The shops close as the call for prayer echoes. The city is in a sudden halt. Shopkeepers rushing out and closing their shops, leaving behind closed shutters- blank and empty, in silence. There's something beautifully dreadful about it. The city is in a state of meditation. In this sense, the call for prayer becomes a city performance. The shutters closing and opening becomes a performative ritual, a collective transformative experience that is particular to the city and how it is experienced.
PERFORMANCE BASED VIDEO SERIES
A State of Play, is an ongoing meta-performance based video series that explores representations and meanings through body movement and adopts the politics of play to envision alternative ways of being witnessed. It playfully challenges the gaze through preconceived notions of womanhood, identity, and public exposure. The artwork combines the hoop, which is essentially a child’s toy, with what appears to be a veiled woman, which at the time was the most recognized cultural signifier of womanhood in Saudi Arabia and the highlights the anonymous feminine body. That combination was able to collapse time and space, bringing forth the child and the adult to exist in the present moment, fully integrated as one, creating a new entity that exudes flow and freedom, all within the boundaries and limitations of a circle. The artwork foreshadowed the shift in attitude towards entertainment in Saudi Arabia that we are witnessing today and highlights the use of play as a cultural transformation methodology.
In 2016, Instagram featured a video from the series “A State of Play”, contributing to its global generating over 5 million views on Instagram alone and was the first Saudi artist to be featured on Instagram’s official account. The response to the viral video series positioned it at a thresh- old of polarities, of praise and criticism, what’s acceptable and what is not, and followed by a flow of assumptions of what the artwork really means. The niqab/veil is a peculiarly interesting piece of garment. How can a black piece of garment restrict and allow, empower and oppress, protect and expose, all at the same time? The niqab created an ambiguity around itself, which allowed perform invisibilty. It transformed the work into a viral meme that was copied, repro- duced, manipulated, degraded, diluted, misrepresented, and completely taken out of context. The absence of absolute control on the internet allowed for unintended and unforeseen results that contributed to the deterioration of the representation and the authority of the artwork.
more about this project @almutanaqibah and here.
A performative video series that took over the web. The web took over a performative video series. A STATE OF PLAY. 2014
original released video
Capture from public performance in the Fridge, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai - UAE. Photo Credit: Nidal Morra
Featuring Subrosa Band and in collaboration with Culturunners.
This improvised performance was shot during Balqis’ residency at @utahmoca , where she was invited to be their first international artist in residence. Al Rashed created an installation piece in response to the centrality faith in the urban environment in the form of focal urban structures- the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City and the Kaaba in Mecca. This reflected the parallels between spiritual and urban cultures in Saudi Arabia and Utah; especially the symbolism of creativity and shared history and experience that connects cities of pilgrimages together. Moreover, both cultures shared a common history with salt. In her residency, Alrashed produced a large sculptural installation titled “Cities of Salt” made with salt and black fabric. She later collaborated with Rebecca Vernon, founder, guitarist and vocalist for the Salt Lake City doom metal band-SubRosa. As Balqis was interested in exploring the commonalities between Salt Lake City and Saudi Arabia, this collaboration was the catalyst of this exploration. Rebecca is a practicing Mormon playing in a doom metal band, as Balqis is a Saudi artists playing with a hula hoop. Both artists are experiencing dichotomous relationships with their identities and social environments, taking center stage in these discourses. The Salt Flats was a significant backdrop to this performance and became a sterile presence in this narrative. Salt is necessary for life, but it is also used to preserve and discourage the growth of unwanted organisms. Too little salt kills, yet too much of it also kills. This performance explores the dual quality of salt and its detrimental consequences by mediating between these dichotomous iconic phenomenons.
This performance of A State of Play is in collaboration with @culturunners ft. doom metal band @subrosaslc, performed at the Salt Flats in Salt Lake City.
Special thanks to @stephenstapleton for making this happen. @matteo_lon for videography, @brianmayadesign for assisting and of course Rebecca and Lindsay from @subrosaslc for being present and willing to create this magical performance. Find the full performance on my website.
This video is silent.