Shahryar Nashat
dal 28/4/2006 al 30/5/2006
Segnalato da
28/4/2006
Shahryar Nashat
Praz-Delavallade (old lacation), Paris
The work of the artist investigates fields where the expression of power and coercicion comes to play, in a political, social, religious or psychological context. He presents two works: "The Regulating Line", shown at the Swiss pavilion at the last Venice Biennial and "Modern Body Comedy", his latest production.
Accademia
Very soon, Shahryar Nashat (1975) focuses his artistic research around the medium of video. Since his first art-
work made at the School of Visual Arts in Geneva, and later at the Rijksakademie Amsterdam, he integrates the
subjective experience of the individual in the formal process. This leads to a confrontation between historical
events and socio-emotional processes.
For Accademia, his solo show at Praz-Delavallade, Shahryar Nashat presents two recent works; The Regulating
Line, shown at the Swiss pavilion at the last Venice Biennial, and Modern Body Comedy, his latest production.
In The Regulating Line (2005), the artist confronts an individual to Rubens’ gallery dedicated to the life of Marie de
Medici at the Louvre.
In this vast narrative cycle illustrating "the stories of very famous and heroic gestures" of Marie de Me'dicis,
Rubens intermingles historical characters and allegories to deliver a political message and to affirm the return of
Marie de Me'dicis. The painter created an entire environment to glorify the queen. This monumental baroque opera
finds an echo in the use of images in contemporary propaganda.
The protagonist of the video stands in the middle of this mise en sce'ne. The audience is projected at the core of a
confrontation between the individual and History. The only possible response to this monumental propaganda
seems undoubtedly physical.
Modern Body Comedy (2006), the last film of the artist, is shot on a bare theater stage in super 8mm-Film.
It stages two men in a power struggle that switches between tragedy and comedy, between acting and reality.
Once again, Shahryar Nashat suggests to resolve the dramatic tension by a burlesque physical incident that will
strike up a significant breakdown in the narrative, thus deconstructing the process of making the artwork.
The work of Shahryar Nashat investigates fields where the expression of power and coercicion comes to play, in a
political, social, religious or psychological context. Characters find themselves bound to power struggles in an
atmosphere loaded with psychological tension. They are often filmed in an unstable and precarious environment,
which compels them to restore a balance. Ultimately Shahryar Nashat’s work visually transposes the mental sys-
tems that are at stake when there is conflict.
Opening: 29 April 2006
Praz-Delavallade
rue Louise Weiss 28 - Paris