سارا معدندار

Sidewalk

2013, 2015, 2020

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The film “Sidewalk” consists of four hours of people passing by on a sidewalk. The film was made in Tehran, Iran, from a café on Enghelab Avenue, an important street in Tehran and the historic center of the capital’s book trade. Iran’s premier university, The University of Tehran, is also on this street. The street offers the chance to see different people with different bodies and clothes from different socioeconomic classes all together. The angle of the film is from top to bottom and the camera plays the role of observer.

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My videos are intended to record the rhythms of daily life on one hand, and on the other hand to bring about discovery in some other area of life. Differences and details become sharp. In the video “Side Walk,” I exhibit the variety of the street. The camera is in one position and people go about their daily business without being aware of my filming them. The video consists of three layers. The first layer is inside the café; the second layer is the sidewalk, and the last layer is the street, which is parallel to the sidewalk scene. From the first to the last layer, people’s speeds increase. In the café, they spend time socializing and having coffee. In the sidewalk, they go and pass from left and right at a quicker pace. In the last layer, they pass the crosswalk to let cars go until the passengers’ can safely move. 

 

This video has been installed previously in two shows. One installation was on a huge wall, as a mural on the street, with a life sized projection. The other installation was indoors and the video acted as a window to the outside. This video is supposed to be installed in a way that it connects the current space with a location on the other side of the world – Tehran, Iran.