Performance making Practice Portfolio by Sahar Qorbani

About Me

ARCHITECT / VISUAL ARTIST / PERFORMANCE ARTIST

I am an artist with a strong interest in exploring the intersection of space and performance art explore interdisciplinary mediums to design and create experiences. My journey has been shaped by a passion for creating spatial experiences that engage the senses and tell stories . With a background in architectural design and a growing practice in performance art, I focus on how space, movement, and human interaction influence our perception of environments. Through academic research, professional projects, and artistic performances, I have developed skills in conceptual thinking, spatial design, and collaboration. Here is some of my professional practices in field of theater and performance.

SAHAR GHORBANI

PROFESSIONAL

ARCHITECTURE EXPERIENCE TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Rhinoceros teaching assistant

Designer | Visual artist| AI artist

Freelancer

August 2022 | Present

Design developer | Visual artist

Shift Process Practice

Oct 2020 | July 2022

Design developer | Interior Designer

| Visual Artist

Bracket Design Studio

March 2019 | Sep 2020

Interior Design | Graphic Designer

Shabahang Architecture Office

April 2017 | March 2019

Intern | Assistant Designer

ADA Architecture & Design firm

Nov 2014 | March 2015

Graphic Designer

Darsib Co

March 2015 | April 2017

Soft School

Mat 2017 | Nov 2017

English teaching|young learners

Simin english Inst

June 2016 | Sep 2016

PROFESSIONAL

PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE

Visualizing a chewed dish

Performer

Underground Theater performance / winter 2025

Dogan

Director

Theater workshop practice / winter 2024

Assistant and co-conceptualize

Contemporary dance Performance / fall 2023

021

Scene designer

Scene design concept proposal / fall 2021

EDUCATION

FOUR SEASON OF ACTING

At alternative workhouse

6 monthes of theater training

spring 2022

TUIC

Tehran Urban Innovation Center

Urban Micro-units|

Sep 2021

Bachelor of Arts In Architecture

Islamic Azad University South Tehran Branch

Four years ( program: Architecture)

2012 | 2016

High school diploma Mathematics and Physics

Shayestegan High school | Farhang High school

2008 | 2012

LANGUAGE PROFECIANCY

English: Fluent

Farsi: Native

INTERESTS

Pottery, Contemporary dance, Karate Practice

Dogan (The Dual)

Direction and design Theater workshop practice / 2024

This project is a personal exploration to understand the subjective concept of clothing and the body, examining choice and nudity. It responds to the question: What is it today that stands between my body and the surrounding world and defines me?

What psychological effects has clothing—this additional layer introduced into our lives by civilization—had on us?

What is the necessity and requirement for using different types of clothing, and how is today’s choice influenced by our mindset?

How do we shape our identity through clothing and display who and what we are to others? How can clothing represent and advocate a particular ideology, reflect conformity to social rules and structures, or act as rebellion against them?

How much of what I wear is truly my choice? Do I own my clothes, or do they own me? How different am I in one outfit compared to another? Do I perceive and feel my naked body the same way my ancestors did? How has the definition of nudity changed over time? Through my life experiences, I have either chosen certain clothes or been forced to choose them (due to political and social reasons).

The shame my body has experienced stems from how much my choices have aligned with societal norms and definitions. Even when I think I am consciously opposing an ideology by not wearing something, they have indirectly influenced how I dress.

All of this has added a layer to my skin and engraved a memory onto it—a memory of the clothes that have knowingly or unknowingly covered my body. An invisible layer that remains even if I remove all my clothes, one that feels present on my body. This is a psychological and mental layer that holds a deeper meaning for me than the fabric covering my skin.

It’s as if I will never truly experience nudity in its true sense. Today, individual identity might not align with social identity. If we peel away the conceptual layers of clothing, they gain a psychological nature. Even by removing brands, forms, and socially defined clothes, their impact remains as an invisible layer on our bodies—one that has been stitched into our skin through our lived experiences.

As my questions grew more specific, I arrived at a text I chose as the statement for the work. This text became a filter that refined the project at every stage:

«Even if I take off all my clothes, Even if I am the most naked, Even if I leave this place, My body wears an invisible garment That I can never shed from myself.

Like a spell inscribed on my body by demons, it follows me everywhere.»

