DOCTORAL THESIS Through a mishandled archive Fatehi Irani, Tara Award date: 2020 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 05. Oct. 2021 Through a Mishandled Archive Tara Fatehi Irani BA, MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Department of Drama, Theatre and Performance University of Roehampton 2019 This volume is accompanied by a boxed artwork held at the Special Collections and Archives at the University of Roehampton Library and the Study Room of the Live Art Development Agency. Researchers interested in examining this object please contact [email protected] or [email protected]. Abstract This is a long story, written and unwritten histories with a twist, many thoughts – ceaselessly framed and unframed, thought and dispersed –, a dream, a puzzle, an experiment, a multivocal performative experiment with words. Created alongside a year-long series of daily performance-installations in public space by Tara Fatehi Irani, this written experiment is the work of several voices from scattered times and different places. “What remains after the fire?”, they ask. “What happens to dances and stories where material archives do not exist?”, they wonder. “How do we bring change little-by-little, again-and-again, repeating an action every day?”, they muse. “What is possible at the intersection of photography and liveness – in the past, today and in the future?”, they ponder. In an interwoven mesh of histories, a time-travelling Arsonist offers their first-hand narrative of a pyromaniac researcher who destroys archives through millennia to discover other ways of archiving and engaging with archives. In a near future, a mythologist explores repetition, endurance and daily micro-activism through Shahrzād and her sister Dīnāzād of A Thousand Tales. An unfinished draft of a research on the alternative gesturality that emerges through engaging the bodies of the performer, passers-by and audiences is published here for the first time. And a future web-archaeologist discovers remnants of Instagram and Fatehi Irani’s archive in ruins of the digital world. These digital debris initiate several new artworks in the 22nd century. In addition to their specific areas of research, these different voices are exploring how we think through, speak to and write beside an art practice. They practice ways in which creative and critical thinking, writing and making can develop alongside each other without undermining either creativity or criticality. These voices embrace the unfinished, the ambiguous, the fragmentary, the uncertain and the never-ending. “Where is the end, when there is no end?” “What is the conclusion when there is no conclusion?” Contents Someone Was, Someone Was Not (i.e. Once Upon a Time) – YZ and Tara Fatehi Irani . 1 A Thousand (disappeared?) Tales – Shreen Kran and Anahid Ravanpoor ............ 25 On Frame Story .............................................. 33 Survival (or) Disappearance: What Happens After the Fire? – The Arsonist. 49 An Open Invitation to Punch Your Heart – resaoM ranoH and Wang Shu ........... 65 Fools, Kings, Ashes and a Courtesan – The Arsonist ............................ 73 The Affairs of that One Night – Anahid Ravanpoor ............................. 93 On Why We Use Which Title .................................... 94 Traces of Blood in the Machine – Wang Shu .................................. 101 A Warm Water Situation – The Arsonist ...................................... 107 A Jolly Eulogy for Instagram – Wang Shu .................................... 115 How’d you say ‘peace’ in Hebrew? – Priya Esavi ................................ 123 Here Once Was – The Arsonist ............................................. 127 Say Cheese – Wang Shu ................................................... 137 Performing Destruction – The Arsonist ...................................... 145 Micro‑activism: The Long, Twisted But Not Vague History of Sha and Di – Anahid Ravanpoor. 153 On Genealogies of the Two Women ............................... 154 On Alternative Modes of Resistance ............................... 160 Silent Massacre and the Seductive Dwarf – The Arsonist ......................... 171 The Omnipresent – Wang Shu ............................................. 185 Inside the Kneeling Camel – The Arsonist .................................... 193 The Books Inside – Anahid Ravanpoor ....................................... 201 On Itinerant Storytellers as Living Archives .......................... 202 On Collaboration ............................................. 206 On Theatricality and Tricks ...................................... 211 A Taster for the Non‑Divergent Live and Still – Wang Shu ....................... 215 Raise Your Arm In The Air, And Swing – Abiodun Tagoe. ........................ 223 The Understated Adventures of Miguel De Palomares and other Short Stories – The Arsonist ....................................... 237 ... don’t, that your joy is my joy ... don’t, that your joy is my joy ... don’t, that your joy is my joy – Anahid Ravanpoor ............................ 243 On Repetition ................................................ 244 Amongst The Books We Will Proudly Burn – The Arsonist ...................... 249 Sisters, Swollen, Touch, Travel: Lessons in Web‑Archaeography – Wang Shu and Chen 259 Be Zaban‑e Bizabani – Anahid Ravanpoor .................................... 265 On Translation and Transformation ................................ 266 The Ongoing Saga of Dead River – Clotilde Pons .............................. 271 Heated Stories from a Long Lasting Fever – Wang Shu and Malika ................. 275 A School Holiday of Sorts – The Arsonist .................................... 283 Centenary of the Unforgotten – Wang Shu ................................... 293 A Pile of Marx. A Pile of Lenin – The Arsonist. ................................ 299 The Unfinished Tale of the Obsessive Itinerant Women – Anahid Ravanpoor ........ 305 On the Impossibility of Closure ................................... 306 A Dream in Lieu of a Conclusion – YZ ...................................... 311 Bibliography ........................................................... 319 Acknowledgments This project was made possible with generous funding from a University of Roehampton VC Scholarship. I enjoyed every step of this journey – almost every step of it, well, most of it – thanks to the support of some of the kindest and most intelligent people who were with me along the way. This would not have happened if it weren’t for Simon Bayly’s incredibly generous presence, patience and expertise all through the way, pushing me to do what I thought was impossible; and Emily Orley’s boundless motivation, knowledge and understanding at times when the future seemed very blurry. Their meticulous feedback has been invaluable in shaping my writing. Lois Keidan, CJ Mitchell and everyone at the Live Art Development Agency have been immensely supportive, connecting me to people, practices and audiences who have affected my work and thoughts. I feel very fortunate to have met, talked to and thought with Giulia Palladini during this project. I am forever indebted to Adrian Heathfield for his ongoing support and guidance in the past few years and to Joe Kelleher for being there for me all the time in a fraction of a second. Advice from Ernst Fischer put creativity at the heart of this project and I am grateful for the stimulating conversations I had with PA Skantze, Eleanor Roberts and Leslie Hill. Sarah Blissett and her Lomentaria Articulata, Rachael Nicholas and Bettina Knaup made this a more joyful and less solitary experience. Pouya Ehsaei has been there for me and encouraged me every single day. Setareh Fatehi Irani and her handwriting in silver were present from afar. Yasaman Fayyal expanded the scope of my practice. Shayan Mortazavi listened to my rambling half-lectures many nights. Sarah Feli, Ahmad Kadivar and Ahmad Jafari helped me access resources I did not have access to. Jemima Yong photographed my work with delicate attention. Massoud Azizpour pointed me in new directions. David Caines, Katayoun Forouhesh Tehrani and James Tristram were generous with their design wisdom. Above all, Sonia Mahmoudi and her unceasing micro-activism, Mani Fatehi Irani, his love for photography and passion for exploring mountains, rivers and streets are present at every step of this work. And what would this be without those who let me into their lives and their stories: Parnian, Sakineh, Morteza, Sona, Shokouh, Bahman, Manigeh, Hossein, Forough, Sorayya, Abbas, Soheila, Helgo, Mutti, Shahed, Amir, Pari, Forouzan, Taji, Nimtaj, Mariam, Asghar, Bijan, Edeltrude, Hatef, Hessam, Mariam, Nezhat, Iraj, Eskandar, Banoo, Babushka,