Shirin Neshat- Parasol Unit foundation for contemporary art

To view the full post at Berlin Art Link including my own photos of the opening, and my words on the exhibit click here.

On a recent visit home to London, I was lucky enough to check out the Shirin Neshat opening at the Parasol Unit foundation for contemporary art. After walking through Yinka Shonibare’s Jardin d’Amour (Garden of Love), a tricky endeavor, I eventually arrived at Shirin’s video installation Fervor, 2000. Also exhibiting was Yang Fudong, and Christodoulos Panayiotou under an overall theme of ‘I Know Something About Love’.

Fervor, 2000, was being projected on two screens in black & white, and immediately focused on the negative view of love within the Iranian culture after the Islamic revolution. The black & white medium was an instant reflection of the clear-cut contrast of men and women in the mosque, with women in black veils and the men in white shirts.

In this piece, Shirin Neshat depicts two stories, one of a man, and another a woman, both in the same place, at the same time on independent screens. Throughout the narrative there is an infuriating conflict between the focal characters, as they both notice each other’s presence even without being able to see one another. This tension builds until the female character leaves, creating a feeling of helplessness with the audience. This division between the projection screens helped to depict the separation and distance of love within the culture, and separation from the women in this society, a detachment possibly felt by the artist after the Islamic revolution in Iran.