March 04, 2017
8:00 pm – 9:10 pm

Manhathan Movement & Arts Center, New York City

Farzaneh and Bahareh Safarani were born (1990) and raised in Tehran, Iran, and are collaborative twin artists. They have been painting together since they were thirteen years old, and continue to work inseparably. After training under Farimah Farhatnia, the sisters studied painting, performance, video, installation, conceptual art, and poetry at the University of Tehran. Recently, they received their Masters degrees in Studio Arts from the College of Art, Media & Design at Northeastern University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. They have shown their work extensively in the United States and internationally in solo and group shows, including the German Embassy, The Massachusetts State House, Yuan Art Museum in China, and various galleries.

The subject matter seems to allude to a conversation about identity. Not only are the identical twins raising questions about personal individuality, but they also call attention to their identities as Iranian women – often depicting a black cloth or burka, slightly covering their nude bodies.

The Extent is a video performance their most recent video-performance. The Extent is a combination of film screening, theatre and live improvised music.

It tells the story of a woman who comes out of her buffer that has been making in her whole life in order to protect herself from any stain and impurity. Suffered and distressed, she feels a huge responsibility about her species and humankind. About what human beings do to themselves and to each other. She is undertaking for she is has burden. Her womb is the first world the human being would crucially experience. She is aware of her accountability about the any steps forward human would go toward on their foots from the first time they foots touches the earth. The only area a person would need to stand and be present is as just much as they need for their foots yet their presence can go borderless and timeless. The view of a city would look like a cemetery to her for people won’t be considered alive shall they not care about others. Homes are as like tombs, should it be a bed just a bit lower.
She is carrying an infant, yet she is not happy for she can’t know if they would come to the world. What happens to them? Would they care about each other? Would they be parts of one body? Would they love each other and themselves? She cannot decide whether she wants them to be born or not.