“Breaching Towards Other Futures” Through Divination and Myth
By Mimi Wong
MOREHSHIN ALLAHYARI and SHIRIN FAHIMI, Breaching Toward Other Futures, 2018, live performance at The Rubin Museum of Art, New York, June 29, 2018. All
Three days after the Supreme Court of the United States upheld President Donald Trump’s policy of banning travelers from seven countries, five of which have Muslim majorities (Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, plus North Korea and Venezuela), two Iranian immigrant artists dared to divine alternative realities, ones not limited by borders or geopolitics. Part performance, part ritual and part act of resistance, Morehshin Allahyari and Shirin Fahimi’s collaborative performance, “Breaching Towards Other Futures,” took place at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. Rather than observe from chairs, guests sat on cushions on the floor of the darkened theater. In front of the room, Fahimi kneeled with hands crossed in her lap, eyes closed and partially obscured by a mirrored headpiece. The panels of her moss-green robe flowed out from her body in all four directions.
