- Date: March 2011
- Limited Access 3
Curator (s):
Amirali Ghasemi | Parkigallery
Video Artists:
Sona Safaei Sooreh | Bahar Samadi | Noushin Farhid | Naghmeh Abbasi | Golnaz Payani | Sima Khatami | Mohammad Abbasi | Fereydoun Ave | Roozbeh Rashidi | Anahita Hekmat
Statement:
Remote Homecoming is a platform designed to bring videos made by Iranians across the border remotely back home and bridge the gap between so-called “inside” and “outside” while acknowledging these terms are fading rather quickly or at least are changing tremendously in the 21st century. Still, there are numerous obstacles to communicating between the scenes, and there is a lot to be learned. Chapter one of remote Homecoming is a selection of short films, videos, and performances from a wide range of Iranian artists from emerging to established and tries to show a gradient of practices across various disciplines and mediums while focusing on professional use of sound, visuals, and performance as its point of departure.
Sona Safaei (Canada/Iran). Alphabet. 2010. 1:30.
The viewer finds themselves in front of a two-panel video in which two pencils start to print out two sets of alphabets, one in English, from left to right, and the other in Farsi, from right to left. Safaei used a 5B drawing pencil, sharpened by a knife, followed by her handwriting with a camera while writing the alphabets on a textured watercolor paper. A dense and textured sound floats along with the hand movements. It reaches the end in a beautifully arranged synchronized manner.
Bahar Samadi ( France/Iran). Upwards. 2010. 3:03
Upwards is a video experiment with removing the narrative, transmitting the data only through the audio channel with just one still image from a fixed camera. Recording the time (especially without letting the time passing become bearable for the viewer) is one of the aims of this experiment. The fact that nothing happens during the video and the frame being fixed gives the viewer a chance to have an uninterrupted experience with time.
Nooshin Farhid ( UK/Iran). Zone End. 2007. 2:30
Zone End has an apocalyptic resonance to it, in which the elements of earth, fire, water, and wind dominate, while the human forces of the state can only engage in dealing with the aftermath. Images of windswept streets, rolling cans, and plastic bottles career across the urban landscape with all the implications of some immanent disastrous event. The discarded mobile phone shows pictures of a rescue helicopter hovering but cannot evacuate. This short film exudes darkness and a reference to human fragility.
Naghmeh Abbasi (Canada/Iran). The Widest Window. 2009. 6:00
From the widest window: It moves imperceptibly. An enigmatic form becomes a human figure and is lost in nature.
Sona Safaei (Canada/Iran). Chalk House. 2010. 2:25
In an attempt to highlight the temporal and relative aspects of ownership, Safaei filmed a crowd of people entering and exiting the borders of a projected chalk house. Slowly they push each other to maintain their space, their own, but the owner of this house is ever-changing.
Golnaz Payani (France/Iran). The Agreement. 2010. 3:00
This work is a collection of everyday media images. It tries to review our reaction to events, sometimes crucial, from a different point of view, and it would be a look at our applauses, criticisms, and encouragements.
Sima Khatami (France/Iran). Interdit. 2003. 3:55
In her short film Interdit, Sima Khatami bravely crosses conventional borders. She playfully ignores the no photography signs in public buildings and domains, asking why she can’t let her camera on in these premises.
Mohammad Abbasi (France/Iran). Moonlight. 2009. 5:51
Imagine a dancer under the moonlight, in a situation that in every blink of an eye, an eclipse occurs with the sound of thunder. Then the story of “Elephant in the dark” might come to your mind.
Bahar Samadi (France/Iran). Toutes ces choses (N°1). 2010. 3:28
This experiment incorporates the aesthetics of the damaged image for documenting a moment, No 1: Game.
Rouzbeh Rashidi ( UK/Iran). Stillness. 2008. 7:53
After a few seconds of taking the dead dog’s body away, he has to ring them up and let them know.
Anahita Hekmat (France/Iran). 104-3+23. 2010. 6:00
In an underground parking lot, children play a kind of hide-and-seek with the camera. But a disturbing and electric atmosphere emanates from these fleeting presences that could be survivors of the last atomic explosion in a video game…
