Arash Azarm Āzādi (آزادی) - Freedom

Āzādi is a solo performance about an Iranian body that is safe in Europe, while Iran continues to live on within it.

A dark room is illuminated only by a video of a mother. Then the connection is cut off. From this interrupted image, Āzādi unfolds as a poetic, political, and personal solo performance about observing a catastrophe in Iran from the safety of Europe. Arash Azarm combines monologue, movement, live camera, projections, documentary fragments, text, sound, and silence. News reports, private phone calls, death tolls, memories, bureaucratic emails, club nights, and dreams collide. At the center is an Iranian queer body that has crossed a border, while Iran has never left the body. Āzādi asks how one can grieve from afar, what survival does to guilt, and what freedom means when the body is safe but the mind remains at home.

English and Persian with English subtitles

Note regarding sensitive content: 
The performance addresses state violence and death in Iran, internet blackouts, grief, exile, persecution of queer people, psychological distress, and survivor guilt. It contains documentary video and audio clips, death tolls, darkness, and sudden changes in lighting and sound. No graphic violence is shown.

Concept, Text & Performance: Arash Azarm Assistant & Performance: Setareh Maleki Video & Visual Art: Giovanni Dinello Music & DJ Set: Balthazar Martinez Artistic & Technical Assistance: Rahel Jenny Egger Technical Support: Haesoo Jung Mentoring: Azadeh Ganjeh Developed in the MA Expanded Theatre program, HKB/BFH