Shirin Neshat: Fervor
Exhibition Dates: Sept. 7, 2018—Jan. 19, 2019
Reception Date: Friday, Sept. 7, 2018
Crowd from Back, Woman Leaving from Fervor series, 2000 / Shirin Neshat (Courtesy: artnet)
Filmed in Morocco in 2000, Fervor is a two-channel video that takes place in an allegorical Iran. The video features a female protagonist on one screen and a male protagonist on the other. They pass on foot in route to a gathering where a mullah preaches to a segregated crowd about being chaste. The two characters give each other sideways glances and do not act on their clearly amorous desires. Their love remains unrequited, their relationship unresolved. This understated work of art is titillating and frustrating, revealing Neshat’s layered intentions. She is specifically interested in the problematic position of concepts like temptation, sexuality, and desire in the Middle East, but is more broadly interested in the tension created between individuals and the social order.