This wall grows at its root

KWP production

There is a pho­to archi­ve docu­men­ting the random events occur­ring in a par­ti­cu­lar pla­ce in Tehran. Their col­lec­ti­on con­sists of arbi­tra­ry ima­ges showing us a cho­re­o­grap­hy of ano­ny­mous charac­ters pas­sing by, gathering at, moving through, and moving with the gates of Tehran University, from befo­re the revo­lu­ti­on of 1979, up until the pre­sent day.

The inspi­ra­ti­on for this pie­ce also comes from the tra­di­ti­o­nal Persian prac­ti­ce of Pard-e-Khani, a way of sto­ry­tel­ling, usu­al­ly per­for­med in the streets, on public squa­res, and in cof­fee­hou­ses. These sto­ry­tel­lers take pla­ce next to a big han­ging pain­ting and tell the audien­ce about the secret sto­ries hid­den in eve­ry cor­ner of the ima­ge. Which tra­ces are left by subt­le soci­al acts, his­to­ry, the stu­dent move­ments, and other encoun­ters in the infra­struc­tu­re of this public pla­ce?

Guided by a set of sco­res with instruc­ti­ons on how to reach the gates, the per­for­mer cre­a­tes a fluid spa­ce bet­ween audien­ce and ima­ge for the unw­rit­ten sto­ries of the peo­p­le who are always the pro­ta­go­nists of a city’s epic.

Concept & per­for­mance Sana Ghobbeh Dramaturgical advi­ce Maarten Vandenbussche Production Kunstenwerkplaats