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SAIC CLASS OF 2020 GRADUATE WEBSITE
The Future of Our Plans: SAIC Graduate Class of 2020
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The Future of Our Plans: SAIC Graduate Class of 2020

Sami Ismat


Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Performance
Online.veni.vidi.vici@gmail.com

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CONTRACT OF PARTICIPATION

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Overall Practice:
Sami draws from his experience as a Syrian citizen and an asylum seeker in the United States to create performances that capture the contradictions of institutional bureaucracy, and of representative identity politics in relation to the ongoing Syrian Crisis. He adapts contemporary transdisciplinary processes and collaborative strategies to create performances. Sami develops methods drawn from theatre and he sets formal intentions to explore complex concepts. These methods are devised to facilitate an organic generative process and often rely on playful constraints.



Artist’s Statement:
Sami aims to highlight the contradictions between cultural stereotypes and lived experiences. This work is proof to the impossibility of claiming a singular identity. Sami believes understanding this is crucial to subvert bureaucratic systems of cultural representation that thrive on stereotypes, xenophobia, and tokenism. The sociality of performance although ephemeral, is an attempt to create egalitarian communities where we discover parts of our authentic selves.





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