Tanya Cushman Reviewer's Name Reviewer's Name Welcome. I'm very happy to have you all here. So the idea to this tour came when I met Elisa Andersner, and she told me that she would make an exhibition with artists from Teheran and from Austria under the title, Show Me Three, Give Me Five. So now I ask you at first, if you are in a bar and the music is very loud and you want to order three beers and you cannot speak, what sign do you give to the barkeeper with three beers? Yeah, so we have different signs how to show three beers. This was the idea for this whole exhibition, that cultural codes are different in different countries. When we were talking about that, I thought that's the same when you go back in history. Also codes change. And if we look at old pieces of art, we often don't understand what the meaning is. So we have suggestions and all scientists think, what can this mean? And we already know a lot. But I'm sure there is a huge part that we do not understand. And this was the idea to compare this collection of medieval art with the contemporary art at the Salzamt, where we are going to be afterwards and look at the contemporary pieces of art. I want to start here with this altar because I think it's very important to have always in mind that all the art we are going to look at here at the museum is religious art and it used to be in churches. So it's more or less artifacts and it's not pieces of art because they had a very clear function in the rites of the Catholic Church. So the things we're going to look at are moreover out of the 15th century, so they are around about 500 years old. So these altars were in front in the churches and people were there and they were praying to the altars. And this is the special kind of a winged altar. It's called like that because you can close like doors, these wings on both sides. And then during the week, it is closed. And on Sundays, you open it. And this is a very simple one, but there are more precious ones, bigger ones. And then you have on the inside, on the Sunday side, you have all over gold backgrounds, which is very precious for the Sunday. So here you see saints, and this is a whole program with a meaning. We have to think that people in the Middle Ages were not able to read. They could not read the Bible, and that's why in the churches they had to tell the stories of the Bible. They wanted that everybody knows the stories. They had to tell them somehow through the pictures and also through the Bible. They wanted that everybody knows the stories. They had to tell them somehow through the pictures and also through the statues. And also there were the saints, which were very important in these times. And every saint has a name, and how can you know who it is? So they had to have an attribute, a symbol, a code kind of. And this was often something they held in their hands. So the person in the middle, that's already the problem because it lost its attribute. You see, it had something in the hand, but we do not know what, but we think we know. This is Saint Michael. It's an archangel, and he is the patron against all evil. So often he has a sword in his hand, and he's fighting against a dragon, which is often beneath his feet, or he is fighting against a devil. But he also is the archangel of the last day of the final judgment. And then all people who died come out of the graves, and then Michael has a balance in his hand, and he's weighing the good and the bad deeds of the person during the life. And if you have done more good things, then you will be in paradise. But if the bad things weigh heavier, then you will go to hell. So here we have Michael and people were praying to him because they were hoping to come into paradise. This was something very important, maybe the most important thing for people in the Middle Ages after this life, which not was very happy many times, to come into paradise afterwards. So here on the left, you have Saint Florian, and he is the patron against fire. You see he has a water bucket in and he is the patron against fire. You see he has a water bucket in his hand extinguishing the fire. And here you have Pantalion with his hands nailed to his head. He is a holy martyr. He was killed in early Christianity. And he is the patron for medical doctors. So if your doctor is happy, then you are healthy. So here you already see the program, and it goes on on the sides. Here you have St. Leonhard, and this is very curious, because here the codes already were misunderstood during the Middle Ages. He was a holy monk and he prayed, and through his prayer, prisoners were relieved. So he has the chain in his hand. Here you can see the chain. But people forgot this legend, and then they thought, who is the man with the chain? And they thought maybe he's the patron for the animals because the farmers held their cows and they chained them so that they cannot run away. So during the Middle Ages, he changed. And now he's the patron for animals. So here we have a whole insurance packet for this altar. So not only man shall be in paradise and shall be happy, but also their animals. And here you have Saint Stephanos, and he is for wealth in the house and on the fields. So we also have this part of life. And here we have Egidius, and he is the patron. when you did bad things in the Catholic religion, you could confess and then the priest can say, your bad deeds do not weigh anymore, you have to do some prayers and then it's okay. So he's the patron for a good confession. You see his attribute is the deer. And here you have Laurentius, Saint Laurentius. He also is a martyr. He was put on the fire on this grill he has next to him. And he's also