Performances

Marginal Notes On a Body Slipping Away

April 2024
Helsinki

 

We meticulously observed a document, distorted its essence to suit our desires, and ultimately obliterated it, both the physical body and its narrative. 
 Now, in the act of recreation, we find ourselves recollecting what we attempted to recall previously. The images and violence that once consumed us are now blurred, allowing for a fresh remembrance. 
Now you will witness the unfolding of our recollections, both as they truly occurred and as we wish to construct them. The essence of the body slips away before your eyes. 
As a passive observer, You watch the images flit through your eyes. 
A realm where nothing burdens your senses, and nothing grazes your skin, nothing touches your eyes. 
Witness the echoes of violence, all without disturbance! 

 

This performance draws inspiration from political documents in Iran. We did not seek to portray an accurate representation of Iran's political landscape. The stories depicted were not bound by strict truths or falsehoods; instead, they served as a reflection of broader experiences. 



 

Working group

  • Direction and Cinematography: Homa Shokri 
  • Writing: Farhan Sonboldel 
  • Dramaturgy: Birgitte Maaike Feddersen 
  • Lighting and Video design: Oskari Kaarne 
  • Scenography: Kristian Schmidt 
  • Sound design: Hulda Hjálmarsdóttir 
  • Costume and mask design: Riitta Sinkkonen-Saarela 
  • Performing: Kadence Neil , Paria Mohajerani 
  • Photos: Jere Aalto


As we march, fear flees

2023
Helsinki

 

We were nameless, weightless bodies – countless and small. 
We fit anywhere, but some were pushed aside, tossed, or lost. 
Fragments remained, visible. Clay-like, we molded to places, targets for sharp things. 
Muted mouths, feet stuck to roads. Our story: adapting, fading, echoing. 
 
Encased within a private space, akin to a secluded box, participants are granted an opportunity to connect intimately with themselves in the midst of a bustling public setting. In this experience, people have a chance to connect with themselves in a private setting within  public areas, or to simply walk away. In this experiment, we are actively investigating various locations for placing the box. Each participant is afforded a moment of solitude within a public setting, where they can engage with the video contained within the box, fostering a deeply personal connection with their own self. 
How connected are we as individuals in public? This performance is designed to give you the experience of confronting yourself where we do not expect. 
 

12.09.2023, Helsinki University, Metro Station
Fri 22.09.2023, Theatre Academy, Uniarts Helsinki


Worked as: Director and writer

The Camera Does not pass over faces

2023
Helsinki, Kristiansand


 This is a long video that depicts daily life in Helsinki, interwoven with recorded and actual voices from Iran during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement. It also highlights various personal experiences of violence and oppression.

Director: Homa Shokri
Sound Design: Pilar Miralles
Pianist: Salar Nikkar 

In winter, Necks are shorter

2023
Helsinki
A contemporary music-theater in collaboration between Sibelius Academy and Theater Academy .

Director/Librettist: Homa Shokri
Composer: Pilar Miralles

Voice: Aleksiina Turtiainen
Voice: Yolanda Harding
Accordionist: Sabina Aftyka
Cellist: Eliso Babuadze
Pianist: Kiryl Bartashevich
Percussion: Pilar Miralles 


  The Manifesto For Escaping Reality (in 7 theses) 

2023

 Svenska Teatern Helsinki

 

This project was a collaboration between the Swedish theatre, Uniarts Helsinki and Aalto university. 
 The project was based on the neo-Dadaist manifesto in which it is indicated how we can escape from reality and return to it in seven different theses. The theses are presented by three Dadaist Max, Åsa and Sofia. The theses are depicted in augmented/virtual reality for the audience to experience new dimension of reality through VR glasses. The frame of the work was a meeting to which the audience are invited. The performance began as an ordinary meeting down in the Svenska theatre entrance, but afterwards turning into a sensory journey through theories and phenomena that were manifested by actors (neo-Dadaists). At the beginning of the performance, the different senses are explored through iPads and VR glasses and some images are projected on the transparent fabrics around the audience. 

worked as : Dramaturg/assistant


Pendency

 2022
Helsinki

As a manner of creating a common experience in a different place and time, I used the political events that happened recently in Iran to indicate a link with the theme of my performance. So, I used the theme of bodily disobedience in my artistic process. As it was exactly related to the current situation in Iran.  I wanted to explore to what extent a performance could build mutual sensations between performers and the audience and how could different cultural dimensions be considered. So, I used the contemporary performative standpoint as a reference for my performance theme which says; How do I experience and interface the word. 
 I wrote a text based on actual stories in Iran and then I turned them into questions. Also, I used real photos in the events for the visual effect on the stage. I left the arrangement of the stage and the position of the camera and TV unchanged as my previous plan. So, I collected the voices from people with different nationalities and edited them into one audio file. While I was collecting the voices, I tried to look for videos of protesters in Iran and separate the audio from the videos and add them to the main audio file. 


