Ghasemi Brothers : Darbedar-e Hamishegi

Parallel Circuit announces “Darbedar-e Hamishegi,” an exhibition by Ghasemi Brothers, opening on August 11 and continuing through September 9, 2023. Working individually beforehand, the trio started their collaboration in 2015. This is their fourth exhibition with Dastan, following “The Big Fish” (+2, February 2020.)

Their inaugural show, "The Red Room" (Dastan’s Basement, 2016), inspired, fueled, and shaped the dynamic of their subsequent collaboration. “Red Room 2: Migratory Birds” (Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York, 2017) focused on immigration, giving their work a more objective direction. "Blue Room" (V-Gallery, a Dastan:Outside Project, 2018) further underlines their affinity to the Caspian. The title of the current exhibition, "Darbedar-e Hamishegi,” is taken from a song of longing by a famous Iranian singer in exile. The artists listened to particular music ("Qalandar" or "Free-spirited") while working in their studio. The theme of migration (exile), appearing first in "The Red Room 2", evolves. If in their previous exhibitions, Ghasemi Brothers brought the whole expanse of land, water, and sky together, in their latest, they shift their angle of view meaningfully. Except for a single work (Untitled, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 160 by 180 cm) in which three figures are shown lounging among trees and beholding the beyond, the focal point of other works is the sky.

This is an ontological shift on the surface of the canvas. The earth (canvas), where our roots are extended, can no longer compete with our heavenward ambitions. There is no place to land because the expanse of the virtual no longer feels bound and dependent on the earth. Suppose the earth's gravity was a springboard for our imagination to take flight and behold the invisible and the inaccessible. In that case, we feel we are no longer bound by gravity. Our technologies have given us the impression that we can omit the earth from the equation altogether and submerge in the infinite sky. Our event horizon is epistemologically upon us ("a boundary beyond which events cannot affect an observer"). Our upward gaze has metamorphosed since the "Copernican Revolution." If our ancestors felt grounded to this earth and saw the sky as an infinite and transcendental boundary, Copernicans saw our planet as just another celestial body among myriad others. This view of the universe has evolved, so we no longer feel dependent on this earth. This is our event horizon.

This is an ontological shift on the surface of the canvas. The earth (canvas), where our roots are extended, can no longer compete with our heavenward ambitions. There is no place to land because the expanse of the virtual no longer feels bound and dependent on the earth. Suppose the earth's gravity was a springboard for our imagination to take flight and behold the invisible and the inaccessible. In that case, we feel we are no longer bound by gravity. Our technologies have given us the impression that we can omit the earth from the equation altogether and submerge in the infinite sky. Our event horizon is epistemologically upon us ("a boundary beyond which events cannot affect an observer"). Our upward gaze has metamorphosed since the "Copernican Revolution." If our ancestors felt grounded to this earth and saw the sky as an infinite and transcendental boundary, Copernicans saw our planet as just another celestial body among myriad others. This view of the universe has evolved, so we no longer feel dependent on this earth. This is our event horizon.