Your Day/My Night: Round 3: Pressure Valve/Virtual Confinement March 7, 2012, 3:48 PM – March 8, 2012, 3:50 PM (SLT/PST) Second Life URL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/I%20AM%20Columbia/53/68/26
For the past six months, two teams of artists, Iranian (Negin Ete, Sasan Abri, Vana Nabipour) and American (Andrew Blanton, Patrick Lichty, and Allie Pohl), and one Turkish translator (Zeren Goktan), under the facilitation of Morehshin Allahyahri and Eden Unluata have been creating an artistic conversation by creating texts for one another from which the other team responds through the creation of bodies of work. This is the third round of our conversation, where the rules were to abandon the mediation of the translator and try to directly interact for the creation of a work. In this case the Iranian team wanted the Americans to somehow experience the pressures they feel on a daily basis. This is the text they sent us (in Farsi, translated through an online site): “We chose the theme, the constant psychological pressure - sometimes there are tangible physical consequences - that the Iranian middle class people as a natural part of everyday life and being, and perhaps other Adyshdn Frt not sense, but there is continuing pressure is. This pressure can cause a variety of self-censorship, constantly watch their behavior and divided into two parts and is underground. It's more pressure on women and the banned area is larger, perhaps more typically violate her.” “We recommend that your group, this pressure as a tangible experience. You secretly a completely normal life and do not feel guilty, so I put on it and discovered that the act is a crime punishable by law and will be fined. For example, drinking, or kissing, or even a dress is too tight or open Partnrtan. And knowing that this move is illegal, and you can go to prison or flogging Bhkhatrsh eat. Or you can get a dress and with different sizes and all day Bhtn yourself with your shield. Or the belt tighter than usual to close the two numbers, or wear tighter shoes all day with your life.” “We want you to experience this one day, that might seem a minor issue, but continue to be imposed, it can be as seemingly insignificant issues can become a serious problem.” The American team was baffled at first. How do we restrict ourselves while reaching out to the Iranians directly? We decided to confine ourselves to a single room (studio, bathroom, etc.) for 24 hours (Sundown/Sundown) while extending our presence in the online virtual world of Second Life. It is our hope to meet with our Iranian counterparts and dialogue while we are also likewise confined to a tent in Second Life. This is the pressure we impose upon ourselves, in an attempt to understand, however slightly, in solidarity with our Iranian counterparts. About Your Night/My Day,Your Day/My Night Your Night/My Day,Your Day/My Night is a collaborative project curated by Morehshin Allahyari and Eden Ünlüata which excavates the process of the cultural exchange - or lack thereof - between Iran and the United States. The works generated through this project will highlight the dysfunctional nature of cultural exchange between these two cultures. Presently, there are no direct diplomatic, trade, official artistic or intellectual contacts between the US and Iran. All such communication and exchanges take place through third parties which further complicates the relationship and feeds the distrust while making both sides vulnerable to the agendas of third parties. For this project, the process of art making is based on a series of invitations from the curators Morehshin Allahyari and Eden Ünlüata, called Inspiration Notes featuring 11 topics broadly interpreted in multiple cultures. These topics include: tea and coffee, games, shoes, hands, fruits, stickers, fortune telling/future telling, private and public shared lives, time, modern media - TV/Internet and visiting. Through the Inspiration Notes, teams in each country will be asked to write instructions in their native language for the opposite team to perform and document on a given topic. However, before the opposite team receives them, the instructions will travel through an artist/ editor from Turkey who will put them through the Google Translator (Farsi>Turkish>English / English>Turkish>Farsi) and edit them as he/she sees fit - For further information and details please see ‘process’ document. Using this 11-part series, we are not only seeking to decipher and depict the nature of the dysfunctional dialogue between Iranian and American cultures, but also seeking to reveal paths through art that may lead to a better understanding between the two cultures. For more about the project, go to: http://yournightmyday.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
