Emkan

 

Works presented here are two videos (one diptych and the other triptych) selected from the series of “Loop” and “Flag”. These series are both the outcome of being entrapped in urban pathways in recent years, pathways in which seeing becomes the only possible action and reflection on this city, Tehran, becomes almost inevitable.  
Watching the final works, I notice quite new elements and aspects of Tehran. On the one hand, life captured within highways that, regarding the scale of extension and connectivity, are new phenomena: experiencing the city from inside the car, either in a monotonous ride or in an absolute stop. On the other hand, things with ornamental/ideological functions, mostly flags, along these highways that are established by the oversized municipality beautification organization. 
The question is:  Could one talk about certain experience of today’s Tehran, of recent decades’ Tehran, of Tehran of Ghalibaf era, or any given title, that distinguishes our nowadays experience of this constantly-in-alteration city from other different and paradoxical periods?