As we enter the gallery’s door, the space is permeated with an unsettling odor, which after a while, becomes unmistakably acidic. With a closer look, one realizes that curator stands in a corner, an observant figure engrossed in a peculiar task. They are meticulously sealing the gaps in the gallery’s walls and columns with depilatory, known as a traditional hair removal in Iran. This repetitive action continues until the person performing it sustains injuries to their hands, and breathing in the space becomes extremely challenging.
This performance alludes to two events in Iran. In 2015, a series of acid attacks occurred in Isfahan. Not too long after, an individual, using the same cleaning agent, tragically took their own life.
Statement:
This is the smell of nitric acid (HNO3) spreading all the air. Along with it the thick hygienic material is filling the cracks of the wall. A weak sound slowly leaves behind a sermon for nasal mucosa. The smell of acid, with chemical interactions reminds the forgotten sounds; “Do you remember anything?”. The sense of smell exhibits the connection of memory with the environment and resists the oblivion. This sense carries the pieces of history and presents moments of it; a path to leaving behind the violence elegy and the headlines of media; the possibility of confronting a circumstance.
Assistant: Omid Shafizad
