Turbulent
Turbulent is a short film by Shirin Neshat. It is a grey scale video of two performers one male and the other female. The male’s audience where mostly men, seated and dressed in white while the female’s audience is empty. Throughout the male’s performance his back is turned to his audience. Within the performance art this is understood as a form of disrespect. The Artist intent was to explored binaries in society in many ways. At the end of his performance, he faces the crowd, bows and is applied for his performance. This shows the artists understanding on the acceptance of the normality, that is it acceptable for a man to be disrespectful. The female performer however did not have an audience, therefore emphasizing women’s roles in society as the minority and social norms. This exploration of binaries is constant throughout the short film.
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Neshat explores the polarity between gender roles through visual aesthetics, technique and sound. The vocal of the male performer was simple and constant; acceptable. The vocal range of the woman was different, it had more depth and range. Her performance was also more emotional and passionate throughout her performance. The echoing, over lapping and glitching in her voice and body language throughout her performance added to the visual aesthetic of the film. This technique emphasized the effects of her voice as if it created turbulence. It plays on the role and purpose to disturb, shake, change things as it related to women rites. It represents a cry out for attention which says a lot about the efforts of change in women role in society.
