Turn the Cold Weather into Sun and Fun
Performative Lecture | 22-23 July 2015 | Shishawi, Edgware Road, London

In Turn the Cold Weather Into Sun and Fun, Lantian Xie performs a talk about waiting and belonging in Dubai. Using the mezzanine floor of one of Edgware Road’s most iconic restaurants, Xie locates the talk in an imagined orchestra pit: a ‘mystic gulf’ between local and visitor and an unmapped gulf neither Persian nor Arab. From here, and by using simple props like a can of Mirinda and a sandwich from Hardees, an in-between Gulf emerges, accumulated through the minor and the incidental. At this intimate scale, landmarks fall out of focus and a tenuous Dubai-geist takes shape—the voice of a place not quite arrived. Shishawi Restaurant’s mezzanine floor plays host and stage. Double-apple shisha clouds hang about like ghosts and a meal follows.

Turn the Cold Weather Into Sun and Fun is presented as part of Shubbak, London’s largest biennial festival of contemporary Arab culture. The performance takes place on the mezzanine floor of Shishawi, an iconic shisha restaurant located on Edgware Road in London.

Turn the Sun and Fun into Cold Weather
Lecture Performance | 24 Nov 2015 | Sunset Beach, Jumeirah

Lantian Xie performs a lecture about waiting and belonging in Dubai. Staged on Jumeirah's Sunset Beach, Xie locates the talk in an imagined orchestra pit: a 'mystic' gulf between local and visitor and an unmapped gulf neither Persian nor Arab. From here, and by using props like a can of Mirinda and an enigmatic sandwich, an in-between Gulf emerges, accumulated through the minor and the incidental. At this intimate scale, landmarks fall out of focus and a tenuous Dubai-geist takes shape—the voice of a place not quite arrived upon.

This performance was followed by a meal.

Xie's lecture performance is commissioned by Alserkal Avenue and was developed as part of the artist's residency at Delfina Foundation in London with support from the Farook Foundation.