Hospitable body

 2022
Collaborative Project 
(Croatia, Cyprus, Iran)

The sphere that the other occupies is different from mine and it is in common experience that these two spaces become one. Hospitality occurs when people share an experience. People may be different in this situation, so their performance will be different. Waiting for a stranger to enter is one of the most common and important political experiences. So, the human bodies experience the hospitable body next to each other. 
It is true that people are active bodies in their individual experiences in a limited manner, but by coming out of their safe and private zones, they try to change the regular flow of their lives and make a breach in the outer world. The concept of political freedom is definable now: when people realize the necessity of hospitable bodies and presence in the public realm. The starting point of political freedom is when bodies leave their former positions and experience role reversal in the manner of hospitality. 



 Here is our website for this project

Displacement

2022
Collaborative Project 
(Croatia, Cyprus, Iran)

It is difficult to explain what a body does and what is done to a body. All bodies are in a cycle of producing, being produced and becoming.  The private relationships between people in their homes are somehow related to the outside of their homes. In fact, the main source in shaping human relations in private spheres lies in the public sphere. But what defines the boundary between humans inside a common place and humans outside it? Human living space, whether it is a home or a larger place like a land, gives its members identity and its members are subjects rather than objects. The entry of a stranger into an area with certain people disrupts the order.



 

Home of Nowhere

2022
Worked as: Director/Editor

This is  the public performance based on the bodily presence of performers and its connection with the audience.
I collected some narrations of different people and their relationship with the concept of ‘home’ whether as a private space or a land, country or whatever we call home.
I used the UN refugee agency website and I read actual refugee stories and chose some of dialogues. In addition, I used the book ‘home, a very short introduction’ by Michael Aalen fox as a reference.
The contexts of sentences are universal for all people and the reason that the faces of performers are obscure is that they write these narrations as socio-political bodies. Therefore, every individual as a political body among other bodies emerges from their private realm and acts in the society. It is this presence of bodies that forms events in societies.
 


Common Realm

2021

Worked as : Director/Performer
Performed at : Reconnect Festival

The main idea in this performance is based on some of Hannah Arendt’s theories concerning “the private and public realms” in her book “The human condition”. During the pandemic of COVID-19, when social interactions have been transferred to virtual forms of connection, and social connections are mostly limited to video calls behind cameras(of smartphones, laptops, etc.), this performance intends to represent our relationships dominated by virtual forms of connection; By representing video calls in private realms (home) between members of a disjointed family (Father, mother and daughter). Two cameras individually narrate the inner and outer space of the house. The three characters sit down in a line without any movement  or to physical interaction; A static camera records them from above while they make video calls. Another camera, which moves, represents another part of the daughter’s life, that tries to go outside. When the connection between family members during a video call is lost, the moving camera goes outside. The moving camera shows the inside of the house, where family members are making video calls, from outside. That is the moment when the daughter enters the public realm and the audience and the daughter start to communicate. The characters on some level appear to be psychotic, as a result of being locked down for a long time. Some images are present inside the house and some are outside, which are a part of the narration.

Here is a link to the festival's website

Several Narrations

2021

Worked as : Writer

"Several Narrations" was an online performance, which took place in Zoom. It was the BA final project for Paria Mohajerani. Different narrations on a single image were made in different rooms in Zoom, focused on being present in a special place where the image was taken.

Project "Home"

2020

Worked as : Performer

During the pandemic of COVID-19, and the increased attention on social media that the pandemic caused, we are working on a series of conceptual video theatres that focus on the concept of home and private space. The first of the series is called "Beds" which is completed, and the second one is currently being worked on and is called "Routine".

Director : Paria Mohajerani



Sublimation

Second version
2020

Worked as : Director/Writer
Performers: Zahra Mohseni,Paria Mohajerani

Sublimation was performed in 11th monologue festival in Tehran university of art, around 7 months after having been performed in "Carnival of violence". It was selected out after reviews by the jury for a final performance, although the festival was cancelled due to the pandemic of COVID-19.



Here is a link to the website of the festival.

Sublimation

First Version
2019

Worked as : Director/Writer

Performed twice on Carnival of violence under supervision of Dr. Naghme Samini on june 14th 2019 in "Rooberoo mansion", Tehran.


For more information about Carnival of violence, click here


Poolaki

2017

A short film by Mehdi Bagherkani
Worked as : Script supervisor


The Black Cat

2017

A puppet performance based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The black cat"
University of Tehran
Worked as : Dramaturge/Puppeteer 


The Seagull

2017
A performance of Chekhov's "The Seagull"
University of Tehran
Worked as : Performer


Hamletmachine

2016
A monologue performance based on Heiner Muller's Hamletmachine.
University of Tehran
Worked as : Lighting supervisor