Video Works
Video Works
i?
I? (2004) follows a migrant protagonist through a series of everyday urban situations.
Across ten short episodes, the film explores questions of self-perception and the gaze of the Other, while the protagonist’s face remains hidden throughout most of the narrative.
i?, 2004
Single channel video
The video "i?" is part of the permanent collection in the video forum of the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.)
In I?, Shahram Entekhabi develops a contemporary reference to Samuel Beckett’s film Film (1965), in which Buster Keaton moves through the city while trying to avoid being seen.
Entekhabi adopts this conceptual idea but shifts its meaning. The protagonist does not hide his face because he fears being recognized; rather, he moves through an environment that shows little interest in seeing him at all.
The film follows the character “O” through fragments of a daily routine—from waking up in his apartment to wandering through streets, markets, and cafés—forming a circular narrative that ultimately returns to the beginning. The alternating perspectives of the camera and the protagonist address the tension between self-perception and the perception by others, between “I” and the “Other.”
The work reflects on visibility and invisibility within urban space and examines the fragile position of the migrant subject.
Rather than presenting a heroic narrative of individuality, I? questions how identity is constructed through social perception and through the absence of genuine recognition.
Exhibitions & Screenings (selection)
2013: You Are What You See — Raf Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran (solo show)
2015: “i?” — Visual Cultures (Lecture), Goldsmiths University of London, United Kingdom
2009': Das Bild des Fremden in Deutschland und Frankreich’ — Deutsches Historisches Museum (DHM), Berlin, Germany
2009': bedün´ ? onvän´ 3 — Short video pieces reflecting on social & gender issues in Iran — Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, UK
2009': Video art selection — Video Art program, curated by Sabine Schütze, Preview Berlin The Emerging Art Fair , Berlin, Germany
2009': The Third Guangzhou Triennial — Guangdong Museum of Art, China
2008: PROYECTO MONOLOGS — Laboratorio Global de Monologos y Video — curator Elisa Eliash, Rome, Italy
2008: IDEAL.LOOP — Espace Croisé, Roubaix Cedex 1, France
2008: LOOP’08 Festival “SELECTED #3, A source for videoart lovers” — The sixth videoart festival LOOP’08, Barcelona, Spain (catalogue)
2007: Kunstfilmtag — Kuenstlerverein Malkasten, Duesseldorf, Germany (catalogue)
2007: 100 Tage = 100 Videos, GL Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark (catalogue)
2007: TRUNK07, THE NORDIC ART VIDEO FESTIVAL — CinemaRegina, Östersund, Sweden
2007: LED-Wall, Zeithaus, VW Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany
2007: Optica, International Festival of Video Art — GIjón-Asturias, Spai
2006: Labyrinth X - zu Rassismus und Ausgrenzung — Nikolaikirche, Rostock, Germany
2006: Beckett & Company, panel discussion and artist talk — Tate Modern, London, UK
2005: Exhibition of the 10 winning videos of the festival FIAV.05 — Metrònom, Barcelona
2004: “i?” — PLAY Gallery for Still and Motion Pictures, Berlin (solo show)