SPACES is closed MARCH 3 - MARCH 28 for install New Exhibitions open March 29 @6PM and April 12 @6PM. Follow @SPACESCLE on IG

The Foreigner

Note: These events were originally scheduled to take place at Tower City Center, however they have asked that we cease presenting The Foreigner at their venue. Locations will be announced here, on Facebook and Twitter. Please check back for venue information.

Everyday Clevelanders will function as real-time local avatars for Iranians overseas. Through simple, mobile technology each Cleveland avatar will be connected live to an Iranian citizen. The Iranian will then speak only to the avatar (through an ear piece) and direct them in who to approach and what to say, as they walk through various public spaces. In this way citizens of Cleveland will be introduced to someone who is currently living in an entirely different cultural circumstance through the body of a local citizen right in front of them.

The Iranian citizens and Cleveland avatars have been selected from all walks of life, from children to seniors. Therefore it will be possible for a local teenage girl to be the avatar for a 53-year-old Iranian woman or a 9-year-old Iranian girl can speak through a 60-year-old Cleveland man.

The Foreigner presents an uncanny circumstance where the separation between self and other, local and foreign, is collapsed and confused, and the geopolitical distance between the United States and Iran is made personal and local.

All Events with Avatars

Friday, February 1, 6:00 ? 9:00 p.m.: Opening Reception at SPACES
Saturday, February 2, 10:00 a.m. ? 1:00 p.m.: Tower City Center
Saturday, February 9, 10:00 a.m. ? 1:00 p.m.: Cleveland Public Library, Main Branch
Saturday, February 16, 10:00 a.m. ? 1:00 p.m.: Cleveland Public Library, Main Branch
Saturday, March 9, 10:00 a.m. ? 1:00 p.m.: Cleveland Public Library
Saturday, April 6, 10:00 a.m. ? 1:00 p.m.: TBA

These events are free. It is something that you happen upon rather than schedule an appointment. If you want to experience the Foreigner, head to the specified location on one of our published dates and look for one of our three Cleveland avatars. Follow us on Twitter for up-to-date information: http://www.twitter.com/spacesgallery

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