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UID:10335@artinliverpool.com
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London;VALUE=DATE:20250221
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London;VALUE=DATE:20250512
DTSTAMP:20250201T162512Z
URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/fact-bahar-noorizadeh/
SUMMARY:FACT: FACT: Bahar Noorizadeh
DESCRIPTION:\n\nExplore artist\, theorist\, and filmmaker Bahar Noorizadeh
 ’s Free to Choose\, an immersive film work that explores speculation\, 
 finance\, the weird and the unknown.\n\n\n\n\nBahar Noorizadeh is an artis
 t\, theorist\, writer and filmmaker based in London. Her work explores the
  histories of neoliberalism\, speculation\, finance\, fiction\, credit\, v
 alue\, the weird and the unknown. In Free to Choose\, she explores the cr
 edit banking system as a time-travelling machine through a story set in Ho
 ng Kong that spans decades. Free to Choose is created in collaboration w
 ith animator Rudá Babau and the experimental opera group Waste Paper Ope
 ra.\n\nFree to Choose begins with an opening monologue from economist Mil
 ton Friedman\, taken from his 1980 US Public Broadcasting Service televisi
 on series. Milton believed neoliberal systems were the surest route to a p
 rosperous and free society. Following its release from the UK's governance
 \, Hong Kong retained control of its economic system despite being handed 
 over to the Chinese government. Milton hailed Hong Kong as a "free market 
 utopia" that would "set an example for the rest of the world". Much like t
 he economic worlds built within the metaverse and gaming platforms of toda
 y\, Hong Kong was a testing ground for neoliberalism\, spearheaded by its 
 Western colonisers. The results shaped the economic policies of Western po
 wers in the decades to come. In 2023\, despite once claiming the highest r
 ate of public housing in the world\, Hong Kong now holds one of the widest
  wealth gaps and most lucrative real estate markets on the planet.\n\nFree
  to Choose pushes Milton's theory to the extreme\, presenting Hong Kong a
 s a delirious and absurd financial utopia. Bahar describes Free to Choose
  as a "financial science-fiction opera" or "fi-fi opera" that depicts the
  credit system of the future as a Central Time Travel Agency\, regulating 
 time travel between Hong Kong circa 1997 and Hong Kong in 2047. \n\nUnder
 pinning the opera's narrative is Bahar's extensive research on Milton Frie
 dman\, Friedrich Hayek\, Michel Feher\, and Rem Koolhaas\, various propone
 nts\, architects and critics of the neoliberal foundations of modern Hong 
 Kong. Free to Choose brings together a luminous animated CGI world of a 
 vivid and disorienting future megacity and a cast of unpredictable inhabit
 ants with a playful script and dream-like plot.\n\n\n\nThe narrative follo
 ws Philip Tose\, the former racing car driver and CEO of Hong Kong-based P
 eregrine Investment\, as he attempts to survive the 1997 economic crash by
  borrowing a lump sum from his older self in Hong Kong in 2047. Travelling
  through a wormhole time tunnel\, Tose navigates the floating public housi
 ng megastructure of the 'Space of Flows'\, which extends across the Pearl 
 River from Guangzhou to Shenzhen and Macau to Hong Kong\, in a networked c
 onstellation of cities named the Pearl Megalopolis. Tose encounters the hi
 erarchies that divide a future world in his search for his future self. Fi
 nancial nepotism is rife: the credit system is corrupt\, 'McRefugees' seek
  sanctuary in McDonald's\, and a group of low-credit-score activists\, the
  'Untrustworthies'\, are fighting back and demanding free time travel for 
 all.\n\nThe phrase' the risk is my company's…the risk is mine' repeats t
 hroughout the opera\, highlighting the differences between personal risk a
 nd collective impact. Free to Choose demonstrates the effects of singula
 r interests and actions on our present and future.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFilm produ
 ced in collaboration with Rudá Babau and Waste Paper Opera (Klara Kofen\,
  James Oldham\, Gary Zhexi Zhang\, Anna Palmer). Commissioned by Singapore
  Art Museum. Exhibition and Public Programme produced in collaboration wit
 h The Otolith Collective. Curtain image by Rudá Babau\, Klara Kofen\, and
  Bahar Noorizadeh.\n\nHeader image: Bahar Noorizadeh\, Free to Choose\, 2
 023. Courtesy the artist.\n\n\n\n
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload
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CATEGORIES:Exhibitions,Film
LOCATION:FACT\, 88 Wood Street\, Liverpool\, L1 4DQ\, Liverpool\, United Ki
 ngdom
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