Bouncing Narratives
2019
Performance installation in public space
In collaboration with Roza Moshtaghi
First presented at SALT, Oslo, Norway, 2019
Bouncing Narratives is an interdisciplinary performance installation exploring the embodiment of trauma narratives through movement, repetition and spatial experience. Developed in collaboration with choreographer Roza Moshtaghi, the work brings together sculpture, choreography and sound in a shared environment inhabited by performers and audience.
The installation consists of a container with a trampoline forming its roof. Audiences can experience the performance from inside the container, looking up at the performers from below, or from outside in the surrounding urban space. These different viewpoints alter the perception of the body, creating moments of intimacy, disorientation and estrangement.
Through bouncing, sliding and repetitive movements, the performers explore variations in rhythm, speed and physical intensity. The choreography moves between playfulness and discomfort, drawing on experiences of trauma that resist verbal expression and return through bodily repetition.
Developed as Shahrzad Malekian's MFA graduation project at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
Artist / concept: Shahrzad Malekian
Choreography / concept: Roza Moshtaghi
Sound and poster: Lykourgos Porfyris
Performers: Gerd Kaisa Vorren, Trine Lise Moe
Assisting scenographer: Carl Love Nilsen
Costume design: Shiva Sherveh
Lighting design: Martin Myrvold
Producer: Julie Olsen
Documentation: Josh Lake
Supported by: Arts Council Norway, KORO (Public Art Norway) and Oslo Municipality