The
Other Apartment is a collaborative project between Sohrab and Pittsburgh-based artist
Jon Rubin that initially occurred simultaneously at Museum of Sohrab's apartment in Tehran, and an exact replica of that apartment and all of its contents at the
Mattress Factory Museum in Pittsburgh, U.S..
Using detailed photographs from Sohrab (who was not able to travel to the U.S. due to the travel ban on Iranian citizens), the artists worked with a team of fabricators to meticulously recreate the apartment's facade, interior architecture, and all of Sohrab's personal possessions. From his soap dish to his furniture, everything in
The Other Apartment was purchased, altered, or entirely fabricated to replicate what existed in Sohrab's apartment.
Since 2008, Sohrab has used his apartments as
spaces for exhibiting contemporary art and as art residencies. For the run of the project, Sohrab and Jon operated the space together in
The Other Apartment and produced exhibitions, programs, and events where every object, video, and performance that happened in one space was reproduced for the other, keeping both apartments identical across the 6,300 miles that separated them.
The Other Apartment functioned as a series of theoretical and practical questions within the sad absurdity of our current political condition: What if there was more than one absolute reality; can you build a space that functions as a loophole around national borders and economic sanctions; and what gets lost and gained in the act of duplication?
For more information visit The Other Apartment's website.