Sadegh Aleahmad

Like the Smell of Your Exile in My Body

 

Dcoumentaiton of performance/performance for camera

Duration 3': 37"

Performance aprox. 30'

 

 

Like the Smell of your exile in my body (2017) is a performance for camera that occurred during Omega Fragmented (The Soil Returns to Us) no.6.

Omega Fragmented (The Soil Returns to Us) no.6 is a collaboration between me and Jamal Sterret. This live action took place on the ground floor of a large under-construction warehouse on 7 May 2017 at Mediterranea 18 Young Artists Biennale in Tirana, Albania. In this performance, Jamal and I split the site of the performance into public and private territories by using a veil as a physical barrier between the two. The main narrative of the live action consists of establishing temporary habitat under the veil (i.e. private domain) where we strap our limbs together with strings. We then engage in an intimate dance-like-wrestling accompanied by my singing, as I take off my inside-out shirt and put it on Jamal.

The sound produced during Omega Fragmented (The Soil Returns to Us) no.6 (2017) consists of my singing and the jingling of dozens of spoons. They were hung from the strings that had connected our bodies together. Their jingling is the outcome of the sum of the forces that we exerted on each other’s body by pulling and pushing.

The immediate spectators of Omega Fragmented (The Soil Returns to Us) no.6 (2017) were situated outside of the veil (i.e. the public domain) and could not directly access or view the narrative of our actions.

Although the veil shielded our intimate wrestling and negotiations of power from the direct gaze of the spectators, the small cameras that were strapped to our bodies captured and live-streamed this delicate activity into the public territory of the performance via two projectors [fig.88]. These projectors live-streamed the narrative of our wrestling from the projectors on to the ceiling of the warehouse [figs.80, 88]. The projected footage interfered with the various architectural components of the ceiling such as the metal bars and the curves.