a patron against fire, like Florian. You see, this was quite an important topic because people were cooking on the fire. They were heating on the fire, they had the candles in the house, so fire always was something very, very dangerous. But he also is a patron against the purgatory. And I don't know if you know the concept of purgatory, that is after death, you come into purgatory, and then this is quite not a nice place, but then the good, and then this is quite not a nice place, but then the good, the better ones go into paradise and the bad ones go into hell afterwards. So you could also pray to him to be not so long in the purgatory. So here you see all this concept. Here you have Jesus and his mother, Mary. People prayed to them for any kind of help. his mother Mary, people prayed to them for any kind of help. And here you have a very interesting code of the Middle Ages which exists still. It's the coat of arms of the donators. So this was a donation. There was a couple, a man and a woman, they paid for this altar because if you paid for something then it was also good to come into paradise and this is the coat of arm of the of the lady on the left side and here you have her husband on the right side so a special kind of coat but of course you have to know and that's always the thing about coats they are a kind of informal knowledge. It's like a language, but you do not learn it at school, but you learn it informally in society. So it's quite, if you do not know it, it's difficult to get that knowledge. And we all know it when we go on holiday somewhere and we do not know how to order bread or milk or three beers at the bar. So if there are no more questions, I would like to go into the next room and we continue there. Thank you. Oops, sorry. So here we are at the last judgment when that's the Catholic the last judgment when that's the Catholic belief that on the last day of earth then there is the judgment and all the death they come out of their graves and here we have a very special and very interesting parallel to the exhibition at the Salzamt we are going to see afterwards because there are works about a cemetery and dead people there. And here you see the people, the dead, coming out of their graves on the last day. And people in the Middle Ages, they thought as if they were sleeping and they come out and they are tired, you know, rubbing their eyes like if you wake after a really long sleep. This person here is weeping, so he or she knows that it's a danger of coming into hell and not going into paradise. But here what I wanted to talk about is Christ. Christ is sitting on the globe, on the world, and how do we know that this is Christ? This is the title of my tour today. I thought I gave it the title, The Letter with the Three Seals and the Five Stigma of Christ, in analogy to show me three and give me five. And we always know that this is Christ because he was murdered on the cross and they put the nails through his hands and his feet and then they wanted to see if he was already dead and they stabbed him with a sword into his side, and that's the fifth stigma of Christ. So if you see a man with these five stigmas, then it always is Christ. That also is for people who cannot read. And here you see the twelve apostles that are with him, and on the last day he will come and then he will awaken all the dead. So you see it's quite a pressure that the church made and you could also say it's an abuse of power or quite power because they were interested that people were afraid because if you your whole life are afraid to come into hell, then you will not start a revolution about the things you don't like here on earth. So this was a whole system between the church, the Catholic Church, and the Pope, and the Emperor, and all the noblesbles for the simple people to keep them quite calm. They always said, do not be bad because otherwise you will end up in hell. And you see so many pictures of hell and also the purgatory where I told you before, I will show you how in the Middle Ages people thought that the purgatory would look. We have that here on the next side. So both works are parts of altars. This is the shrine of an altar and maybe it also had wings but this was the middle and this is called a predella which is the lower part of an altar. And here you see in the middle you have this pit with the flames inside. This is the purgatory where when you're dead you come inside, and then the angels come and they carry the good ones into paradise. Here this looks quite nice, like holiday on the lake side. And the bad ones come here into hell, and it's the fire and the pot on the fire, and here you see the angel carrying this poor lad into hell. So if you look at this and you do not know a lot, you were not able to go to school, you do not know how to read, you cannot verify into the Bible if it is really like that. And imagine every day you listen to mass and look at this picture, then we can imagine in what kind of state people were living and that they were afraid. And being afraid and not being in freedom is also a topic we meet in the exhibition at the Salzamt. Are there any things you would like to add? It's a legend legend a legend told so it's just old writing but it's it's in German you you could you could read it if you can read at this time this was not you know it was only few people who were able to read so this is maybe the most precious altar we have in this collection, and it's called the Ecclesberger Altar, and it's only a part, again, of an altar. There has been a fire in the church, and the fire destroyed the shrine, and it's only three wings left, so there used to be four wings. And