55:56
A multimedia installation by Baharak Khaleghi &
Curated by Sophia Feuer & Laine Corfield
October 4 - November 16, 2019
"For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." (I Corinthians 11:8-9)
"In them [gardens] are women limiting [their] glances, untouched before them by man or jinni.”(Ayah 56, Sura Ar-Rahman)
Houris are described as incarnations of perfection; beautiful women who are gifted to men in heaven. Harmful ideologies of a “perfect woman are written into texts across cultures, creating paradoxes in which women are scrutinized for inevitably falling short of these standards. Through satire, Baharak and Behnaz Khaleghi begin to subvert our expectations of this ideology by asking questions about women’s relation to patriarchal structures.
Aggregate Space Gallery presents 55:56, a multimedia installation, exploring an alternate and private space for houris, where they are able to embrace and indulge in both humanly and heavenly desires, free from the expectations of others. This exhibition is curated by Laine Corfield and Sophia Feuer as the culminating project of Aggregate Space Gallery’s annual intensive Curatorial Fellowship.
Opening Reception
Friday, 4 October 2019
6-10pm
Second Saturday Artist Talk
12 October, 11am
Aggregate Space Gallery
Warehouse 416-Unit E
416 26th St.
Oakland, CA 94612
Frozen Under, May 2016
My piece, titled Frozen Under, is an exploration of the unfamiliar acoustics of the underwater soundscape through the various textural sounds of cracking ice. I looked at that effects that the transduction between the mediums of air and water had on sound waves and the way that humans experience the audibility of sounds differently underwater. Humans are very well adapted to using their own soundscapes to orient themselves within physical environments, therefore being submerged in water alters this sense of surrounding and can be quite disorienting.
I started by conducting numerous recordings of the activity of ice by freezing a contact hydrophone into blocks of ice and dropping the ice into hot water. I captured many different, unique, and unexpected consistencies of the ice. These recordings were then played into the Olympic sized pool through underwater speakers at the Athletics and Events Facility at Ithaca College on May 3rd 2016, where swimmers and listeners could hear the piece only by submerging their heads underwater. A separate audio piece was played above the water where booming and atmospheric sounds of ice echoed through the space, contrasting with the textures playing below the surface.
A special thank you to Joshua Bonnetta and the ACP Sound Art class of 2016
Meet the Community, Part 2, 2016
Meet the Community Part 2 is a video art installation that was displayed on April 11th 2016 at the Cerrache Art Department building at Ithaca College. Serving as the sequel to Meet the Saint Mary's Community (a short film highlighting the positive impacts of a small religious community) Meet the Community Part 2 contextualizes footage using formal elements of sight and sound to construct a dark and looming atmosphere. The aim of this piece was to formally explore the way that media can be used to construct images and the dynamic between fallacy and truth that is inherent in this process of portrayal.