Art as resistance against political violence
Material Speculation: ISIS
South Ivan Series
Morehshin Allahyari

Morehshin Allahyari

I think about violence often. It’s a word that comes up in my talks constantly. When I talk about violence of destruction by ISIS, I am talking about the kind of violence that I am well familiar with, growing up in Iran. A violence that is not just ‘on’ and ‘against’ objects but also human bodies. But I also have made a point to equally talk about the kind of violence that follows me all my life prior to and after immigration to the United States at the age of 22. This violence is not like that of ISIS but by the very country that I choose to live in. The United States.

Terror Complex - Role Models
Terror Complex - Hugs
Terror Complex - Last Frame Before The Blast
Simon Menner

Simon Menner

I think it is very dangerous to look at the problems ISIS seems to cause amongst the youth around us, as something that is just linked to groups like ISIS and therefore as something we might be able to defeat on the battlefield. Members of coming generations are going to take up arms again and fight their own fight. ISIS is going to disappear. And the radical forms of religion are going to grow out of fashion amongst many young people. But religion is just some banner to unite under in a world that seems to hate you.