12 VOLT FIRE

A survey of paintings of seemingly absurd and disparate moments related to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, with the aim of investigating its metaphysics, and of reframing it as a dynamic network of ‘actants’ that traverse socio-political, technological, mythical, and collective forces. 

On Feb 11th 1979, revolutionaries took control of the state-run institutions and monarchy was announced fallen.The morning after, on feb 12, this report was published on the page 8th of Kayhan newspaper (at the time one of the most important papers in Iran)

An eagle on the wall of the captured military base.

“Yesterday, while people attempted to set fire to parts of the fallen Eshrat Abad military base, an eagle landed on the wall of the base. People wanted to kill the eagle as it was seen as the symbol of America. Eventually, with the intervention of another group of revolutionaries, the bird flew away. People shouted at the eagle, "you Americans will be in trouble if you come back here again!" On the other hand, older men argued that the appearance of an eagle for the first time in Tehran could be taken as a good omen because eagles are a symbol of power and freedom.“