it's about Mary, the mother of Jesus. So the whole church was dedicated to Saint Mary, and all the stories that are told are about Mary. So this is interesting because Mary is the only woman besides several female saints, but she is maybe the most important woman because she is the mother of Christ. And what I would like to talk about is this scene of Annunciation. This is when the angel comes to Mary into her house and he tells her that she will be pregnant and that her baby will be the son of God, and that it will be God himself. She was not married at that time, which was quite a scandal. She had a friend, Joseph, but the angel told her. Usually, the angel tells her orally, but the very special thing about this altar here that he gives her a letter. So she must be able to read because otherwise she would not understand the message of the angel. So what is your message, angel? So he tells her the message. And how do we know that she can read? Look at the back. There is this bookshelf in her room. So if she has a bookshelf, the code is she must be able to read. And then look at this, at the floor. She hasn't cleaned up her room recently. So it's all the flowers, which is strange inside. But all these flowers are symbols, and they are all symbols of Mary. Mary is the rose without the thorn. So we call her. She is something very special. She is a woman, but she has a son without being. She's pregnant from God. So she's the rose without the thorn. She is the lily. The lily is the symbol of her virginity. And she is the lily of the valley, the little one, my glöckchen in German. And this is also a symbol of Mary. So we have all these symbols and also the Annunciation was nine months before Jesus was born on the 25th of December. So it was in March and March is spring in Austria. So we have so many flowers at this time of the year. Here you see the gold background. I told you the gold background was for the Sunday and the feast, so this is a very precious background here. And the dove is the Holy Spirit. So in the Catholic faith you have God, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. As we do not know what the Holy Spirit looks like, it is always the dove, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit. This is quite a narration, it's quite a story behind this. If you look at it and you do not know the story, it might be quite confusing and mysterious what is going on in this picture. And we will see a picture down in the Salzamt at the exhibition, which also tells a whole story. And if you look at it, you can conceive something of the sentiment in the picture, but you will not exactly be able to know the story. So it's quite similar to this one. So I'm looking forward to be down there and to look at the pieces of art down there. Are there any questions to this altar or anything you would like to add? Then I suggest we go to the last piece of art I want to talk about. This is the so-called naked Christ and it's always a bit of a scandal if you go here with groups, or if people pass here and they look up and some start laughing and some look away. There were also people who said it has to be put away because it is not decent to show it here. But actually, there is a whole group of naked Christs in this time, especially in Italy, and it follows a script about the life of Christ, which is not inside the Bible. So there are several texts that were not put into the Bible. We call them apocryph texts. So they are texts that were written at the same time as the Bible, but then they chose some and they left out some. And in this apocryph text, it says that Jesus was forced to carry the cross naked as a sign of humiliation. If you imagine that we are all in clothes and one of you has to stand naked here, that is quite humiliating. If everybody is naked, it's something different. But if one person is naked, this is quite humiliating. After this story, the Christ was also put on the cross naked. Usually he is wearing a loincloth around his hips, you can see that on the other side, so this is what we are used to. But there are several manifestations of this naked Christ, which also has other meanings. Because in the Middle Ages, especially, Christ was called the new Adam. Adam was the first man, and he was living in paradise with Eve, and they were both naked. And only after eating from the tree of knowledge, they realized that they were naked and they felt ashamed. And then we have these representations with the leaves in front and them standing like that. But before, they were not ashamed. It was normal for them. So if Christ is the new Adam, then he also can be naked because the story goes Adam lost paradise for the whole mankind and Christ through his death on the cross regained paradise for everybody on the earth. So he is the new Adam and that is why on many crucifications you see a skull on the floor next to the cross. You see it here. And this is the skull from Adam, the first man. And you see the new Adam on the cross. And there is one more reason for Christ being naked. It's the proof that God really became man. He is God, but he is a real man, and you can see this. And there is still one thing I want to mention in correlation with the exhibition down at the Salzamt. We think that this Christ was wearing a wig originally, a wig. So it was the hair which was important for him. And if you are all naked but you have this real hair, this is something very important, a very important detail. And they think that originally you could clap the arms and lay him into the grave at the Easter ceremony, and then put him back on the cross afterwards. But later, this was, you cannot do it anymore. So with