The interdisciplinary project Entertainment in Public is one of the most compelling artistic events currently unfolding in Tehran. This ambitious endeavor, spearheaded by Taha Zaker, is staged far from the city’s conventional artistic hubs—56 kilometers south of Tehran in Ghiamdasht. In this vast open space, the Daihim Art Society has constructed an environment for exhibiting works that, due to their scale and spatial demands, would be impossible to display in traditional urban galleries. Here, massive industrial warehouses serve as unconventional venues, housing artists’ projects that push the boundaries of both medium and message. Contrary to expectations, dedicated art enthusiasts willingly embark on this journey to experience the exhibition firsthand.
In this unconventional setting, Zaker and his extensive team of collaborators have undertaken a monumental research project on a subject rarely addressed in the public consciousness: the guillotine. Originally conceived as a tool of judicial execution in France, the guillotine quickly became a symbol of mass executions, its infamous blade accelerating the fervor of the French Revolution. In a grim twist of fate, the very instrument designed for state-sanctioned punishment soon became the tool of revolutionary purges, sending even the revolution’s architects to their deaths.
A significant portion of the exhibition is dedicated to video installations that punctuate the visitor’s journey. These films offer an expansive historical narrative, covering the guillotine’s invention, its use before and after the revolution, its presence in art and literature, the famous figures who met their end beneath its blade, and its eventual ban. Alongside these historical accounts, large-scale art installations give the guillotine a new, physical presence—one that is both haunting and thought-provoking.
The very notion that an execution device could serve as the focal point of an art exhibition inherently conjures an atmosphere of horror, cruelty, and death. Yet history has always provided material for artistic reinterpretation. The passage of time allows for ever-evolving perspectives on historical events, and this exhibition does not simply recount the guillotine’s past; it challenges visitors to confront a darker truth: that public executions were once entertainment. The disturbing reality that people gathered eagerly to watch beheadings—finding collective relief in the sight of the blade’s swift fall—forces a reckoning with the more unsettling corners of human psychology.
Beyond its historical and conceptual weight, the exhibition ventures into the realm of digital and experiential art. Among its meticulously curated installations, one stands out as particularly immersive: a chilling digital experience designed to simulate the guillotine’s operation. Visitors are invited to place their head inside an enclosed chamber, where a strategically positioned opening allows them to see the back of their own neck. A thin red line appears—precisely where the blade would strike. Then, with calculated precision, the simulation delivers the sensation of execution.
It is an audacious artistic experiment—one that dares the viewer to stand at the threshold of death, to feel the cold mechanics of historical violence made personal. If you have the nerves for it, it is a moment both terrifying and unforgettable.
Maziar Fekri Ershad
Published in _Navaavaran Newspaper
December 16, 2024
