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Omid Kheirabadi (1992) is interested in dialogue. He believes that the specific situations in which we have conversations affect their quality. In his work he therefore creates spaces where people can exchange ideas with each other. The installation he is showing at Prospects is based on a 2024 happening that took place in Rotterdam at the art space an other world, as part of his research project Carnisse in Flux (2024). This project focused on a condemned residential block in the Rotterdam Carnisse neighbourhood, located about a ten-minute walk from Ahoy. Until now, housing in this neighbourhood was still relatively affordable, which is why many immigrants, students, and working-class people moved there. Just like many other parts of the city, however, this residential block will be replaced by a complex with more expensive apartments in the future. Local residents, who have sometimes been living here for years, are forced to leave their familiar surroundings in the process.
During the five performance sessions Kheirabadi organized with the artist Shardenia Felicia, a group of Rotterdam participants explored themes like urban transformation, gentrification, and forced relocation. The project was concluded with the happening, in which the public was not only invited to attend, but also requested to participate in. Visitors were, for instance, given notes containing small assignments, or cans of chalk spray to use on the walls and windows of the exhibition space. At Prospects too, the audience is invited to join the conversation by writing or drawing on the walls with chalk.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)