From Reference book: “Traditional Iranian Graphic Design: Spells” by Parviz Tanavoli

With the start of rehearsals, this project became a workshop for me to study this topic:

How what we want to be and what we don’t want to be (through our clothing and consumables) traps us in a vicious cycle that distracts us from facing our true selves and discovering our authentic being.

Theme: T: Wearable Madness

Spells are a part of Iran’s cultural history, emerging during the Qajar era. Beyond their artistic and graphic dimensions, which enriched our art and culture, spells symbolize «fear and alienation» among Iranians. They were a reaction to the harsh conditions of the time: people, overwhelmed by poverty and unable to combat the cholera epidemic, turned to superstition and sought supernatural help to protect themselves from demons, misfortunes, and to secure blessings, sustenance, or even someone’s heart.

(Reference: “Traditional Iranian Graphic Design: Spells” by Parviz Tanavoli)

In the process of creating spells, either hair and nails of individuals were used, or the spells were inscribed on their bodies or clothing. This inherent connection between spells, bodies, and clothing encouraged me to use this metaphor.

Layers: Episodes (Movement Design, Music, and Visuals)

To advance the workshop, I divided the psychological layers of this wearable concept. These layers became episodes, and the performers› exercises around these themes brought me closer to the form of the performance. The rehearsal process involved shaping movements through personal exercises and transferring these themes into music and visuals to create a unified atmosphere and timeline. Exercises included:

• Performers rehearsing with clothing or objects they felt attached to.

• Creating short videos about who they want to be and who they don’t want to be using objects around them, and then rehearsing with their videos (introducing performers to the medium of movement and digital imagery).

• Designing movements around the concept of being used or using (creating movement loops from performers’ improvisations).

Storyboard:

• Writing and sketching the performance step by step, with a precise timeline.

• Including rehearsal or performance photos alongside visuals for each section.

• Adding explanations or music files at the bottom.

Space and Architecture:

Relation between the concept and the Performance

Space

The architecture of the performance space was the basement of an old house, with a low ceiling (about 2 meters) and numerous aligned windows facing the yard. There were two doors, one on the right and another on the left. The windows and their angle towards the yard influenced how the audience engaged with the space. The basement was a completely black box, and its combination with the windows held a metaphorical meaning for me. I wanted the audience to see themselves from the outside. The windows became a showcase—a portal to images of us and the darkness that entangles us. This illustrated how our motivations for dressing and consuming have imprisoned our bodies in automation, an automation we don›t even question. (A comparison of being trapped in the cycle of consumption to spells associated with the human body today.)In this performance, the audience was not allowed to enter the performance space. They could only watch from the yard, observing through the windows. This placement provided them with different perspectives on the performance, consistent with the content and form of the episodes. To expand the atmospheric space beyond the basement, I installed two sound monitors outside the basement (at head height), complementing the internal speakers. As the audience entered the yard, they were immediately immersed in the performance atmosphere. For me, creating the space in this performance was akin to architecture—a composition and arrangement of bodies, images, sounds, and even the audience, where each element occupied its place to construct it›s own world.

Sound and Music

Visualization Project and performers

To see more photages and videos from rehersals and performance please check this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dgtANUdu2d-3matPsRk9K-CcTR7MfmgU?usp=drive_link

Project Participants:

Director/Designer: Sahar Ghorbani

Performers: Saba Fayegh, Homa Alipour, Mohammad Amin Matoori, Music: Sepehr Amini

Visuals: Peyman Vahidkhah

Photography/Film: Ako Aslani,Peyman Vahidkhah

Assistants: Neshat Asgarzadeh, Soroor Geryanlou

Event Narration

The Narrator

A"memory" is an image (projection) of what has happened, not the thing itself.

If events unfold in a space, memories and imagination take shape in illusion. The nature of illusion is akin to nothingness , The state of illusion is similar to a blank mind (nothingness) _ a place where nothing exists, yet everything is possible. A memory is a reflection of reality, an image projected in our minds.