this, I would like now to go down to Salzamt and continue about codes and symbols in contemporary art. Welcome here to the second part. And now we combine the ideas from the medieval art with contemporary art from Iranian and Austrian artists here at Salzamt at the exhibition Show Me Three, Give Me Five. And you will see with the topics, there are quite similar topics in these pieces of art that we met up at the Castle Museum and here on the foot of the Castle Hill at the Salzamt. So it's the topic of life and death, of life after death, of power and the abuse of power and it's the topic of identity and representation of fear and of hope these are main topics in human life so there are strong codes and signals here in this exhibition and there are two works that deal especially with coats about dressing or being naked. We had the naked Christ up there. And even the word dress coat has the coat inside and the dress. So we have the work by Masa Temuri, which she shows the handbag of her mother. And her mother married before the Cultural Revolution in Iran, and she cut her hair after the marriage to have a change in her life. And she put this cut hair into her handbag that she wore during her marriage and left it there for all the years she married in 1968. And her daughter inherited this handbag with the hair, which was now at the Iranian situation a symbol of freedom to be able to show your hair and to cut it and to change it as you like. So it's a kind of power over yourself and your body. And here behind me is the work of Otto Heinzel, who also was working about clothes and coats, because clothing is a very strong coat. Even here, if we look at each other, what we are wearing is a signal for everybody to check us. What person is this? How is she or he dressed? What does it say? It's a very strong coat and it's very visible. And this also includes this work by Otto Hansel and Masa Timuri, the roles of men and women in society. And there is also the work of Ahu Maher, who shows people after a party. And it's also men and women on this tableau. And you also see a very strong narration. There are many, many details and you think, oh what is happening here? I would like to know about this situation. What story is told in this piece of art? And she tells us that in Iran it is not possible to have a party outside, but if you want to have a party you have to do it in your private room. Afterwards, people still stay together until they are sober again and then only go out. It shows this very special feeling after a party when you're tired, but you're also satisfied because you had a good time and then you stay together. I think that's a very, very sympathetic thought of staying together and not going home everybody afterwards. And it's the work of Elisa Andersner, which is called, What is Your Message? That she asked people when she was on her stay in Iran, what their message was. And that reminded me so much to the angel who told the message to Mary. He told her that she will have a baby. But what is our message in our life? What do we want to tell? Or is there something we want to tell that people 500 years ago are interested to listen to or to look at? I think this is a very interesting question. And then there is the topic about fragility of life and life and death. You saw that a very important topic at the Castle Museum. So it was people were very afraid of death and they were afraid of coming into hell. But still death is a very virulent topic in all our lives because we all have to die and we try to forget this during our lives but still this is crucial in our human life. So there is the work of Amir Bastan which shows a candle and a robot arm with a camera, and the camera watches the candle. And then there is a speaker which makes sound waves, and the camera knows if the candle is still or if it's trembling. And if it's still, then there are strong waves coming out of the speaker so this shows the fragility of a candle and the candle often is a symbol for human life so if it is if it's is extinguished then the candle is dead the man or the woman is dead Mona Natchafisadeh shows life of death in her series, where she took photos on cemeteries in Teheran and in Austria, and she painted the photos. She has a very subtle reflection of this death inside of mirrors that have the form of a placenta, where a baby is growing. So this shows the circle of life and death in human lives. And of course, with death corresponding is the topic of war, which also comes here in this exhibition. So there is the work of Miriam Hamann, who shows a triangulation. This is a kind of measurement of the earth. So all the cards we use are made with the system of triangulation. And then you can draw the borders of any country. And these borders often are the reason for war and crime, which we now see in Ukraine, where Putin wants to change the borders. So this triangulation is bringing up this topic of power and of territorial claims. And war is often the reason why people have to leave their home, they have to migrate. And Zaha Salki is showing showing pictures photographs and postcards the photographs show things that migrants brought from their home and she found out that often they could not bring anything substantial because they had to flee very quickly but the most important thing they brought is their culture. And this enriches the country where they came to. And she finds analogies between postcards from Linz with, for example, a Wiener Schnitzel and the food of people who came from another country. And these are very subtle correspondences. And Essan Bekmaneh shows a video installation which shows a documentary, a propaganda