ANOUSHÉ SHOJAE-CHAGHORVAND
Artist Statement
I worship absurdity, it is my spirituality. I create primarily kinetic sculptures that operate as spatial cinema—climactic looping installations—that capture the complexity, violence, and absurdity of human exceptionalism. More specifically I focus on aspects of escapism in the American Dream, in relation to pleasure seeking and our obsession with amusement. My machines are meant to amuse, but also breakdown. I am drawn to machines because of their capacity to serve, the amusement they offer, and their lifespan. The spinning shaft on a motor—the embodiment of the machine's inner working parts, is trying to free itself from the mechanism that negates and harnesses its labor making it “useful”—its liberation is destroying its utility. As a first generation Iranian-American living in the United States, I never felt any belonging here or in Iran. However, this is what makes me truly American—operating in a liminal space. When does the amusement park become haunted and who is the man inside the machine inside the skin on the stage?