Dead in Democracy - Alireza Ghandchi

Alireza Ghandchi discovers the relation between democracy and death through an artistic project called "Dead in Democracy" and with a reference to the art history, he reproduces the well-known German artist Joseph Beuys' installation, "The End of the 20th Century" as a performance. In this formal reference the body of several live human bodies wrapped in cloth will represent the fossils in Beuys' installation. By reproducing "The End of the 20th Century" as a performance, the concept of „Social Plastic“ which was included in contemporary art by Beuys would be challenged once more.
On the one hand, in this performance the border between installation and performance art will be blurred, on the other hand, by showing negative pictures which had been taken in a different time and place from this living and passing event with an emphasis on the relation between mortality and conservation of the art piece, it will reflect the ideas raised in the contemporary theories of performance art about the mutual relationship between performance art and documenting it in the viewer’s mind with the media of photography. These are the topics raised by supporters and opponents of rerunning a performance art and documenting it by photo and video media in the hypertext of theoretical topics like reproducing an art piece and its performative dimensions in the theories of photography and performing arts. Such topics, at the academic level, have been addressed by theorists such as Philip Auslander and Peggy Phelan.