This was a proposal for a performance accompanying Garden Party at the Austrian Residency in Tehran. The party did not happen, so the performance was cancelled accordingly.
Get the final proposal in pdf format here.
You can get Hossein Hosseini’s draft for the proposal in Persian and pdf format from here.
You can view Roxana Piroozmand’s visual draft for the proposal here.
Proposal for an Event at the Austrian Residency in Tehran (1)
15 Aug. 2010
Sketches by Zahra Hosseini
I. Description
The event, accompanied by music performances and screenings by other artists, is designed for 40 guests enjoying a garden party. Ten members of the group, aka cutartists, help make the performance happen. They are recognizable from the guests through their formal dress, cardboard masks and millstone ruffs (Fig.1)
II. Procedure
The performance happens in three phases: inauguration, explanation and application.
A. Inauguration Phase
During this phase, cutartists wait for all guests to arrive and make themselves at home. As the party begins, the guests gradually realize the presence of a large cardboard box (3*3*2m) standing on the terrace emitting light from the perforated group logo on its sides (See Fig.2). By the sound of drumming or a bell, the guests are invited to gather around the box to watch the box open up after a short speech. Meanwhile, brochures explaining the function of partying tools in Persian and English are distributed among the crowd. These resemble usual brochures of home appliances with technical drawings. Guest will keep these with them till the end of the party and are allowed to take them home once the party is finished. Guests are also asked to choose from the juices that will be served by the cutartists in paper-cups. (Fig.3&4) This phase lasts one hour.
B. Explanation Phase
As the box opens up, guests get a view of a large pyramidal cardboard ‘structurl’ holding 20 partying tools prepared by cutartists. (Fig. 2) Guests return back to the normal course of the party for a quarter of an hour as the cutartists divide into groups of two, each taking responsibility of presenting four partying tools in Persian and English to every one or two guest (Fig.5-9.) The presentation is brief (less than 30 seconds) and corresponds to the instructions indicated in the brochures. Each two cutartists do a demonstration of the way tools are applied and check the boxes on guests’ brochures to keep track of which tools are presented to which guests. The cutartists move back and forth between the shelf and the guests until all guests are presented with all partying tools. The phase takes one to one and a half hour to complete parallel to other party procedures.
C. Application Phase
Guests are welcome to use any tool they wish to communicate with one another and make the most of the party. The last two phases blend into one another without a clear-cut distinction as cutartists retreat and gather around the pyramidal cardboard structure. The partying tools are finally presented for sale for the symbolic price of 50 Euros. The phase lasts from 30min to one hour.
III. Specification
General Idea:
to provide guests with partying tools and the necessary guidance for their application.
Duration: 3hrs
Number of performers: 10 cutartists
Material:
Cardboard (70sqm), wet glue past, 120 paper cups, orange, pine-apple, pomegranate and grape juice for 40 people, brochures (40)
Number of Guests: 40
