FACING THE REAL

FACING THE REAL OMID KHEIRABADI

1 PORTFOLIO,

as a life story FACING THE REAL

I AM GOING TO STUDY ABROAD!

A sad bedroom in a A fancy villa in the stinky apartment near countryside of Tehran, the border of Belgium, August 2017 Maastricht, August 2017.

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This is an excursion, with my new classmates in the suburbs of Maastricht. Everyone loved this beautiful source of inspiration and heaven on earth. I detested it. We were told to design a hut for ourselves there, to take refuge from the city to the nature! No thanks! A DAMN EXCURSION

4 FACING THE REAL NATURE STINKS

It was a horrendous experience, all the mud, and clouds and wind. Worst of all the crows. It was cold and not at all beautiful. I was worried the whole time. The Crows, Photograph, original dimension 10*15 cm, 2017. The Crows, 5 I’D HIDE

As a result, I decided to hide myself. Hiding , Photographs, original dimension 10*15 cm, 2017. By Magda Mierzejewska. FACING THE REAL MARY IS IN THE

KITCHEN

I see her everywhere here. There’s no dad in the picture “like we haven’t seen that before!” The script is not creative enough. She just didn’t tell anyone about sex. Not a good role model. Madonna of humility,Niccolò Di Buonaccorso around the year 1350, the Louvre Museum. the year 1350, Louvre Di Buonaccorso around Madonna of humility,Niccolò 7 FACING THE REAL

VIDEOI:

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MERGING REALITIES

I used to go to the with my dad to pray. 9 FACING THE REAL

A Muezzin* from the tower of Radium Fabrik cries for prayer, while I have stopped praying long ago. * [a man who calls Muslims to prayer from the minaret of a mosque.]

On the left: Bosscherveld industrial estate in the Front Kwartier district of Maastricht, the chimney tower of Radium Rubber. photograph, original dimension 10*15 cm, 2018.

On the right: 2300 years old Mosque, , , photograph, original dimension 10*15 cm, 2018.

10 FACING THE REAL WOULD YOU DO THAT PLEASE?

McDonald’s was the only place in Maastricht which got me a work permit to work as a “foreigner”. This capitalistic monster helped a poor student to survive. He is changing garbage bags . This picture is randomly shot from a screen in McDonald’s security camera by one of my colleagues, Abode Karkanawi, 2020. in McDonald’s a screen is randomly shot from This picture 11 FACING THE REAL A TRANSITION

I served 19 months in the Iranian army in the artillery forces in Tehran, I worked 19 months in McDonald’s Wyck in Maastricht. A McDonald’s crew member outfit vs an Iranian Army Sergeant uniform. member outfit vs an Iranian Army Sergeant crew A McDonald’s 12 FACING THE REAL A 3ds computer drawing of a McDonald’s French fries box, 2019. French A 3ds computer drawing of a McDonald’s 13 FACING THE REAL Metamorphosis of a tough soldier into a fries box, screen print, computer drawing, 2019. Metamorphosis of a tough soldier into fries box, screen 14 FACING THE REAL A TOUGH SOLDIER A tough soldier, Photograph, original ratio10*15 cm, 2019. By Magda Mierzejewska. A tough soldier, 15 FACING THE REAL Shaving, a series of photographs, original ratio10*15 cm, 2019. By Magda Mierzejewska. 16 FACING THE REAL WE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOUR HAIR, DON’T WORRY.

“Trimmers Corridor” the entrance of the exhibition, visitors were kept inside the corridor to listen to the shaving stroy for almost 10 minutes, cardboard boxes, 280*90*210 cm, 2019. 17 FACING THE REAL

VIDEOII:

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A Tough Soldier exhibition space, October 2019. A TOUGH SOLDIER

19 FACING THE REAL The design process, different sketches for the installation, 2019. different The design process, 20 FACING THE REAL I CAN’T FALL ASLEEP!

Everyone is looking at me, there are just so many soldiers, like 900. We all sleep in the same room. After nine o’clock I hide under my blanket, turn on my fake iPod shuffle and listen to the greatest hits of Oasis. My bed doesn’t stop moving. I can’t fall asleep here!, Drawing, original dimension 21 * 29.7 cm, 2019. fall asleep here!, I can’t 21 FACING THE REAL A HANGING BED

My bed is too big and I can’t move it through the doorway. With a piece of rope, we brought it down from the window. I fell. My neck broke. I woke up. My bad dream, Photograph, original dimension 10*15 cm, 2019. My bad dream, 22 FACING THE REAL

VIDEOIII:

