| Date: | Thursday, 23 July 2015 |
| Time: | 20:00 – 20:45 |
| Venue: | Shishawi, 51-53 Edgware Rd, London, W2 2HZ |
In Turn the Cold Weather Into Sun and Fun, Lantian Xie performs a talk about waiting and belonging in Dubai. Using the mezzanine floor of Shishawi one of Edgware Road’s most iconic restaurants, Xie locates the talk in an imagined orchestra pit: a ‘mystic gulf’ between local and visitor and an unmapped gulf neither Persian nor Arab. From here, and by using simple props like a can of Mirinda and a sandwich from Hardees, an in-between Gulf emerges, accumulated through the minor and the incidental. At this intimate scale, landmarks fall out of focus and a tenuous Dubai-geist takes shape—the voice of a place not quite arrived. Shishawi Restaurant’s mezzanine floor plays host and stage. Double-apple shisha clouds hang about like ghosts and a meal follows.
Xie’s performance was developed in the spring of 2015 during the artist’s three-month residency at Delfina Foundation with support from the Farook Foundation. Turn the Cold Weather Into Sun and Funis commissioned by Alserkal Avenue as part of its developing homegrown programme, which aims to support innovative ideas while encouraging open and productive dialogue on an international level and a more diverse and rich eco-system for art in the region. This commission is Alserkal Avenue’s second international endeavour, closely following the Safina Radio Project, which launched at the Venice Biennale this past May.
This event is part of Shubbak – A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture.