Anri Sala was inspired by the punk song “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” to make his video ‘Le Clash’. The name of the video is that of the British group, The Clash who wrote the cult tune which hit the charts in 1981. The film takes place next to a modernist building. In the video, the melody of this hit song emerges from a music box and a barrel organ sounding just like a lullaby or a jingle. This video was later shown in Mexico City. The event took place in the ruins of the Aztec temple Tlatelolco where there is now a mix of modernist buildings and of Aztec remains. Cactus Score shows the light-filtered pattern of the perforations of the barrel-organ partition representing four seconds of “Should I Stay or Should I Go” on the Mexican plant. This creates an echo with the regular pattern of windows that one can see on the derelict buildings in the background. This mysterious juxtaposition makes the ‘clash’ clearer between a place that has become run down and ghost-like, the punk revolt and the social and utopian aesthetic of the modernist movement.
“ Sala, pairs sound with vision and vision with sound. „