23 FACING THE REAL SPEND THE NIGHT WITH ME (ONGOING)

Two strangers, spending the night together, while they have never met before. How was that before COVID-19 and how is it now? A new world. Screenshots from one of the videos performance, 2020. from Screenshots 24 FACING THE REAL SUNSET Screenshots from one of the videos performance, 2020. from Screenshots 25 FACING THE REAL MIDNIGHT Screenshots from one of the videos performance, 2020. from Screenshots 26 FACING THE REAL AFTER MIDNIGHT Screenshots from one of the videos performance, 2020. from Screenshots 27 FACING THE REAL SUNRISE Screenshots from one of the videos performance, 2020. from Screenshots 28 FACING THE REAL

VIDEOIV:

29 FACING THE REAL RED LIGHTS OF A PRIEST ... (ONGOING)

If they are inside, while waiting for customers, their red lights are on. Commiting a sin and confessing to it are two sides of a guilty journey. On the right: Red lights of a priest. Photograph, 10*15 cm, 2017. On the left: Red lights of a prostitute. Photograph, 10*15 cm, 2017On the right: Red lights of a priest. Photograph, 10*15 cm, 2017. left: prostitute. 30 FACING THE REAL CONFESSION ON THE STREET

By placing some mirrors and reflecting glass panels on the street I aimed to make the pedestrains see their reflections in the sex worker’s windows. The concept of having mirrors on the sidewalk in Rue Varin, 3ds computer drawing, 2018. on the sidewalk in Rue Varin, The concept of having mirrors 31 FACING THE REAL WHO DO YOU SEE WHEN YOU LOOK AT A PROSTITUTE?

I:“Paris, Texas” Wim Wenders, the husband is visiting his sex worker wife,1984. II: “Vivre Sa Vie”, the main character is looking for an empty room for sex, Jean-luc Godard,1962.

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I am standing on Rue Varin, as the prostitutes used to stand on the streets of Paris. I, too, am standing on the street. What makes the difference?

On the left: A screenshot from “Vivre Sa Vie”, Jean- luc Godard,1962. On the right: I am on the street in Rue Varin, Photograph, 10*15 cm, 2017. I,TOO ,AM ON THE STREET 33 FACING THE REAL ARTIST PROPOSAL

“Knocking on the door” [Maastricht] at power, hierarchy, privacy, daily rhythm, repetitions, and dreams through a process of emotional recall in which Yeah? I imagined being back in the sense emotionally and Kom even... physically. I used a variety of mediums including drawings, Sorry? photography, video, and sound installations to present my Wil jij deze kopen? findings.

In the hallway of my stinky apartment, my flatmate who I am also intrested in questioning the correlations between is in his fifties pointing at some underwear. Probably all Christianity and sexual desires. I want to investigate the stolen. It’s almost midnight. The situation and my small similarities resulted from “The red lights of a priest and a knowledge of Dutch tells me he’s trying to sell them. I prostitute” in the social contexts of western and eastern refuse. No, thanks. I go back to my room. What am I doing understanding of religions, from my personal and cultural with my life? I started wondering. I left my family in Iran perspective to see how they intersect or form different and went abroad to study for my master’s degree and interpretations to find cultural diagnoses for prostitution Richard was my flatmate, an amateur drug dealer. I had and its normalization in Red-light districts. I want to to convince my whole family that studying abroad was the experiment and see how the “confession on the street” best decision. Being abroad I realized I will never live in can be made. I think it’s important to point out that I don’t one reality anymore. Two worlds are constantly coming see this part of my project as a separate part of my artistic together, blocking each other. research because this had been generated from my own experiences being faced with these phenomenons while I would like to explore autoethnographically how I’m facing living in Western Europe, questions that may have not reality, how I lived in Iran and now being abroad, combined been created by not being exposed to the actual situation. together, a fictitious reality is made that brings fresh perspectives on some aspects of my life, in the cultural My latest project, is my collaboration, with Dutch artist context of Western Europe and traditional Middle Eastern Hanne van Beek who we performed in a performative societies. The goal is to use my own life experiences to experience together. “Spend the night with me” is a generalize to a larger group or culture. reaction to the current COVID-19 crisis and our longing to connect to others, even strangers. So Hanne and I, who In “merging realities”, two realities emerge as an imagined we have never met before, decided to meet one night and city between Tehran (pictures) and sounds from Maastricht, spend the whole night together in a hotel room by keeping in the past or in the future of my life. In “Tough Soldier”, I the 1.5 meters distance during the whole performance, and interpreted my experiences during military service in the apart in the morning, influenced from the same structure Iranian army, through my part-time job in McDonald’s next of a one-night stand in a normal situation. We recorded to my studies in the Netherlands, within the irony of myself and documented each other in different ways, and now being “a tough soldier”. It was an absurd way of looking working on a way to present our results.

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