Out Of The Box
About
A Live performance and video art piece within Al Tawil’s “Slavery Documents” project. The duration of the performance can range from 8 to 10 minutes. “Out of the Box” may explore notions like identity, modern slavery, emphasizing the imprisonment and manipulation of individuals in either a mental or physical setting.. Analysis: Al Tawil progresses the shift from “Slavery Documents” to a greater representation of mental enslavement in this era of materialism, where individuals are trapped mentally and influenced by theories that can drive them to madness and ruin their lives. In this piece, the imprisoned individual is bound not by their own thoughts but by the thoughts of their captor, who seeks to eliminate them through physical and mental confinement. The commanding performance by Al Tawil induces turmoil and apprehension in the person trapped inside the box, causing them to surrender unwillingly. Maybe the artist wanted to portray the numerous ways in which emotional abuse manifests through psychological confinement as a method of controlling and subjugating someone. Systematic abuse destroys the victim’s self-confidence and self-awareness, causing them to doubt their perceptions and self-image. The individual is trapped in this dreadful place, enduring different kinds of abuse, until their captor instructs them to end their own life. They perish through a systematic process of brainwashing. This manipulation of self-perception and others’ perception of brainwashing can take different forms, like media, politics, religion, and commercial propaganda. * part of the book "Sameh Al Tawil: The Monograph" written by art critic Fatma Ali - 2024 , ISBN: 978-977-8800-38-8