Thursday September 3, 2009 - Benoit-Swan Pouffer created his latest installation for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, a collaboration with the Chelsea Art Museum for their exhibition IRAN INSIDE OUT. I was only able to attend on the final evening and regretted not having gone to the Museum earlier to view the artwork so that I would feel more settled while watching the Cedar Lake dancers in the space. Photo above: Kokyat.
My friend and fellow-blogger Evan has written about IRAN INSIDE OUT here with her customary clarity and insight.
Installations are a bit frustrating for me since I always feel that while I am watching one aspect of the performance I am missing something else that is happening a few feet away...even while realizing that you are not meant to see 'everything' at an installation. I hadn't seen the Cedar Lake dancers for quite a while and since I am drawn to them as individual personalities, it was quite an experience to watch them at close range. They are as delectable as ever, with a couple of new faces among the ensemble.
As violence and political unrest continue to grip Iran, the exhibit explores the struggle of the country's younger generation of artists to find the means of self-expression at odds with the old cultural traditions. Fifty-six Iranian artists (including many still living in the country) present 210 works which are organized around themes like gender and sexuality ("From Iran to Queeran") or war and politics (the ironic and powerful "In Search of the Axis of Evil"). As gruesome descriptions and footage of the post-election clampdown continue to slip through Iranian censors, IRAN INSIDE OUT takes us behind the headlines and Benoit Swan-Pouffer's response depicts an emotional range from brutality to the possibility of human tenderness.
In "From Iran to Queeran" the gorgeous boys of Cedar Lake doffed their military jackets and instead sported corsets and high-heels. Slight glimmers of hope for gays in Iran are offset by the basic policy of their being ignored, marginalized...or executed.
In a poignantly lyrical 'pomegranate duet', Marina Masacarell and Harumi Terayama shared a brief intimacy...
...but elsewhere Jason Kittelberger's magnificent physique was wrapped in barbed wire while the squad of soldiers were alternately rigid, rowdy and or cowed into submission. Danger, violence and wariness are everywhere, and peaceful interludes can end suddenly with the sound of the firing of a gun.
Displaying a voice of unusual range and a panorama of expression from savage to sublime, the exhibition's curator Sam Bardaouil took over the musical aspects of the performance on short notice. Moving among the dancers, he exhorted, bullied or soothed them by vocal means.
The issues raised by the exhibit and the performance are things we don't like to think about, and while they are distressing to contemplate from afar it is almost impossible to imagine living in this world - especially if you are a woman...or gay. There are quiet ripples of hope below the surface. But there is a long road ahead.
Above, Swan and Sam Bardaouil join the dancers during the applause at the end of the performance. More of Kokyat's photos to come.