Abbas Akhavan: August 2006, 2006. Video, 7:43 min.
Abbas Akhavan’s practice ranges from situational ephemeral installations to drawing, video, and performance. His earlier works explore the relationship between the house and nation state and how the trauma and systemic violence enacted upon civilians can be inherited and re-enacted within the family; the home becoming a forked space between hospitality and hostility. More recent works have shifted focus onto spaces just outside the home – the garden, the backyard, and other domesticated landscapes. 2006 was shot in Vancouver, Canada, during a fireworks festival, but the film is equally evocative of both violent explosions taking place at war zones outside Canada, and perceived via news media.