Anahita Norouzi. Rift

Anahita Norouzi. Rift examines the notion of “progress” as an instrument of colonial domination through the history of oil exploitation in Iran. Although Norouzi’s project stems from the targeted examination of a particular geopolitical and historical context, it contributes to a broader reflection on the current context, as the intersecting issues of rising imperialism and the abusive extraction of the planet’s resources lead to a global imbalance that threatens populations and jeopardizes humanity’s future. In their new film and installation works, the artist adopts a counter-prospecting approach to examine how oil and cultural infrastructures have been jointly used to control bodies and minds. Woven from original field recordings and film archives, the works intertwine historical upheavals, cultural tragedies, and tensions between expansionist ambitions and revolutionary upheavals. Furthermore, the pieces explore how colonial modernization transformed the region into a spectral space marked by ecological ruins and dispossession, thereby revealing what persists today of the dynamics of the past. Rift also explores the concepts of circulation and spillover through “imperial debris,” viewed as active mechanisms that perpetuate modes of control rather than paving the way for a post-imperial configuration.