Video Works
Video Works
ISLAMIC STAR
ISLAMIC STAR, 2005
Single channel video
In the video work Islamic Star, Shahram Entekhabi performs the role of a male figure whose appearance evokes culturally charged images associated with the Islamic world. The title refers to the geometric star motif frequently found in Islamic architecture and ornament, yet the work translates this symbolic form into the sphere of contemporary urban life.
As in several of Entekhabi’s videos from the mid-2000s, the artist embodies a constructed character rather than portraying a specific individual. Through clothing, gestures and posture, the figure alludes to stereotypes circulating in Western media about Islamic identity and masculinity. The performance takes place in public space, where the body of the performer becomes a visible marker within the urban environment.
The video avoids a linear narrative. Instead, meaning emerges through the tension between visual signs, cultural associations and the gaze of the viewer. Sound also plays an important role: the soundtrack combines elements of Arabic and Iranian music, reinforcing and at the same time unsettling familiar cultural clichés. ()
Islamic Star is part of a series of performative video works from 2005 in which Entekhabi adopts different male identities — including Mladen, Miguel and Mehmet — exploring how images of migration, cultural difference and masculinity are produced and perceived in contemporary society.
Critical text by Julia — full essay