Unfolding as a cartoon miniseries, the story is set within a night-space where artificial light is absent due to power shortages: as the girl Khayal, alone at home, drifts into a dream world, the night-walker Sahar traverses the vertical axis between the urban surface and the subterranean realm. These narrative threads intertwine, sketching a story of darkness, sanctuary, survival, resistance and transmission. Night becomes a contentious space: as external forces attempt to regulate it, the inhabitants respond through practices of concealment, fugitivity, assembly, and confrontation. Darkness thus emerges not only as an object of governance but as a field where action takes place.

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Working with communities of animators and music-makers in Beirut, Aivazian appropriates and recombines materials from animations produced across different historical periods, repurposing techniques originally developed to simulate reality and manipulate the frame, turning the image into a vehicle for narrating resistance and collective imagination. In an era where visibility is highly institutionalized, his work deconstructs the logic of nocturnal governance, revealing how individuals and collectives reclaim a narrative sovereignty grounded in opacity and flight.

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The third episode of the series, Children of Darkness (2025), in collaboration with Animation Collective in Beirut, is co-commissioned by Thailand Biennale, Phuket; Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Art (IKSV); and Aranya Art Center; with additional support by The French Academy in Rome, Villa Medicis and La Galerie, Centre d'Art Contemporain Noisy-le-Sec.

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This exhibition is organized by Damien Zhang, Director of the Aranya Art Center, and Assistant Curator Gao Liangjiao.