documentary about the war in Iran. And he chose scenes with interviews of people, but you cannot hear anything. And he has again a layer of distance. The video is running upside down. No, it's not upside down, but from the back in reverse. Thank you. It's running in reverse. So you have the distance and you see people talking, but you cannot hear anything and you see them strangely moving. So he is showing this, and he is citing Walter Benjamin with his Angel of History. And this is where I want to close the circle, because we started with Archangel Michael. This was the first person I was talking to in the Winged Altar. And I'm closing with the Angel of History of Walter Benjamin, who says, The angel of history always is looking back, but he cannot go back. But he's taken by a very strong draft coming out of paradise and leading him always to go on. So we cannot reverse history. We have to go with it. And I thank you very much. And now please appreciate that so many artists are here and ask them, because we cannot ask the medieval artists. They are dead 500 years ago, but we have these wonderful artists here. And please go and talk to them and ask them about their artworks. Thank you. Thank you. Most of the time it's difficult for me to speak in front of the people. I asked my friend Mahsa to translate it into German. This is a research project that started very coincidentally. Es ist ein wissenschaftliches Projekt gewesen, das einfach so völlig angefangen hat. که تمام این یه مصطند خیلی بزرگ 55 ساعته از جنگ ایران و عراق توی خط مقدم و من اینو توی کدکی تقریبا به خاطر محدودیت تلویزیون مجبور بودیم که تقریبا مجبور بودیم که تماشا کنیم Es hat was mit meiner Kindheit zu tun, weil damals in meiner Kindheit im Fernsehen gab es die Dokumentation über die Krieg von Iran und Irak. Und weil wir nicht so viele verschiedene Sendungen hatten und immer diese Programmdokumentation im Sendung gelaufen hat, musste ich irgendwie das anschauen. اینکه در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در این وقت در In der letzten Zeit, als ich die Heimat verlassen habe und woanders gelebt habe, habe ich bemerkt, dass es mir einfacher war, diese Dokumentation nochmals anzuschauen, weil ich ein anderes Verständnis über die Dokumentation aufgenommen habe. Und dann habe ich mit anderen Gefühlen, vergleichend mit meiner Kindheit, habe ich diese Dokumentation angeschaut. مسلمان نقطه عظیمت ابتدایی کار من خود مستند بود ولی من از اون شروع کردم به طرف های مختلف رفتن مثل کلن جنگ در تمام دنیا همینطور جنگ ایران هر را خب بیشتر از بقیه جنگ ها ولی حتی جنگ دوم اومد و جنگ اول جهانی Zweite Weltkrieg und der erste Krieg, der zweite Krieg und so weiter. Dann hat die Fokus auf den Iran und diese Dokumentation weggenommen und meine Bildung vorbereitet und vergrößert. به من باش درگیر شدم توی این پروژه مسئله تاریخ مسئله زمان و جینیالوژی بود جینیالوژی جینیالوژی و یک جور نگاه به تاریخ Zeit, Vergangenheit und Genealogie gewesen. Es ist eine Blick an Vergangenheitheit und auf die Geschichte, die damals passiert ist. Aber nicht, weil sie damals passiert war, sondern ich habe versucht, diese Geschichte wieder vorzuziehen und in unser jetziges Leben zu bringen. Und schauen wir einfach, wie das ist, was damals passiert ist und was jetzt gerade ist. Dass das einfach vorziehen. و این همه چیزی هست که اینجا برگرده و اینجا همه چیزی در حال داره و این همه چیزی را برگرده باشید برایش زمان گذاشت برای اینی که بهش نزدیک شد یا درکش کرد و همینطور متنایی که توی پروسه تهوری کار جدا کردم دی آرواید ایست اونگهفر فونفونحالب استونده آرواید این زیبن ویدیوز گویزن ناطولیش فردستو فشدن من موست وکلیش سایت زو نمین Arbeit in sieben Videos gewesen. Natürlich, um das zu verstehen, man muss wirklich Zeit nehmen, alles genau anzuschauen, weil so in kleinen Sätzen kann ich das nicht übersetzen. Das ist fast, du hast, du hast gesagt, das ist fast zweieinhalb Jahre Arbeit gewesen, das sich in sieben Videos in fünfeinhalb Stunden gefunden hat. Davor muss man an Theorie achten, an Texten achten, an die Geschichte achten. Ja, danke. Herzlichen lieben Dank. Ja, also diese Arbeit heißt Messages, die Videoarbeit hinter mir, ist entstanden 2018, als ich in Teheran war. Ich habe eine Residenz in Teheran gemacht, einen Monat lang, und ich habe gewusst, ich möchte dort irgendein Projekt machen, wo es um Frauen und Frauenrechte geht. Ich habe damit begonnen, dass ich Frauen, alle Frauen, die ich getroffen habe, einfach gefragt habe, was ist deine Botschaft? Was willst du sagen? Was hast du zu sagen? Und diese Botschaften haben, also diese Frage hat jedes Mal bei den Begegnungen mit den Frauen sehr interessante Gespräche über Frauenrechte, über Feminismus ausgelöst, auch über Menschenrechte. Und ich habe dort in Teheran in diesem Monat wahnsinnig viele interessante, kleine Anekdoten aus dem Alltag erfahren, die mit Frauenrechten zu tun haben. Und das hat mich dann inspiriert, auch in Österreich weiter zu fragen, auch österreichische Frauen zu fragen, wie erleben sie Feminismus heute, wie erleben sie die Frauenrechte und vor allem das Thema Frauenrechte zu vergleichen. Also die Geschichte der Frauenrechte in Österreich zu vergleichen mit dem Zustand der Frauenrechte im Iran jetzt. Und ich habe dann bemerkt, es gibt nicht viel Unterschied. In Österreich ganz viele Sachen, die im Iran jetzt der aktuelle Zustand ist, genauso war es in Österreich vor der Familienreform in den 70er Jahren. Also da ist nicht viel dazwischen. Obwohl wir immer glauben, es ist so ein riesengroßer Unterschied zwischen Europa, dem Westen und dem Iran. Aber es sind ganz viele Parallelen, die bis vor kurzem bei uns auch noch so waren. Und darum geht es in dem Video. Diese kleinen Geschichten, die ich in Teheran gesammelt habe, habe ich