Laleh Khorramian: Water Panics in the Sea

Laleh Khorramian draws from the parallel and chaotic universe of unconscious and intuitive processes. Khorramian’s animations often unfold within the sorts of scrambled space-time configurations that Michel Foucault termed heterotopias, spaces that exist outside the conventions of time, space and history, where microcosm and macrocosm, particular and universal, virtual and real, overlap and blur.

The centerpiece of this exhibition, “Water Panics in the Sea” (12:27 min, 2011) is an animated film that follows a narrative derived partially from the materials of its construction, which includes magnification and manipulation of minute details derived from monotype prints, drawings, video clips, monotypes, and collages created by the artist. This narrative is further structured as an odyssey in which a ship becomes a living vessel traversing vast nautical expanses which discover glimpses of parallel dimensions where things appear simultaneously alien yet somehow intrinsic. The soundtrack for this film was produced in collaboration with composer and musician Shahzad Ismaily, who will be performing at this year’s Donaufest in Krems and has toured extensively collaborating with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Iggy Pop and John Zorn.

The hieroglyphic-like moving shell of the ship in “Water Panics in the Sea” is soloed in “Skin” (35 min loop, 2004) a moving image of a twenty-five meter long drawing that the viewfinder slowly travels across.

Khorramian’s series of elemental studies (Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Ether) continue for “Liuto Golis” (5:35, 2011) reflecting ether, the next and final element. “Liuto Golis” is the first of the Golis subset of sci-fi films in which Khorramian combines animation with live action narrative.

Laleh Khorramian (b. 1974 Tehran, Iran, lives and works in New York) was first introduced to Vienna by Krinzinger Projekte, during a residency there in 2009. “Water Panics in the Sea” was partly made during her stay in Vienna. Her work has been seen in New York, Dubai, Beirut, Milan, Paris, Moscow and featured internationally in exhibitions including Site Santa Fe, New York’s PS1, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Boise Art Museum, and the Saatchi Gallery. Her animation “I Without End” (6:36 min, 2008) which we exhibited in November was included in last years Sundance Film Festival.

Laleh Khorramian
Water Panics in the Sea