Sharp Bodies, Blunt Minds
conversation of 4 feet and metal objects, by Yalda Younes & Setareh Shahbazi (2021)
In November 2020, Yalda received an email from her friend and fellow artist Setareh Shahbazi.
In her message, Setareh spoke of her interest in "disruptive imagination" and the idea of "exchanging body parts," as well as her current preoccupation with “keeping [her] hands busy making small ink drawings of sharp objects”. Setareh then asked if she “could borrow the neuromuscular junction that connects [Yalda’s] accumulated knowledge (emotional, sensual, social, factual, political, technical etc.) with [her] hands, feet and ears”.
A couple of months later, the two of them met at Setareh’s studio, where she had constructed a small wooden stage. With minimal communication, they placed an aluminum sheet between their chairs and gathered up the metallic objects that laid scattered around the space. Discarding their shoes and putting on their masks, they engaged in an improvised conversation using their two pairs of feet, in a non-verbal exchange of thoughts that intensely occupied their bodies during the coronavirus lockdown.
The resulting phone recording captures the raw, unedited and unfiltered energy of two bodies in motion, where overpowering physical experience evades the synthesis capacity of the mind.
In her message, Setareh spoke of her interest in "disruptive imagination" and the idea of "exchanging body parts," as well as her current preoccupation with “keeping [her] hands busy making small ink drawings of sharp objects”. Setareh then asked if she “could borrow the neuromuscular junction that connects [Yalda’s] accumulated knowledge (emotional, sensual, social, factual, political, technical etc.) with [her] hands, feet and ears”.
A couple of months later, the two of them met at Setareh’s studio, where she had constructed a small wooden stage. With minimal communication, they placed an aluminum sheet between their chairs and gathered up the metallic objects that laid scattered around the space. Discarding their shoes and putting on their masks, they engaged in an improvised conversation using their two pairs of feet, in a non-verbal exchange of thoughts that intensely occupied their bodies during the coronavirus lockdown.
The resulting phone recording captures the raw, unedited and unfiltered energy of two bodies in motion, where overpowering physical experience evades the synthesis capacity of the mind.
