LAUNCHING Of Shifting Shadows Returning to the 1979 Iranian Revolution through an exilic journey in memory and history A CD-ROM by Exisle Creations Written, produced and directed by Gita Hashemi October 26, 2000 7:30-10:30 PM At InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 444 Light refreshments served. Cash bar (beer and wine, proceeds to go towards InterAccess programmes) Limited edition CD-Rs will be available for sale. Come for a sneak preview of this compelling hypermedia project, meet the artists, and participate in an explorative dialogue with Gita Hashemi and Karen Tisch. Of Shifting Shadows is a hypermedia tale of three fictional women - Bita, Mina and Goli - who experienced the 1979 Iranian Revolution. An exploration in the non-linear movement of memory, this open-ended narrative documents three intense lives at critical points in their individual existence that metaphorically gesture or directly return to the turmoiled social history of and troubled gender relations in Iran. Video, animation, soundscapes, spoken word, text and archival material in both English and Farsi weave a rich, layered and captivating visual/narrative texture in space and time to portray the shifting character of exilic existence. Thoughtfully crafted, the media elements whirl around and through the tales of the three women who emerge as different only to remerge as the same. There is no singular way of viewing Of Shifting Shadows. As witness, you actively arrange the women's stories - and with that role (and responsibility) come learning, pleasure and surprise. Produced through the assistance of The Canada Council, Media Arts Section Produced with the support of InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre
		From a review by Berin Gonolu, Artweek Magazine: "The exhibition's most impactful and telling narratives are presented in the form of a CD-ROM. Gita Hashemi's Of Shifting Shadows chronicles the lives of three women, Bita, Mina and Goli, who fled Iran around the time of the revolution. The entire CD-ROM's graphic interface is embellished with colorful arabesque motifs and the introduction is accompanied by a soundtrack of hypnotic drum-beats. Voice-overs accompany video clips that illustrate the stories of these women, and their personal narratives are augmented by news clippings about the revolution, dating from the late '70s. All in all, the CD-ROM format gives an accurate portrayal of the complex, multi-layered nature of a bi-cultural identity, where words and phrases in differing languages function as memory triggers, yielding hyperlinks to lush imagery of the Iranian landscape or photos of Persian ruins. The timeline of an individual life span is thus interwoven into the rich cultural history of this region and into the more recent socio-political events that have shaped the lives of the Iranian people." Of Shifting Shadows Written, Directed and Produced by . Gita Hashemi Producer . Suzie Mukherji Co-producer . Iraj Rahmani Director of Readings . Philip Shepherd Narrator . Veronica Hurnik Dancer . Roula Said Programmer . Don Sinclair Sound Designer . Scott Kennedy Music Composer and Producer . Gary Atkins Videographers . Alina Martiros . Goli Moradi . Iraj Rahmani On-line Editor . David Findlay Still Photographers . Mina Rastgoo . Alina Martiros Production Designer and Art Director . Bita Javan CD Print Designer . Brady Dahmer Technical Writer . Marlene Ziobrowski Reasearcher and Translator . Gita Hashemi For information call (416) 531-2545, or e-mail exisle@excite.com YEAR01 FORUM INDEX