NOOSHZAD NOORBAKHSH

PERFORMANCE SPACE - THE BIG PICTURE

 

Being in a performance art piece is not something I'd anticipated in my design work in school. This was new and exciting territory for me and my team mates. Our performance module was part of a bigger circuit of performance art segments at UW Bothell, all pieces were linked together for participants.

My group and I decided to focus on the topic of immigration and safety in America, being as all team mates and I are first generation immigrants, and it being a contentious issue right now. We wanted to explore themes of security, safety, and uncertainty, within the realm of immigration issues. 

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OUR PROJECT

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A metal detector, a soundproof room, the official US citizenship test, and an Arduino Circuit Playground. These were all essential props that we used in our project. To set up, we selected a specific site on the UW Bothell campus to set up a fake metal detector gate, all cameras and actors got in place, and we waited for participants.

To give an overview of how the performance panned out, participants were welcomed at the beginning, scanned, let through the gate, admitted to a dark and soundproof room, and given questions from the US citizenship test.  The questions were administered by an authority figure, and a small spotlight was shined on the participant. If they answered 3/5 correctly, they were "admitted to the country" and earned a mock passport to get stamped at other performance art modules on campus. If not, participants were told they would be deported, and would be escorted to exit our module. The Arduino Circuit Playground lit up either green or red, depending on whether correct or incorrect answers were given. Participants who came in groups had a single person selected based on their shoe color, to simulate being "randomly selected". The rest of the participants, if in a group, were directed to the room adjacent to the sound proof room, which included a two way mirror. All the while, participants were informed of camera and recording presence, and could opt out of being recorded. The point of this performance was to garner up the feelings of certainty/uncertainty, and security/insecurity that immigrants in the US may feel. The random selections, double body screenings, ushering to dark and dim rooms, and two way mirror observations all evoked a feeling of slight paranoia and uncertainty, reminiscent of how some immigrants are treated in the US and the barriers they face. Participants were debriefed at the end of the circuit.

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INSPIRATIONS AND RESEARCH

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Inspiration for this project came from some of my team mate's and my own personal experience with being immigrants in the US. More inspiration came from news articles about entire groups of immigrants being banned, and the harsh treatment of undocumented folks. The performance art aspect of this project was inspired by research done into the works of Blast Theory and various ARG games. Players and participants usually do not have a full picture of what they are getting into, and a large part of having the experience go smoothly is by having all performers/actors be engaged in their roles, orchestrating users when needed. 

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REFLECTION

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I found myself really enjoying the way that this project came together. I was afraid that our performance was going to be too ominous or simply not something that people would want to engage in, but I found that most participants were curious and came out seeming understanding of their position. I was excited to apply ​my own understanding of our topic to this specific performance, and I was simply excited to be even performing. I see this project as a way that I stepped out of my comfort zone and applied design thinking to an unfamiliar medium. 

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