Mishandled Archive: Tara Fatehi Irani (Nuffield Residency 2019/20)
We are very pleased to announce the 2019/20 Nuffield Bursary has been awarded to Tara Fatehi Irani for the development of her piece, Mishandled Archive.
We are excited that Tara is able to come and work with us for our Nuffield Residency, her work is very connected to place; how we experience, occupy and take ownership of the places we are from, and also the places we live… which is very apposite in the world at the moment, and connects specifically with our This Place project at Lancaster Arts. Tara has plans to occupy the Nuffield theatre in quite an unusual way and we are looking forward to seeing how her explorations unfold.
Tara will present a work-in-progress of her work on Friday 17th Jan for a small audience. If you are interested in attending please get in touch producers@lancasterarts.org
About the project.
Mishandled Archive is a body of work that began by making daily installations in public spaces. Over the years Tara has collected images, texts & items mostly in relation to her home country which is Iran. Tara captured these items and installed them in various public spaces every day for 365 days. The collection of items included family photographs, amateur photographs from street protests, letters, correspondence from prison, ID cards, newspaper clippings, postcards, wills & obituaries and these were presented in streets, parks, cafes, trains and aeroplanes. Alongside the installations Tara performed a dance and passers-by became spontaneous audiences of these actions – many people found the documents or photos and wrote to Tara and from there she documented each day’s event with a photograph which was then posted alongside written descriptions and dance scores on an Instagram account. Click here to see the project on Instagram.
Mishandled Archive is a way of inserting the radical political histories from Tara's home country into local public spaces and into everyday actions. She is interested in how a radical approach can become part of the fabric of the everyday. This approach has been inspired by the micro-activism of people (particularly women) in Iran: from the thousand and one stories of Shahrzad to the ongoing efforts to gain their rights in daily life: one step at a time, unceasingly.
“The focused time and access to space and technical facilities during the Nuffield residency will allow me to test the notions and dreams I have had for this project, and nurture new ideas for its development. I am excited to use these resources alongside the feedback from local producers, artists and technician to create a piece that experiments with the possibilities and limits of installation, performance and audience participation. I am keen to make this residency my starting point in making further connections and collaborations across the North West”. Tara Fatehi Irani
About the artist
Tara Fatehi Irani (b. 1987, Tehran) is a live artist and writer currently based in London. Her work is primarily concerned with the ephemeral interactions and mistranslations between memories, words, the body and sites. From deserted buildings, theatres and galleries in Tehran to the Royal Academy of Arts, Toynbee Studios, Battersea Arts Centre, SPILL Festival and Chelsea Theatre in the UK, she has performed at several well-known and unconventional national and international venues. She works both solo and in collaboration with other artists including Karen Christopher, Station House Opera, DARC, 30 Bird.
www.tarafatehi.com
How to get involved
We are looking for a small group of bilingual performers to take part in Tara’s residency. If you would like to find out more, contact producers@lancasterarts.org.