verglichen mit kleinen Geschichten, die ich in Österreich gesammelt habe und verbindend dazu immer kurze historische Momentaufnahmen, wann welche Gesetze verändert wurden in Österreich, in Europa und auch aktuell, welche Rückschritte es auch gibt. Welche Rückschritte es zum Thema Abtreibung in Amerika gibt, jetzt ganz aktuell auch in Polen. Und das ist so eine Mischung, also mich haben diese Gespräche in Teheran inspiriert, nachzuschauen, wie ist es im Westen. Also dieser Aufenthalt in Teheran hat mich zur Feministin gemacht. Und nicht so sehr aus dem heraus zu sehen, oh Gott, in Teheran, im Iran ist es voll arg mit den Frauenrechten, sondern eher, hey, sensibel zu werden. Wie ist es denn eigentlich in Europa? Wie ist es im Westen mit den Frauenrechten, mit dem Feminismus? Und wie viele Rückschritte gibt es eigentlich? Und mein Resümee ist, wir müssen weiterhin attentive sein und weiter aktiv, bewusst schauen, dass wir unsere Frauenrechte weiterentwickeln und auch behalten, dass was schon erreicht wurde. Dankeschön. auch behalten, dass was schon erreicht wurde. Dankeschön. So, this project is the third edition of a longer project. It has two other editions as well. In 2012 I started this series by VidoArt, where I'm standing in front of a camera, far from the camera, and between me and the camera there are a row of candles. And from a far distance I'm trying to blow these candles. And so as the audience, when you watch, you think that it's not going to happen. It's impossible that this person can manage to blow these candles. But at some point when you see, because there is no air in the room, you see that the flame is to start flickering at some point. So I was hoping that the audience would start thinking that there is a chance that this flame can be disturbed and can lead off at some point, can be blown. And then after a few years, I made a second video that I'm actually holding a microphone, that's actually a good example, and I have a candle between my mouth and the microphone. And I have to talk in a way, and adjust my words in a way that I keep the flame burning. So I had this idea that hopefully the audience would think that there is a chance that this flame will die, and I have to adjust myself in a way that to keep the candle alive, right? It's the opposite of the previous work. But now, It's the opposite of the previous work. But now, after many years, I decided to use a robotic arm and a speaker which plays this noise and put them in front of the candle. So what you see here is this loudest speaker. It's basically like any other speaker. It just emits air while it's producing this noise. And it's trying to disturb the flame. So here it's a bit more technical. There is a camera that observes the behavior of the candle and then tells the program should put more pressure or less pressure and moves the robot around. But really here, I just wanted to put two elements that there's no human is involved in this process anymore. Like if I was in the two past videos, I just wanted to exclude myself or exclude any sense of humanity from this candle to make the challenge even higher. Because if back then it was a person, a human being being associated, well, you have to adjust yourself to society or I don't know, like you have to be careful with what you say. Because it was really not my point that it's not about the human himself in this case it was not about me how do I behave or what am I careful or um how do I adjust myself it was really about a very um a very gap in our everyday life and it does not have anything to do with the society or the political system or wherever you are living it really it's just about you and yourself there are sometimes there is a fragment of a second before a moment that there is a knowledge that something comes to language that you realize something and that very millisecond that very delay is the most confusing time I found myself in and that is exactly the moment that you think is it really going to happen or not or is it really like that or not like when you hear a very exciting news or very when you hear a really bad news or the moment you say that I can't believe this is happening what it didn't happen yet and that very moment well maybe I can borrow some terms from Lacanian psychoanalysis, that they say the subject itself is the one that it never exists only when it can split itself with nothing. Like there is this very moment that you create knowledge and that very millisecond this is the knowledge itself. And I just wanted to pinch that very moment and freeze that very moment and live within that therefore I decided to put this candle in front of this robot that when you watch it you're like is it going to be is it going to die now or now or when is it going to happen again and it's just a I find it like very hypnotizing and I think that's it there's nothing more to that applause applause Thank you for coming I think that's it. There is nothing more to that. I wanted to continue this work here, but when I went to the desert, I had little time. When I went to the desert to ask people about it, the subject of the project changed for me. Sahar was working on a project that she used to ask people in Iran what is the concept or the meaning of their dream house. And she wanted to continue the same project also here in Linz in Austria. But while she was doing this project, the concept of the project has changed. The reason for that was she realized that she's missing a code or she's missing a link to talk to people to get the idea of what is their dream house and of course the missing link was their language. و از این زبان خیلی مهم است. بنابراین، گشتم در خیابون دنبال