the in-between: an emotional landscape
arash fayez
The in-Between: an Emotional Landscape is a research project that explores the concept of in-betweenness. This investigation looks at the suspended space between two locations, two cultures, or two identities. Rather than addressing two points, for instance A and B, this research will look at the segment that separates A and B, pointing to neither one place nor another, but to what can be found in between. This in-between space can resonate with twilight, a period between daylight and darkness; limbo as an uncertain period of time awaiting a decision or a resolution; or barzakh, which is a place between heaven and hell in Islamic theology.
The departure point for this project was inspired by the condition of displaced people who have been dislocated from one place to another. In this context, the characteristics of this uncertain condition reflect on the emotional state of a person without a country. In other words, the subject matter of this exploration is the physical and mental state of a person in limbo. It explores the concept of ‘statelessness’ [apolidia in Italian; from the Ancient Greek ápolis, “without city, state or country”], intended as a situation of being between territories, rather than having no homeland or being in exile.
As a continuation, the actual research expands beyond the specific connotation of in-betweenness that is linked to displacement by examining this phenomenon from new perspectives. To do so, a series of conversations with a number of practitioners from various fields — literature, philosophy, architecture, music, etc.— will be organized, each addressing the topic from a different angle. Joining together these different viewpoints, we will try to explore imaginative and innovative interpretations of what it means to be in between two states.
The objective of this project is to create a collective understanding of an unnamed condition in order to develop a multidimensional interpretation of this phenomenon. This investigation aims to outline the features, attributions, and characteristics of the in-between in philosophical but also poetic terms.
This research will later function as the backbone for a later large-scale installation with the same title. This installation will attempt to portray an imaginary landscape, a poetic representation of the in-between that will have emerged from this investigation.
bio
Arash Fayez is an artist who is currently based in Madrid. He has a bachelor in architecture from the university of Soureh (Tehran, Iran) and a Masters in Fine Arts from California College the Arts (San Francisco, United States).
Fayez’s practice investigates conditions of displacement and notions such as statelessness, limbo, and in-betweenness. Spanning writing, performance, and video, his projects explore situations where the mind is in limbo and the body is in between; in other words, the mental and physical states resulting from being between two locations, two cultures, or two identities. Fayez’s practice looks at the segment that separates two conditions and directs the audience to neither one place nor another but to what can be found in between. His work is primarily based on autobiographical experiences interlaced with fictional and nonfictional content. By employing storytelling strategies, he combines fiction and documentary to construct an emotional landscape that resonates with the in-between.
Fayez has presented his projects at venues such as Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); Musée du quai Branly (Paris); the British Museum (London); the Wattis Institute (San Francisco); Asian Art Museum (San Francisco); Württembergischer Kunstverein (Stuttgart); Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA); La Virreina Centro de la Imagen (Barcelona); i Cineteca Matadero (Madrid).