021 (a hundred years before our own)

Monologue Play Scene Design

Concept Theater Scene Design Proposal / 2021

021 is a monologue written by Sajad Afsharian that was performed in the City Theater and later in the Forth Wall Theater hall in 2016 directed by Siamak Safari. It is a narration of loneliness and melancholy of a man who is separated from his family at a young age and goes to a big city alone to persue his dreams .A city that is filled with young and old people who have come to fill their pockets, unaware that they are even losing themselves.group of my friends decided to perform the play again with different approached and came to me for an idea for the scene .that was when i had my first theater design experience and prepared the proposal.

In monologue performances, the audience’s imagination plays a more significant role compared to other forms of theater. It’s the imagination that recreates the space in the viewer’s mind. In this play, since nothing happens in the present and only memories are being narrated, an exact replica of the setting on stage would prevent or limit the audience’s ability to imagine. Additionally, using realistic set elements could interfere with the idea of distancing (Bertolt Brecht’s concept of alienation).

Therefore, instead of building a literal set, transforming the stage into a space that encourages active imagination is the best approach. This allows the audience to engage more deeply with the narrator’s mental world and enhances the sense of fantasy. The stage becomes a platform for the monologue, where the audience can get lost in the actor’s words.

short dramatic monologue written in 1972 by Samuel Beckett

In terms of the language used, focusing the audience’s attention on the pure content of the story has a more significant impact. Here, the stage does not directly represent the physical location where the memories were formed, but rather serves as a platform for imagining those events in response to the narrator. The stage becomes a machine for imagination

The phenomenon of déjà vu occurs when the boundary between memory and event becomes indistinguishable, and the mind, deceived, accepts the event as a memory.

Through the narration, these concepts can be intensified using various elements. Déjà vu is the illusion of the past repeating itself in the present. As the narrator speaks about the past in the present moment, overlapping reflections and symbolic visual illusions question the spatial reality of the stage. The narrator, as if caught in a layered fantasy of their personal story—without any walls—draws us into their imagination.

coordinate origin

When designing the set, I thought about how to strip away the sense of space and location from the stage and turn it into a tool for imagination. Since the human mind perceives space through its dimensions (length, width, height) and geometric corners, I realized that by altering or removing certain features, I could disrupt the perception of space. Two techniques with similar forms came to mind, both fitting the concept:

By simultaneously changing the observer′s point of view, we can alter the coordinates of the origin and broke the dimension

Observer

Narrator

1. If we reduce the dimensions of a sphere, which is three-dimensional, and project it onto a flat surface, it becomes a circle. In my design, this circle became the «machine of imagination,» where images were projected onto it, aligned with the monologue. Paired with a reflective floor (such as a mirror or other reflective material), this creates two layers of imagery on stage (representing both déjà vu and alienation).

2. The second layer of reflection or narration comes from live filming of the actor (from a different angle, e.g from above) and projecting this live feed onto a second surface. By duplicating the image of the narrator, the focus shifts from the narrator to the narration itself, opening up room for imagination (alienation). The lighting design also plays a crucial role, where at different intervals, the actor›s body and the shadow it casts on the circle resemble the hands of a clock, referencing the importance of time in the play.

«US»

Assistant and documentation and co-conceptualize Theater workshop

practice / 2023

“US” are about the effects of social events on our bodies, which are always present in our daily lives and never disappear. The psychology of body movement, the form of life, and our interpretation of actions shape our behaviors. Behaviors that change in the moment. As a member of a civilized colony, every action we take affects another’s body and mind and creates a collective narrative. Our fears and joys are intertwined, connected somewhere in our unconscious. We are a system, where the action of each element affects the reaction of another and creates a unified self that reflects us. We are our own observers. Our actions and reactions under different circumstances define “We” in relation to the events around “We.” Repetitions in our bodies can always become a system, and even create institutions that encompass and control us. The smallest behavior against that system creates disorder and turmoil within it.

Body without Organs-Gilles Deleuze

“Our bodies are not merely made up of our organs, but they are formed by desires, influences, emotions, and potentials. These elements are not fixed; they are constantly changing and flowing. Often, due to the organization of our bodies, norms, and societal expectations (which shape our identity and behavior), we feel restricted and suppressed. Perhaps we want to escape these limitations and discover new possibilities in life and feeling.To do this, we must connect with the organless body. The organless body is a metaphor for a different way of experiencing the body, a body that has been stripped of its limbs and identity. This is a body that has been set free to its raw potential, free from the constraints of norms and social expectations. It’s a body that is open to experimentation and exploration, free from the limitations imposed by society and culture. It’s a body whose definition is not tied to its functions and structures but can creatively and unexpectedly connect with other bodies, things, ideas, forces, and events. It’s a body that can experiment with different modes of existence and expression.”