کسایی که همزبان خودم باشند که بتونم ازشون بپرسم. از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این زبان، از این ز who might have same language or she could talk to them in the same language. I had little time, but I was lucky to go to their homes. And in this process to the project. And she had the time to talk to them of course and she wanted to ask them what do they think of a dream house. And she was planning to go to their places and interview them and talk to them. But the project takes another turn and the concept changes again. I decided to ask them a question, to make it a little easier because there was still less time and we had to do it. I asked them, from everyone I saw, what did you bring with you from that house? So all these changes that happened to the project was due to the limited time that she had to finish this project. So she changed the question to make it a bit more simpler and make the process faster. So she focused on this question that what did't bring anything with me, only myself and a bag. If they had a child, only one child, myself and my child. And I realized that when I was talking to them, I would go to the streets and find them. We would sit in a park and talk. I went to the house of two people. But what I realized is that they may not have brought anything the surface, but they she visited two of them in their houses. What she realized that even though they didn't bring any physical, tangible object, what they brought is the culture that they were living or they grew up in, and that's what they brought with them. Thank you. و پرهنگ در نحوه پذیرایی، در نحوه ارتباط، در قضاها، در اونایی که رفتم تو خونهاشون، توی چیده مان خونه ها، همه اینا دیده میشه و اینجا میتونیم اکس همه این اکس ها مال لینس هستش ولی یه لایه دو با میداره، لایه یه که من اینجا به عنوان توریست رو نیمدم But there is another layer, which is that I didn't come here as a tourist. But the last time I came as a tourist, I used to go to the cities. But now, there is another layer, or several layers, that I use to go to the cities. So that culture that she was referring to, that these people brought with themselves, is visible in their hospitality, in their communication, in the way that they cook, in the way that they serve you. And that is what she thinks, that this is the culture they brought with themselves. And these are all what you see in the picture that she took from these points and this attitude that she was focusing on. But also, all of them, they have a second layer. So before that, when she was traveling to different cities, for instance, if she would come to Linz before having this idea, she would see the city as a tourist. And that's why all of them, they have a second layer, that they are the card postals or the postcards that you buy from a city and you post it to the other places but now what she thinks is that instead of the card postal and the upper layer is those people that they are now living here with their own culture Sometimes she was lucky and she could find a relevant postcard to the picture, but sometimes she would just get any postcard and try to find the relevant image and put it behind that. Thank you. Thank you. so weiter. Über meine Arbeit, es geht um, genau, es ist ein bisschen mehr persönlich und auch ein bisschen kulturisch und auch unser Code. Das ist eigentlich eine 60 Jahre Arbeit, das ist die Tasche von Hochzeit von meiner Mama. Sie ist vor 60 Jahren geheiratet und dann nach dem ihres heiraten, wie alle anderen Frauen, dass sie sofort irgendeine Änderung haben möchten, sie schneidet ihre Haare. Und die Frisur wahrscheinlich sagte, hey, nimmst du einfach diesen Zopf und behaltest du das und schaust du einfach vielleicht irgendwann, dass du guckst du nach und vielleicht bringt das was. Weiß ich genau nicht wirklich die Geschichte, was das ist. Und die Frisur nimmt diese Haare und dann entwickelt einfach in einer Zeitschrift. Meine Mama kommt heim und dann gibt einfach die in diese Hochzeittasche, weil das ist der wahrscheinlich sichere Platz gewesen, wo man nicht mehr benutzen hat. Normalerweise wird die Hochzeittasche nicht wieder benutzt und es wird einfach im Schrank gewesen. Und diese Tasche wird einfach Jahr und Jahr und Jahr mitgeschleppt bei uns in verschiedenen Häusern, wo wir umgezogen haben, aber nicht bewusst, einfach immer dabei gewesen. Ich war Kind und irgendwann bei Mittagsschläfchen, ich gucke einfach jede Lücke, was gibt es überall, wo alle einfach geschlafen haben. Treffe ich diese Tasche, sehe ich drinnen und sehe ich wirklich die Haare, Zeitschrift. Hat mich beschäftigt, aber ist einfach hinter Kopf geblieben. Es stirbt meine Mama vor vier Jahren. Erinnert mich sofort an diese Tasche, dann kontaktiere ich meine große Schwester und sage ich, es gibt diese Tasche, könntest du mir schicken. Es wird diese Tasche geschickt von Iran nach hier nach Österreich. Habe ich die Tasche aufgemacht, habe ich die Haare gesehen und was ganz interessant drinnen war, diese Zeitschrift, die auch 60 Jahre hat und drinnen steht auch, heute ist der Geburtstag von Farah Diba. Und die Fotofilm von Farah Diba ist darauf. Und da sieht man einfach dieses Haare, diese Zeitschrift, diese Tasche, geschaffen von der Königszeit, um die Relevanz zu schaffen, um in die Jumboree-Islami zu kommen. Und dann von der Jumboree-Islami immer noch die Grenze überschritten, einfach ohne Visa hier zu kommen. Und das zeigt einfach, dass ein Objekt es schafft, zu machen und einfach hier die Grenze überschritten. Und dann zeigt das einfach die Freiheit, wie wir damals in Iran hatten. Und Iran, wie einfach das Foto von Frauen auf dem Zeitschrift gekommen ist. Und auch die Haare selber an sich. Und hier