Through participatory performance, storytelling, and recording, we will spend time exchanging our histories and learning one another’s languages, facilitated by Iranian-born, Bay Area–based artist Shaghayegh Cyrous.

Shaghayegh Cyrous moved to the Bay Area in 2011 due to political tensions in her home of Tehran. Since then, her work has dealt with the experience of cross-cultural communication and translation, addressing predicaments of estrangement and distance caused by political and cultural power dynamics. Through her work, she seeks to bridge these distances and create opportunities for exchanging thoughts and words among everyday people who are the victims of political decisions. Her projects incorporate interactive time-based strategies such as social practice, socially engaged art, and participatory performances, as well as digital technologies such as video installation and live video chats, to create poetic spaces and opportunities for human connection.