Video Works
Video Works
MLADEN
MLADEN
Single channel video. 2005
The video "Mladen" is part of the permanent collection in the video forum of the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.)
In the video piece Mladen, artist Shahram Entekhabi positions a male figure standing at different locations in public space, located in Berlin. The figure, with his prominent mustache, leather jacket, and knife held casually in his hands, embodies a common stereotype of the “dangerous immigrant,” especially of Balkan or East European origin.
In this performance, the artist assumes a constructed identity, rather than a real one. The figure of Mladen has become a screen onto which cultural fears, fantasies, and images of the media, related to immigrant male identity, have been projected. At the same time, the performance subtly subverts these assumptions. The figure, though menacing, does not engage in any threatening behavior; he simply looks, seemingly in deep contemplation, at the world passing by.
The video piece does not have a narrative, but its meaning is created through a tension between appearance, context, and the viewer’s gaze. The locations of the performance, at prominent public spaces, engage with the idea of public space as a stage for the interpretation of identities.
Mladen is part of a sequence of video performances in which Entekhabi takes on various male personas, examining the ways in which stereotypes around migration, masculinity, and cultural difference are constructed, disseminated, and finally subverted.
Exhibitions & Screenings (selection)
2015: drama baby! on staging the self, UNST Berlin, Kühlhaus Berlin, Germany
2012: Knapp daneben ist auch vorbei, pilot projekt, Düsseldorf Reisholz, Germany
2012: Identity II, Forming Identity,Fotogalleri wien , Vienna, Austria
2009: Videoart Festival Miden , Historical Center of Kalamata, Pelepones, , Kalamata, Greece
2006: Something in Common, Galerie Anita Beckers — Frankfurt/ Main, Germany (solo exhibition)
2008: THE PROMISED LAND, curated by Blanca de la Torre Garcia, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA
2008: Emerging Discourse II: Performance and Mimicry, curated by Shaheen Merali, Bodhi Art, New YorK, USA
2008: Étranger-Fremder en France et en Allemagne du 19e siècle à nos jours, Cité nationale de l´histoire de l´immigration (CNHI), Paris, France
2006: It’s been a long way, baby, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland (solo exhibition)
2006: Portraits - The View Behind the Make-up, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt/Main, Germany