Illustrated by Ayala Tal for the book A Thousand Plateaus- Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari - How Do You Make Yourself a Body without Organs?

Concept

The system that, in a broader picture, shows us to ourselves is a unified self composed of each of our bodies. With every moment of presence and every movement of each member, this morph formulates something new into space while drawing inspiration from it simultaneously. It’s a system that constantly expands, creates, and devours itself. It grows in this journey, dances, and self-destructs, only to return anew. Behaviors that gradually become culturally undeniable and fixed for human society, anything deviating from them is identified as a disturbance in the system. This self ultimately succumbs to social compulsion.The question is: how can we analyze and scrutinize the systemic behavior that transforms itself into social compulsion through the observation of its body’s elements?

Spatial concept:

In projects beyond the traditional theater setting, the choice of space is a crucial part of the ideation process. When moving out of the theater, the audience’s expectations change as well. In these types of performances, the identity of the space shapes the performance. In contrast, the performance and the presence of bodies imbue the space with a new identity. The space, through storytelling and performance, transforms its essence. In this project, architecture is not just a performance space; it’s an integral part of it. The space in this project is a living organism that enables an event to occur through the interaction of bodies with their physical surroundings. The space is part of an occurrence that influences the bodies, and the bodies, with their extraordinary actions and designed behaviors, give new meaning to our perception of architecture. Thus, the body will come to life in this encounter, and this is the true essence of architecture. It›s where our bodies have the possibility to emerge and manifest. Therefore, the space in this performance will have an active presence and, like all the elements used in this performance (performers, audience, props, sounds, etc.) ,will be a significant part of this living system. Overall, dance and architecture, through space, movement, and structure, are interconnected and can be used as a collective set to shape space and human movement.

Organization and Arrangement

Choosing a flexible geometric structure for our arrangement brings us to a circular form. The circle contains unity, community, and flexibility alongside restraint. The geometric form, with its adjustable radius, instantly arranges its share of space. This geometry aligns with the core concept and shapes the system.

Illustrated by Ayala Tal for the book A Thousand Plateaus- Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari - How Do You Make Yourself a Body without Organs?

Material:

The arrangement of the performance is composed of three layers. The core consists of performers who are located in the center of this arrangement. In the next layer, we have props. These props can be any items used in the performance as needed and create a part of the environment. With their presence (allowing movement and sound production), these props create various atmospheres and thus shape the space. In fact, this layer forms the outer structure of the arrangement. Light, sound, imagery, and everything beyond the performers and the audience find their place in this arrangement. In the outermost layer, the audience is present, surrounding the performers.The main theme in the arrangement of the performance was defining boundaries for us. These layers, although separate, become intertwined during the performance. Boundaries are redefined in places. The layers merge, create new boundaries, or revert to their previous order. The outermost layer is a semi-transparent shell that encompasses the whole. Like the skin that holds flesh and bones. The skin in which we live.

Midjourney AI generated images, Concept and Prompt by Sahar Qorbani

sketches by Sahar Ghorbani

“When you have given him a body without organs, then you will have delivered him from all his automatisms and restored him his true liberty” -Antonin Artaud

This project has had approximately 60 training and research sessions. The duration of the performance until the latest rehearsals is 1 hour and 40 minutes. Selected music has been used for this performance, but plans can be made for sound, lighting, stage, and costumes design. A complete visual documentary of the full execution has been carried out.

Refrences:

- from “A Thousand Plateaus / Capitalism and Schizophrenia“-Gilles Deleuze

/ Félix Guattari

-“a life.” from Pure Immanence -Gilles Deleuze

- llustrationes by Ayala Tal for the book A Thousand Plateau , How Do You Make Yourself a Body without Organs?- Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari

Project Participants:

Performers:

- Mostafa Shabkhan

- Soroush Kariminejad

- Kimia Salahshouri

- Tala Golkar Tehrani

- Matin Yazdanmehr