Rooted in the proverb “The coffee you drink while running will disappear” ሲሮጡ የጠጡት ቡና ሲሮጡ ይጠፋል, the video critiques the Western temporal regime in which time has been commodified and coffee reduced to a stimulant of productivity. In contrast, the work reinstates the Ethiopian ceremony as an infrastructure of presence—an embodied technology of relation that resists acceleration. Shot in a single take, it translates the ritual into a living score where movement, sound, and scent converge. As incense bridges material and spiritual realms, and the masenqo fills the space with nostalgic melodies that suspend time, the ceremony culminates in a collective dance: an eruption of joy, proposing togetherness, rhythm, and embodied awareness as counter-models to introspective and extractive time.

Medium: Video
Duration: 11 min 35 sec
Technique: Videography
Unique artwork