TEHRAN — Environmental disasters are of fairly old yet unresolved issues in Iran, which have provoked mounting controversies among different organizations and officials.

Nonetheless, no one has ever adopted an effective measure to tackle the growing disasters. One cannot decide where to start when it comes to the wounds the humankind has inflicted on the Earth, which is restlessly in torment on account of human beings’ arrogance.

Masoud Nikdel, a designer, sculptor, and lecturer who lives in the city of Mashhad, northeastern Khorasan Razavi province, is an innovative artist with environmental concerns. Nikdel is tirelessly trying to make people aware of the environmental damages they are causing either intentionally or unintentionally through his radical performances.

So far he has performed three performances. The first, called “plaster nostalgia”, took place in his hometown, and the other two in Tehran. The last two focused on environmental matters.

In his second performance, known as the “crisis experience”, Nikdel covered himself in mud and sat motionless for three straight hours in front of the Milad tower in an attempt to address water crisis, sympathize with the Earth and caution the public against what is happening to it.

In his latest performance, called “out of sight but alongside”, he tied some trash, mostly empty bottles, to himself using ropes and dragged them while walking on the streets of the capital intending to warn people how the trash we produce does not vanish off the face of the earth but merely hides in the landfill and finally drags down our poor and helpless environment.

He believes what he does as an “avant-garde” artist will set the scene for the other artists to do things of the same kind and let people get used to such symbolic movements.

Below is the text of the interview:

Q. How did you come up with the idea of such performances?

A. It was the beginning of [the Iranian calendar month of] Farvardin (falling in March 2015), and I was sculpting two wooden statues. I got tired and I decided to lighten the mood, so I started to draw on the ground using the plaster I already had.

My friend, Ehsan Nikbakht, who was also there, started filming me as I was drawing. Gradually, people gathered around us. That’s when the idea of letting the public feel the pleasure I was experiencing at the moment popped into my mind. So I gave them plaster and encouraged them to draw as well. This performance that we call “plaster nostalgia” has inspired us for our other performances.

Nikbakht and I formed “2niks pictures” team. As an artist I come up with ideas for performances and Nikbakht who is a documentarian will direct them.

Q. You live in Mashhad, except for your first impromptu show why do you usually give your performances in Tehran?

A. We look for ways to enhance the effectiveness of our performances and making them more appealing, so we need some special places. Besides where you put on a performance and what that place symbolizes are of primary importance. For instance, we have tried to stage a performance next to Lake Urmia [as it is now environmentally in a critical condition], but the upcoming election became an excuse for officials to refuse to consent which baffles me as I can’t figure out the relation between environment and election. They said maybe after the election we could put on a show. Relatively speaking, the officials in Tehran are more willing to take risks.

Q. What are the main focuses of your performances?

A. In the first performance, “plaster nostalgia”, we sought to share our happiness with people and it kind of became source of energy to our next performances.

The second performance, “crisis experience” was a respond to a shock. I was traumatized by seeing the fissures and cracks on the lands around the city of Mashhad caused by the land subsidence. That made me feel sympathy toward the Earth, so I decide to do something about it and I sought help from environmental NGOs which always fuss over the environment. Unfortunately I didn’t get any feedback from them. Ultimately, concurrent with an art festival in the Milad tower we put on the performance out of the blue in Tehran.

The last performance, “out of sight but alongside”, revolves around another concern of mine. The trash we produce does not disappear just by throwing it away in a trash can. Even if we treat the trash we produce, it does not necessarily mean that we are off the hook. What the performance represents is to be accountable for the amount of trash we produce. I’ve got problem with producing substantial amount of trash. Nevertheless, the officials hold festival making sculptures and figures out of recycled materials. It seems that they are disappointed in people to produce less trash, so they are trying to teach how to create something beautiful out of it.

Q. Are you going to keep on doing such works of art?

A. I’m an artist with environmental concerns. I try not to reveal any details on my next works for the sake of the element of surprise. I may no longer be able to do it in the future but what I seek the most is to talk to people in person and directly. I believe that I have to go forward individually and voice my objections alone.

Q. How do people react at the time of the performance?

A. My primary audiences are the people at the scene who are taken by surprise. Normally, owing to their simplicity, the performances can be perceived immediately. Although I hope it gets people to think more deeply about it later [after seeing the pictures on Facebook, Telegram, etc.], there are a few people who sound stunned at the scene, try to take selfie with me or even poke fun at me. They have every right to act like that and I’m sure that they never forget what they have seen and think about it more deeply later.

Q. In your opinion, do people get such symbolic performances?

A. In Iran, people are only familiar with naturalism in art and Iranian artists are to blame for such a failure. We all are hiding out in our galleries and showcase our works of art to our close friends, so the public are entitled to be strangers to modern arts and be alienated and distanced.

Even our officials usually fail to appreciate art. They are terrified at the thought of using new artistic methods and try to forestall criticism. I’ve been told to reconsider my works of art frequently and stopped from putting on my shows. But whenever I did something personally and based on my own ideas the public received it favorably.

I’m an avant-garde artist and try to set the scene for the other artists to do things of the same kind and let people get used to such symbolic movements. I love dealing with problems.

Q. How are the feedbacks you receive in social media after performances?

A. In social media the feedbacks are exact and to the point. Only three percent make offensive comments or tease us which usually scares the life out of the official. But in our team we know that we have to endeavor to make these people understand [what’s happening to the Earth] as they don’t take such environmental matters serious yet and they can make other people think likewise.

Q. After the second performance, “crisis experience”, some believed that in order to wash the mud off yourself and your clothes you have to waste so much water which is in direct contradiction to your very concern in the first place, what do you think?

A. There are two points of view: firstly, I’m and expert on mud. After the performance I just washed my face which was covered with mud and let the mud on my clothes to get dried and I shook out the mud later and used small amount of water to wash them.

Secondly, during a war how many veteran get killed so as to many other live in peace? How much money is being spent on poor advertisements which may not attract any attention?

In order to make the mud I used the river water and I washed myself with at most half a cubic meter. Doesn’t it make sense to sacrifice that much water to save tens of cubic meters of it?

I hope that environmental activists worry about massive amount of paper used to publish posters about water crisis or the petroleum products used in making banners and billboards.

As a bitter joke I must say that after the “crisis experience” due to the wind and cold weather the muscles on the left side of my face went numb for two weeks and I used about 20 liters of water for warm compress, yes that’s how much water I wasted.

MQ/ MG

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Nikdel is dragging trash with him, walking across the streets to caution the public against trash production.

Photo by Maryam Qorbani