Not a matter of if but when August 1, 2008

In 2005–06, during a year spent living in Damascus, Syria, artists Julia Meltzer and David Thorne worked with Syrian performer Rami Farah, recording short improvised sequences in which Farah responded to a prompt or a text.

The result is a combination of direct address and fantastical narrative in which Farah’s improvisations speak to living in a condition of uncertainty, chaos, and stasis. Based in Los Angeles, the two artists previously collaborated under the name The Speculative Archive. The full title of this piece is Not a matter of if but when: brief records of a time when expectations were repeatedly raised and lowered and people grew exhausted from never knowing if the moment was at hand or was still to come. (32 mins., video)

Official Website: http://www.wexarts.org/fv/index.php?eventid=3115