In Virtual Rectangles
It started with a walk; I was walking in a crowded street in Tehran, and I was trying to maintain the physical distance of the COVID-19 era. Jumping from here to there and going from spot to spot. How does it look like from the above?
-Shaghayegh Yassemi
“In Virtual Rectangles” is the result of three months of planning and discussing; the ideas, the poetry, technological aspects, and connection difficulties. It is a recording of a non-scripted live performance. Four performers (IICSI Researchers Paul Watkins and Leila Qashu, and Critical Studies in Improvisation grad students Shaghayegh Yassemi and Erwan Noblet (2021)), in four different locations (Montreal, Nanaimo, Nantes, and Tehran), in four different time zones. Each had a virtual rectangle to perform in while also watching the other performers’ reactions. The performance was based on a theme from a poem by Ahmad Shamlou (below). The layers of words in different languages came afterwards.
Ah if freedom sang a song
Minuscule
As the larynx of a bird
If freedom sang a song
Minuscule
Smaller even
Than the larynx of one bird
(translated by Shahab Yassemi)