in dem Foto sieht man auch genau Hochzeit vom Bild von den Eltern und sieht man die Tasche, die sie in ihrer Hand hat und auch sieht man die Haare ganz hoch versäumt ist. Und der Musikhintergrund, der hier läuft, ist auch, dass diese Hochzeitmusik, die ewig bei uns ist, immer und immer gespielt wird. Und egal welche Generation, egal welches Jahr, das wird immer in jeder Hochzeit kommen. Und so wollte ich diese Harmonie auch weitergeben. Wann ist das, dass das passiert? Vielen Dank. Das ist schon alles. Ich war in einem Artist-in-Residence-Programm im Iran. Und so haben wir uns auch kennengelernt, die verschiedenen Künstlerinnen und Künstler. Und ich bin Fotograf und habe natürlich viele Bilder gemacht von Dingen, die mich einfach interessieren. Und habe letztlich die Bilder, habe 23 Bilder dieses zweimonatigen Aufenthaltes in einer Iran-Mappe zusammengefasst. Und da ist eines davon und ich habe für diese Ausstellung nur zwei dieser 23 Bilder und dieser insgesamt natürlich sehr vielen Bildern hier hergebracht. Ich selber möchte eigentlich meine Bilder gar nicht so stark kommentieren, weil ich möchte das offen lassen für die Betrachterinnen und für die Betrachter. Was ich interessant finde, ist, dass man, also heute sind wir ja unter dem Thema Symbolik hier und natürlich ist hier viel Symbolik zu erkennen, Natürlich ist hier viel Symbolik zu erkennen, aber was ich auch interessant finde, dass bei der Ausstellung selbst, also dass nicht nur das Bild selbst eine Symbolkraft hat und einen Code, sondern dass natürlich auch die Macher der Ausstellung sehr Code beladen ist. ist das zweite Bild. Eines davon hängt genau im Zentrum der Wand, eines hängt etwas aus dem Zentrum gerückt. Auch das ist natürlich eine Botschaft, die ist sehr subtil, mit der kann man auch wieder anfangen, was man anfangen will. Auch das möchte ich nicht näher kommentieren. Ja, und ansonsten freut mich einfach, dass wir uns als Künstlerinnengruppe wieder getroffen haben und dass dieser kulturelle Austausch so bereichernd ist und möchte an alle Danke sagen. Welcome to our exhibition. Please let me speak in Persian and Amir, my friend, help me to translate. من زمانی که یک کار ویدیو انجام می دادم، یک کار مستند انجام می دادم، با یه قبرستانی توی تهران مواجه شدم. مونا باید دکیمنتری ویدیو کار دارد و در حال این دکیمنتری کار دارد، while she was making this documentary video, she dropped by at a small graveyard in Tehran, a small cemetery. When she was there first, the first thing she saw was there were big pots که داره انگار خون این آدم ها میجور که فیلمان باید باید برداری کنند، و از اینجور همه چیزی را بردارند و بردارند و بردارند و بردارند به برداری کنند. و اول چیزی که برداری کنند، بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بوده بود I was there for about three months for the film. Then I saw that they were actually living there. They were digging a hole and they had dug the top of the graves. اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه اینکه These families were not homeless. They had a home to live in. But they preferred to live here. The silence here was very attractive to them. So these families were not homeless. They had a place, they had a house to live. But they preferred to be there because they liked the atmosphere and the silence that was in this graveyard. I have been looking for the concept of death, and she was inspired by this piece of poetry by Omar Khayyam as it says that as if you are not as if you don't exist I mean, it's very hard to translate in English. It says it reads as if you don't exist So while you are there for be happy She was inspired by this by this scenery and also the poetry and sort of during this process, the concept of death has changed for her and she doesn't see it as something dark or something black or something like that. She actually sees that opposite and it's as if it's white, as if it's full of light. And she continued working on this project and there are these two images, correct if I'm not mistaken, these two were captured in Linz in Austria. The statue we have in Iran on the grave, and here for me, a man with a completely red shirt on the grave, well, it's a bit of a tribute to Iran and has a meaning of life. Or other signs of plants that exist in all gravestones. In contrast or contrary to the other picture that she took earlier in Iran, there is one element of a person standing on top of a gravestone. And similar to that, there is another one in Linz that this person fully in red is standing on this stone. Or if you look at the other image, there are some signs and there are those tiny elements like flowers and blossoms that are a reminder of life. and blossoms that they remind, they are a reminder of life. And about this mirror, it has a similar shape to the brain and the reflection in it, or it is like the beginning of life and the repetition of it, and it can form a game between them. I just say that the beginning and the end are the same. میتونه بین اینها شکل بگیره صرفا میگم شروع پایان دوباره این چرخه things that they are around itself for instance the here the frames and also if you look or you can touch them and you can move them around and you see some sometimes the light reflection are also changing so she's trying to create a loop by reflecting things that they are around to the shape of the mirror and making you observe this reflection I think the world of death is very interesting. I don't know when I will die, but I think there is something new and exciting about it. Thank you. She is excited to think and to keep discovering what death means and she doesn't know when she's going to die, but she thinks that this process or this journey is going to be something exciting.