Artist Statement

June 11-16, Auditorium, Centre for Contemporary Art Barcelona. Public Event.

Programme in collaboration with Sónar.

Keywords: Myth, memory, immersive, repressed, desert

In the central core of the ancient city of Kerman is a fortress belonging to the Persian empire that, over time, has worn out and turned into a giant dune. In Walking on Sol, I use digital tools to create an aesthetic form to investigate and interweave the possible impact of the fortress’s history and myth on the region and the world.

The current view of the fortress does not relate much to the glorious Persian empire. Now it is a pile of dust. By looking at the fortress’s current condition, the product of erosion and human disregard, this project asks: To what extent does the fortress’s history, and the myths and legends surrounding it, foreshadow contemporary human impact—development and devastation— on the future of the world?

In contrast to the belief of many young residents of the region, who consider the fortress a giant dune, the elders and great grandparents believe that it is the grave of a worm-like monster whose hatred has caused the city’s current situation of drought and scarcity. Through a digitalized speculative aesthetic—as an alternative narrative—Walking on Sol asks: what happens when disregarded beliefs and repressed regions are recalled and thought of in different ways? Can these forgotten remnants of the past be whisperings of the future? And by simulating an abstract 3D environment through digital software, the work asks: what aspects of the future can be imagined and constructed by technology? By juxtaposing the digital and physical structure of the region, Walking on Sol intertwines an aesthetic form for the future of the Past with the imagined Future.

• Nima Bahrehmand is an artist who creates video installations, performances, and technological outcomes. His art practice deals with the humanized world’s aftermath. Nima investigates the capital desertifying operation that generates the repressions that will erupt in the future and impact the creation of the new. His artworks have been included in exhibitions and venues including Digital Native as part of Tbilisi Oxygen Biennial, Tbilisi; xCoAx, Graz; Aaran Gallery, Tehran; Kunstraum Potsdam, Berlin; Marres, Maastricht; Kiosk, Ghent; VAC, Austin and AG Gallery, Tehran; among others. Nima received his BFA from the University of Kerman, Iran; MA from School of Art, Ghent, Belgium; and MFA in studio art, transmedia from the University of Texas at Austin. Nima is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Critical Media Practices at the University of Colorado Boulder. https://nimabahrehmand.com/