POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

‘From March to April...2020’ by Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian

Object No. 2020/78/1

The video work by artists Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian is a record of their life in response to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. It was made casually with their phones and captures daily routines and activities as they continue to make work in isolation from others. It centres on their dining table, which like in so many other homes, was a place for work, socialising and nourishment during periods of lockdown and quarantine. The crowded surface of the table includes drawings and collages in progress, containers of paints, brushes, computer cables and other tools, while shared dishes of food are spread out between the detritus of their working day. The soundtrack captures them chanting the days of the week with a gentle musical score that is interspersed with text from Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and references to the landmark Iranian documentary The House is Black. This assemblage of objects, poetry and other sensory experiences is representative of how they approach their video and installation practice. Time, a frequent subject of their work, is presented here as a concept of duration, as ritual and an invitation to be vigilant. From March to April … 2020 was made in the weeks immediately after the artists returned to Dubai following their work with the Powerhouse Museum staff on their 2020 Biennale of Sydney project I Prefer Talking to Doctor's About Something Else. That project was developed and realised with them as the pandemic began to reach a crisis point globally. Their return to Dubai occurred just prior to Sydney and Dubai going into stages of lockdown. The film is a poetic record of how, even under restrictions, the opportunity for creativity, reflection and collaboration is possible. Katie Dyer, Senior Curator Contemporary, 2020