FATIHA
VIDEO-PERFORMANCE/SHORT FILM, TWO CHANNELS, 00:02:06, 2012, U.K-IRAN.
I take water from the river Darakeh in Tehran and the Thames in London, with which I wash the steps of the Iranian Embassy in London, and the UK Embassy in Tehran, respectively. Both diplomatic missions were closed in early 2012 following the incident in which Basij militants attacked the U.K. Embassy in Tehran (the U.K. expelled Iranian diplomats and ended all relationships with Iran). The Embassies started their Mission after many years. This incident resembles the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 since there is no relationship between Iran and The U.S. The Muslim notion of “Fatiha” (fatehe) stems from the Q’uran and refers to a ritual ablution of graves. Muslims pray it in all five prayers during a day. It also means “an ending.” Fatiha was shown in the Export-Import video program at Documenta 13th in Kassel Germany 2012.