ARTIST RESEARCH - Shirin Neshat 'Turbulent' 1998

Shirin Neshat is known to base her work around feminism,equality, religion and being a Muslim woman in a mans world. This particular piece of hers is a split screen installation, two singers 'Shoja Azari' playing the role of a male and Iranian singer and composer 'Susan Deyhim' as the female. Neshat's idea was to create a powerful metaphor for the complexity of gender roles and cultural power. The piece is around 9 minutes long and is presented as a non narrative piece and is non linear.

The video is edited as a split screen filmed in different locations, both visuals are playing the whole time using a single camera technique. The Woman's camera appears to be hand held or on a dolly tripod as it circles around her mid way through the installation during her song, where as the camera in the Mans video is still and does not move, we only see him from a straight on angle. It is also a shorter shot and he is closer to the camera in comparison to the woman in this piece for effect.

The main effect used is an obvious split screen. This installation has also been given a black and white filter, which is much more distinct in the woman's video appearing more dark and gloomy as she is trying to get a clear point across. The male video is brightly lit in comparison and he is surrounded by many other people in an audience set up, giving a sense of support, worship and love for him. Very different to the female video, where she is alone portraying isolation. Only her face is lit when the camera finally turns around half way through the mans song, giving the woman an initial label that she is unimportant even from the beginning of the video because the man is portrayed very dominant and in your face while the woman is being hidden away. The atmosphere alone is very sinister and dark, you cannot even make out it is a woman because of how dark the visuals purposely are showing that woman are seen as less significant. The way this installation has presented the two genders very differently when they are doing the same thing could be a connotation that Shirin Neshat feels men are praised higher and are seen to have more value that women. This is shown through how negatively contrasted the two videos are in the split screen.

As this installation is a split screen there are two separate diegtic soundtracks included of them both singing. The tracks overlap nearly half way through straight after the man has been highly praised by the audience. It is then clear to see the woman has no audience and her seats are completely empty, this particular part has so much impact due to the split screen because we see his large audience compared to her empty seats in the exact same location, representing the fact people are more interested in the male performance as apposed to the woman's.

Overall, i love this installation, the visual interpretation is very distinct and i love the fact it gives off a clear message that may enforce people to get thinking about society and spark conversation on gender equality.