Serie «Fervor» (Couple at Intersection)

Shirin Neshat

Date: 2000

Technique: Silver gelatine print

Dimensions: 119,5 x 152,5 cm each. Triptych

Edition: 5/5

Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma, private collection long-term loan

Reg. no.: 721

Not on display

Fervor -commissioned by the Wexner Center through its residency programme– completes the film trilogy initiated with Turbulent in 1998, followed by Rapture in 1999. Her incursion into film began in 1997, however, she continues to use the fixed image, as is reflected by the work from the Es Baluard Collection, a large-format triptych that includes a fragment of the beginning of the video installation.

Sexuality and desire, taboo subjects in Islamic societies – especially in the public space – converge in this narrative shot in Marrakech, Morocco, one of the places Neshat films in to recreate Iran.

In the three images, Neshat sets forth a more intimate vision of the divergence between genders; the scene is not played out by two groups this time, but by one man and one woman, the individual – thus reminding one of the negation of individuality in contemporary Iranian society. The two meet by chance in an open, solitary setting, on a crossroads where they halt for a moment and exchange a brief glance as they continue along their path, each one alone. Subtle attraction, in which no contact other than visual is made, is not permitted in Iranian society either, subjected as it is to religious and social control. The triptych ends with the image of the action of the male character, who stops and turns round to follow her with his gaze, another reference to the submissive, passive role of the woman in Islamic society.

S.H.