Pulse Uprising

HD video, three channel, loop, colour, multichannel sound, 2026

How do you stand up against a regime that oppresses you not just once, but over and over and over again?

Pulse Uprising is a poignant multimedia installation by visual artists Vida Kashani, Amir Komelizadeh, and Siavash Yazdanmehr. Rooted in the Iranian context, and the contemporary social movements that emerged in the face of restrictive mandates and oppressive measures, the work makes visible the complex dynamics of control, resistance, and transformation. But its message resonates beyond a specific geo-political context, revealing the pulsating rhythms of dissent that echo on a global scale.

The immersive installation unfolds in phases, taking the audience on a journey through compelling, confrontational, and emotionally charged experiences that alternate between the perspectives of the protester, the oppressor, and the spectator. This is a space of shifting positions—where power and vulnerability, resistance and reflection, collide in fragile balance.

Through the interplay of text, sound art, and moving image, Pulse Uprising forms a sensory loop that explores alienation, vulnerability, power, courage, and fear—drawing attention to the systems that shape, control, and often silence our lives. The work traces pathways of willfulness—a force that mobilizes bodies governed by oppressive administrative machines to pulse against the orderly and the imposed. It questions whether movements toward freedom can persist beyond the moment, or whether they are always at risk of being absorbed into the very systems they resist.