Just

Collaboration, video projection by Maral Satari
Format: Durational performance and installation
Materials: Ice, canvas, white paint, video projection
Dimensions: Canvas 120" x 120"
Duration: 6 hours
Year: 2016

Just is a durational performance created for an exhibition on the theme of social justice. The installation consists of a large clear ice cube set at the center of a 120 by 120 inch canvas, surrounded by 50 bowls of white paint arranged in order around it. A video by Maral Satari, looping combined footage of humans and animals in social conditions that juxtapose their particular behaviors, projects through the solid ice as it slowly melts into fluidity. The video never shows through the ice directly, casting only a subtle light on the wall behind it.

The performance begins by setting the bowls of paint as a border around the canvas. Each bowl is then poured and rubbed onto the surface of the ice, its texture briefly giving visibility to the video until the melting water dissolves it again. Throughout the performance, the melted water and paint are collected with a towel and wrung back into the empty bowls, keeping the water and paint from leaving the canvas and spreading into the gallery. These acts repeat for six hours, until every bowl is filled again and the melted water has taken over both canvas and performance.