinge with each drink. At once claustrophobic, circular and tense, Al Solh’s reinterpretation of Cassavetes creates a space of suspended chaos.