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EXHIBITION

PHI Event Centre The Fury COVE Rv2
Photo: Image from The Fury, Shirin Neshat

The Fury by Shirin Neshat

  • Exhibition
  • Immersion
  • Technology
  • Society
  • Contemporary Art
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PHI Centre Espace 1 and Habitat Sonore
407 Saint-Pierre St
Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 2M3

Monday and Tuesday:
Closed
Wednesday to Friday:
11 AM to 7 PM (last entry at 6 PM)
Saturday and Sunday:
1 PM to 7 PM (last entry at 6 PM)

Duration: Approximately 1 hour

13 years old +

General admission: $25
Student and senior admission: $23

Price including service fees, excluding taxes

This exhibition addresses sensitive topics, which are specified here.

The Fury is a striking and moving tale about the enduring trauma experienced by a fictional female political prisoner.

  • Presented by

  • A work by

About the exhibition

The Fury, created by Shirin Neshat, is a two-part narrative that takes the audience through the emotional turmoil experienced by the Iranian protagonist. The artwork is presented through a two-channel video and depicts the psychological and emotional state of a woman who remains haunted by violent memories of her detention. The narrative continues with a virtual reality work that transports the audience to experience the physical and emotional charge of this woman.


Content warning: This exhibition addresses issues of violence against women, sexual assault and torture in the context of incarceration.

PHI Event Centre The Fury VR Still
Photo: Image from The Fury, Shirin Neshat

The Fury

In a highly fictionalized and stylized approach, The Fury explores the sexual exploitation of female political prisoners, referencing the Islamic Republic of Iran's brutal treatment of political prisoners.

During this double-channel video, we follow the psychological and emotional state of a woman who, while now on free, remains haunted by memories of sexual assault, torture and rape from her detention. Throughout this narrative, the artist, Shirin Neshat, poignantly addresses the issue of the female body as both an object of desire and of violence. The Fury is a combination of cinematic flashbacks and dream visions, where Neshat uses music and movement to process and convey the protagonist's trauma.

The Fury is also complemented by a virtual reality (VR) work, where Neshat captures a pivotal scene from the artwork with an all-encompassing effect allowing the spectator to experience the same physical and emotional charge lived by the protagonist. The VR work is a strong example of how the medium can amplify the characteristically breathtaking and—at the same time—completely unfreezing imagery that characterizes Neshat's body of work.

In the media

"[...] Neshat's work engages viewers with the marginalization of Iranian women through an ongoing dialogue between the different video installations that compose her work and, above all, by emphasizing the richness of different perspectives on the same situation."

—Julie Richard (translated by PHI)
Esse, July 20, 2023, Shirin Neshat: The Fury

About the
artist

PHI Event Centre The Fury Shirin Neshat Credit Rodolfo Martinez
Photo: Rodolfo Martinez

Shirin Neshat is an Iranian-born artist and filmmaker living in New York. Neshat works and continues to experiment with the mediums of photography, video and film, which she imbues with highly poetic and politically charged images and narratives. They question issues of power, religion, race, gender and the relationship between the past and present, East and West, individual and collective, through her experiences as an Iranian woman living in exile.

Neshat has held numerous solo exhibitions at museums internationally including the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Texas); The Broad, Los Angeles; Museo Correr, Venice, Italy; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C. and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Neshat has directed three feature-length films, Women Without Men (2009), which received the Silver Lion Award for Best Director at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, Looking For Oum Kulthum (2017), and most recently Land of Dreams, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival (2021).

Neshat was awarded the Golden Lion Award, the First International Prize at the 48th Biennale di Venezia (1999), the Hiroshima Freedom Prize (2005), the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2006) and in 2017, she received the prestigious Praemium Imperiale Award in Tokyo.

She is represented by Gladstone Gallery in New York and Goodman Gallery in London.

PHI Centre Event The Fury Habitat Sonore Credit Ryan Muradv2
Photo: Ryan Murad

Habitat Sonore

To continue your immersive journey at the PHI Centre, tickets to this exhibition include access to Habitat Sonore, PHI's immersive listening room.

Relax and discover Emel Mathlouthi, the enchanting voice behind Shirin Neshat's work, The Fury.

PHI Event Centre The Fury FAQIMG
Photo: Exhibition view of The Fury by Shirin Neshat

FAQ

Credits

  • Presented by
    PHI
    A work by
    Shirin Neshat
    Year
    2023
    Actress
    Sheila Vand
    Executive Producer
    Shoja Azari

  • Music & Sound Design
    Johnny Azari
    Vocals
    Emel Mathlouthi
    Special Effects
    Adam Bailey
    Costumes
    Giulia Theodoli
    Makeup
    Crystal Gossman

  • VR film
    Produced for Vibrog Kunstahal in collaboration with Khora Contemporary and The Animation Workshop
    VR filming and production
    Christopher Schnoor and Peter Fisher
    Locations
    The 1896 Studios & Stages

  • Officers
    Tony Azar, Roeg Cohen, Antonio Comas, Ralph Louis Davila, John G, Hugo Huerta Marin, Federico Navarro, Vladimir Radojicic, Tonino Salvini, Efrain Santiago, Urko Suarezaz, Vito Tondo, Frank Wood, Joseph Zamarelli

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