Midway through the 2026 collaborative sound performance Listening: The Fourth String organized by Raheleh Filsoofi and Reza Filsoofi, Raheleh asked each audience member to touch their own bodies—to be aware of one’s body in itself, in relation to others, and in connection to the sound. This insistence on embodied spectatorship is found throughout Raheleh’s current work at the Ismaili Center in Houston, the first US center built for Ismailis and meant to develop a broader intercultural community. The artist’s body-focused work generates a form of relationality that partly destabilizes one’s perceptual borders of the self: rather than view artwork or listen to music from a distance, Filsoofi incites immersion to build connection between self and other that might bridge religious divides and xenophobia more broadly.
The performance, which took place in the center’s black box theater, was preceded by the installation of a participatory musical object in the Center’s exhibition space. Built in 2022, the ShahTár (شهتار), is a large Persian rug appended with two four-string instruments. It is set up for collaborative playing. Visitors activate the work in the exhibition space and interact with one another either by co-playing one instrument or playing each independently. Moreover, because the exhibition space is open to adjacent sections of the building, the sound drifts through the halls.
On April 11, the two artists furthered this music-based collaboration in Listening: The Fourth String by playing the ShahTár with a number of Houston musicians—Will Adams, Tom Carter, Parham Daighighi, Laura Dykes, Ruthie Langston, Gabriel Martinez, and Firuz Shukrikhudoev. The improvisational performance began with Raheleh and Reza on the central instrument and the rest of the performers on guitar, bass, cello, percussion, and other instruments. As they played, Raheleh read poetry, Reza sung, and periodically other musicians would join them on the rug to play the stringed instrument. By the evening’s conclusion audience members too joined the stage adding to the collaborative sonic environment.
Perhaps most compellingly, the performance offered a balance between moments of harmony and dissonance. Sections of the music followed semi-regular structures—this was perhaps most notable when the music aligned with Reza’s vocals. Other sections were intentionally discordant—repetitions were abandoned and one after another new arrangements were delivered. This latter dissonant practice is regular within atonal and improvisational music; it, following the theories of Pauline Oliveros, which incites one to engage each sound and its arrangement newly at each turn. In these demanding sections of deep listening Oliveros suggests empathy or relationality is created. The connection is not simply the result of attention to the other (whether performer or listerner) but also attention to one’s own body among other bodies in a shared space. Ultimately, Filsoofi’s project invokes a somewhat familiar idea—to insist on relationality – but to do so today in ways meant to get beyond religious or other sectarian divisions is worthy of return.
The ShahTár is on view at the Ismaili Center, Houston as part of its inaugural exhibition.
