A 52-pages magazine, published on the occasion of the project “Reloading Images: Tehran-Berlin / Work in Progress 2007″.
Edited by Ashkan Sepahvand, Kaya Behkalam and Azin Feizabadi in collaboration with:
Alia Rayyan, Afshin Dehkordi, Amirali Ghasemi, Amirali Mohebbinejad, Artur van Balen, Behrang Samadzadegan, Christopher Eymann, Ehsan Behmanesh, Erfan Abdi, Eva Kietzmann, Golriz Kolahi, Katayoun Arian, Lise Chevalier, Magdalena Kallenberger, Martyna Starosta, Maryam Niazadeh, Melanie Schlachter, Michael Wamposzyc, Mikala Hyldig Dal, Mohammadreza Heydary, Nazgol Ansarinia, Negar Tahsili, Sanna Miericke, Shervin Afshar, Sonya Schönberger, Sophie Hamacher, Victoria Simon, Wolfram Hahn, Yasser Bakthiari Raad and Wolfgang Knapp (Institute for Art in Context / UdK Berlin)
[click on images below to enlarge]
Excerpt from the Editorial text:
A prolonged journey to a different location and then back, or migration as a state of transition, or how do polarizations such as “East” and “West” lead to unproductive categorizations, which arise from a simultaneous curiosity and fear of the Other?
The short-lived Roman emperor Elagabalus, of Syrian origins, delayed his triumphal entry into Rome for a long time. In order to acquaint his subjects with his appearance, the young emperor had sent Rome a true-to-self portrait, which had been placed on display in the Senate. The senators deemed him unworthy. In the image, he wore loose flowing robes following the fashion of the Medes and Phoenicians, a tiara, bracelets, and jewels around his neck, and he painted his face with makeup.
The grave senators confessed with a sigh, that, after having long experienced the stern tyranny of their own countrymen, Rome was at length humbled beneath the effeminate luxury of Oriental despotism.
What is there to be afraid of? Images of harems, luxurious carpets, and sensual bathhouses conflict with war, religious fundamentalism, and desert ruins, presenting what we are, could have been, or should become – depending on whose view you ask. Each image is supposed to speak for itself, a be-all-end-all that contradicts what comes after it, the source of a fragmented identity between here and there that maybe, is time to come to terms with.
The ambiguity of strangers amongst us is challenged by the feeling of strangeness one has when traveling far from home. The word XENOPHOBIA is based on the simple construction “fear of strangers,” but the word xenos in ancient Greek shifted its subtle meaning quite often between stranger and friend. What held each end of this spectrum together was a state of uncertainty between two people, two places, or two cultures. The stranger-friend is a guest, who ought to be respected, and who should reciprocate respect. The wandering bard – today’s traveling artist – is an uncertain subject in transition. A work in progress, affected by circumstance.
If the cultural and institutional structures of society are ultimately an expression of how humans engage in production, then our society is based on an ideology of clear-cut results – answers over questions, individuals over groups, categories over collectives. When we met last year to start this process, we knew a few basic facts: we were two groups, located in two different cities, with many questions for each other. We knew that we would travel there, and then come back here. Many of us had migratory backgrounds; we did not identify our physical and psychological borders as clearly established, had always been a stranger-friend wherever we found ourselves.
We asked: is migration simply a political phenomenon, or a state of mind?
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