In collaboration with Jon Rubin and commissioned by SPACES gallery in Cleveland, Ohio and San Diego Museum of Art, California 2013

“The Foreigner” presents an uncanny circumstance where the separation between self and other, local and foreign, is collapsed and confused, and the geopolitical distance the United States and Iran is made personal and local.

San Diego Museum of Art:

The Foreigner from felipecastel on Vimeo.

SPACES Gallery (at the Cleveland Public Library), Cleveland OH:

For over three months, everyday Clevelanders functioned as real-time local avatars for Iranians overseas. Through simple, mobile technology each Cleveland avatar was connected live to an Iranian citizen. The Iranian spoke only to the avatar (through an ear piece) and directed them in who to approach and what to say, as they walked through various public spaces. In this way citizens of Cleveland were introduced to someone who is currently living in an entirely different cultural circumstance through the body of a local citizen right in front of them.

Conflict Kitchen, Pittsburgh PA: