California / كالفورنيا,
2024

Ali Eyal, David Horvitz
California / كالفورنيا, 2024
1 channel video. Camera: Samar Al Summary
51 seconds

This collaborative film made by David Horvitz and Ali Eyal explores themes of language, geography and impermanence. On a beach in Los Angeles, they inscribe (each holding a piece of driftwood) the word California alongside “كاليفورنيا”, a gesture rich with etymological and cultural significance. The name California, derived from Arabic through Spanish, serves as a bridge between histories and languages, reflecting the artists’ shared connection to the state they both live in. Recorded by Samar Al Summary, the film captures the ephemeral act as ocean waves sweep away the writing, transforming the symbols into memory. This poetic erasure highlights the natural dissolution of human-imposed boundaries, whether linguistic, cultural or geographic, as the landscape itself asserts its timeless continuity.