Dream Catcher

Medusa, 2015, Yarn, wool, recycled packaging, branches, 64”x94”x15”

Dream catcher, 2015, Installation view in one of the rooms of the house (detail), Fabric, wool, ceramic, branches, wood, cardboard, plaster, found objects, light, Dimensions: variable

Dream catcher, 2015, Exterior view detail, Fabric, wool, ceramic, branches, wood, plaster, found objects, Dimensions: variable

“Dream catcher” is an interactive and collaborative project by an underground collective called In Cahoots, consists of artists and activists in Iran. This project is instigated and created by Bita Fayyazi, Iranian artist and pioneer in the field of public art projects, and sponsored by Prince Claus Funds in Amsterdam. I was one of the contributing artists.

Dream Catcher was executed within a period of 5 months in collaboration with other artists, non artistically inclined participators, thinkers, writers, critiques and anyone from any walks of life who visited the venue in an abandoned time-worn house before getting demolished in the center of Tehran.

The theme of the project is a contemporary narrative of “Noah’s Ark” and the proposed promised land alluding the complications of illegal immigration by sea and in general the search for utopia either by choice or as a result of social and political upheavals.

Dream catcher entailed making sculptures out of throwaways, found objects, fabric, yarns, bric-a-brac, dried tree branches and the detritus lying around in the house yard. At the end of the project, we opened the venue to viewers for ten days.