Day 1

prohibition on showing paintings
transmission of the suffocating sensation of the artist...as reaction to closed social environment + misreading of viewer toward pure art....
showing forbidden work using the female body [also forbidden] and its placement in three dimensional restrictive space as reference
[breathing oxygen]
use of diving apparel and breathing oxygen from underwater breathing apparatus as remedy to toxic environment
and as signs to illustrate the tension felt by emergent underground artist
inviting the viewer into her inner most and hidden space by exposure to the glaring light of the outside surface open to interpretation and conjecture.
[recording time 4 hours]
same time period two consecutive days
recording passage of time as political/cultural/personal
the time coinciding with a very restrictive and stern religious event in the artists homeland
[forbidden work]
a book of drawings ... a visual diary rooted in childhood eroticism death
use of the audience by documentation with cctv and sound recording gear ...their ersatz juxtaposition in the environment inadvertently causing the viewer into becoming the viewed
shock of facing the artist in an environment filled with light and muffled sounds achieved by the use of sound baffling headgear....causing audience confusion and motivating them to act in non standard modes as an integral part of the event.
[control/discipline/challenge]
making the audience wait in groups of three
facing the work [a series of drawings in notebook format] creates a curious situation in which the viewer is made to question the necessity of the complex space as opposed to a more intimate safe environment

Day 2

immediately the viewer is faced with a dark tunnel which cannot be traversed unless crouching
[choice/respect]
conversion of the audience cue from day 1 into a bifurcated tunnel inferring a choice and as a sign of respect to the directional leanings of the viewer
the left decoy alternate loops the viewer back to the open air [society]
the right alternate leads the audience into a viewing of monitors [4 hours] from the previous days documentation....ambient sounds outside the tunnel enclosure intermix with the recorded sounds of the event
video feeds from the previous day objectify the tension felt by the artist, illustrated by the intermittent masking of the artists corpus on the monitor by the movement of viewers into and out of the field of view.
[transformation/beauty/self]
transformation of the event into an art esthetic by conversion of the viewer into the viewed and subject into object
[expansion]
expansion of fundamental motifs from the 2 dimensional surface into the 3 dimensional space inside two 4 hour time parallels
transition from waiting audience and dive attire into tunnel
conversion of forbidden drawings and their effect on the audience into tv
existence of closed circuit tv and sound recorders documenting viewer reaction to the work in order to reintroduce the audience to itself is a playful return for the self into the depths of his/her own consciousness
like the childlike figures in the forbidden drawing notebook who return the self of the artist into her own foundation.

Aktion-Reaktion | Performance by Maryam Amini from Mimi Amini on Vimeo.

"One Year's Visual Diary", 2009 - 2010 , by Maryam Amini from Mimi Amini on Vimeo.