The House
DCP, 31 minutes, 16:9, colour, stereo
In December of 2018 I was invited to give a workshop at the Rah Art Residency in the Iranian city of Abadan in the southwestern Persian Gulf region. I was accompanied by Iranian artist Maryam Farhang who helped me, as a translator, communicate with local authorities and students.
When we visited the open-air war museum of Abadan, she created impressive footage of some of the relics and ruins of the war near the Schatt al-Arab (Persian: Arvand Rud), which forms the border between Iran and Iraq, where Iraqi soldiers launched the invasion that started the war against Iran in 1980.
For Maryam Farhang’s exhibition Waves Come, Waves Go at the Schaumbad–Atelierhaus Graz/Austria, which ran from February 28 to March 9, 2022, we edited our video and sound recordings from Abadan and the famous village of Laft (in the middle of Qeshm island in the Straits of Hormuz) for the film and video installation we called The House.
Michael Pilz
The individualization of perception: I don't do feature films; rather, I am a filmmaker who works with images and sounds in a manner that enables viewers, the audience, to train their perception. That's what I explained to the composer yesterday: My aim is not for you to applaud my work or praise my film, I'm not interested in applause for my films at all. They provide me with an opportunity to train, in a playful fashion, your perception through your perception over the course of 60 or 200 minutes or however many minutes the film runs. Education of perception, that's what I do. The government should be paying me for that. I invite people to hone their perception.
Michael Pilz, Retrospective 2023, Vienna
Original title The House
English title The House
Produced by Michael Pilz
Shooting time December, 2018
Shooting location City of Abadan and the island of Geshm, Persian Gulf
Cinematography by Maryam Farhang & Michael Pilz
Original sound by Maryam Farhang & Michael Pilz
Original language Farsi, Arabian
No subtitles
Edited by Michael Pilz & Maryam Farhang 
for Maryam Farhang’s exhibition Waves Come, Waves Go, at Schaumbad – Freies Atelierhaus Graz/Austria, February 27th–March 9th, 2022
Austria 2018/2022
First public screening February 28th, 2022, Schaumbad-Atelierhaus Graz/Austria
Distribution by Michael Pilz Film
A-1180 Vienna/Austria
Teschnergasse 37
Phone +43.699.11336581