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Registered with a mobile phone camera in the spring of 2011, nocturne #2 shows the central lanes, squares and streets of Tehran at night, at the most quiet moment of the day. In recent history, the area around the infamous Azadi Tower (Freedom Tower) was the backdrop of various protests, demonstrations, and violent repression. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the nationalistic and patriotic demonstrations during the following Iran-Iraq War, or the aftermath of the 2009 presidential elections are part of our collective memory.
At the moment of filming, the so called Arab Spring determined life in the Arab world. Revolutions in these countries started after acts of resistance on the infamous local streets and squares. Just like the Iranian protests of 2009, the Arab Spring got captured by citizens using their cell phones. The images subsequently got dispersed on the internet through social media, being the only visual sources of these events since international media were denied access by the totalitarian authorities.
The burdened locations of Tehran are interchangeable with those of the Arabic countries. They are just shown as a scenery, in steady camera shots, with minimal activity and without sound. From the idea of absence, the over-mediatised and familiar images are disposed from their sensational content, their manipulative representation, and even their historical reference. What is left is an absurd and imminent anti-image, cultivating the aesthetics of the mobile phone image quality, and opening reflections on traditional media strategies.
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Tehranorama - Limited Access 5 Festival for Sound, Video and Performance, parallel program, Vista Art Gallery, Tehran (IR), 2014
Programme 2: Selection from the Collection of ARGOS - Centre for Art & Media, Brussels - The Cinema, Art Brussels, Brussels (BE), 2014
Donkervonk - VONK vzw, Hasselt (BE), 2013
Tren de Sombras - MARFICI Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata (AR), 2013
Show 5 - Competitive #3 (Late Night Show) - Iowa City International Documentary Festival, Iowa City (US), 2013
Ghost Town #3 - Saison Vidéo, Lille (FR), 2013
Blijven Kijken / Ce qui nous regarde / Dropouts - M - Museum Leuven, Leuven (BE), 2013
Spring 2013 : New Acquisitions in the Black Box - W1 : Unconventional Gaze - ARGOS Centre for Art and Media, Brussels (BE), 2013
DINAMO Press & Industry Screenings 4 - Spectrum Shorts, International Film Festival, Rotterdam (NL), 2013
21. dokumentART on Tour - Koeppenhaus, Greifswald (DE), 2012
Green - International Streaming Festival, The Hague (NL), 2012
Competition Bloc 7 - dokumentART European Film Festival for Documentaries, Neubrandenburg (DE) & Szczecin (PL), 2012
Artist's Films - Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York (UK), 2012
Seeking the Monkey King - Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago (US), 2012
Parallel Worlds - Manifesta 9 Parallel Events, CIAP, Hasselt (BE), 2012
Horizon 3: F.E.A.K. - Between Memory and Representation - De Bond, Bruges (BE), 2012
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ICDOCS, Iowa City International Documentary Film Festival 2013 - Honourable Mention
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