Leila Pazooki
Theory of Survival
July 19-August 24, 2008
Bay Area Now 5, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Leila Pazooki
What Happens To Ideologies When They Cross Borders
Can an ideology be transplanted? To what extent does an ideology work beyond the context from which it emerges? What happens to our thoughts, our questions and our political attitudes when we arrive in a new place, reach a new context?
In the West, we increasingly feel more knowledgeable about different countries with the often tainted information that we get through the media of these distant lands. We discuss (and decide) their futures freely, imposing our thoughts (wants, needs and fantasies) on their lives. My work contemplates to what extent it is legitimate or even helpful to have discussions as such about complex and layered issues from a far-away place and how these discourses are exploited or misunderstood for the benefit of the new situation in the new context.
