When Markus Hinterhäuser, the artistic director of the Salzburg Festival approached the Persian, New York-based artist Shirin Neshat to direct a version of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, the artist was surprised. While she has directed a number of films, she had never done so with an opera. He must be crazy, thought Neshat. “I admire Markus for the trust he has placed in me, and for his courage in engaging me,” said Neshat in a press release. “Initially I was certainly a little bit afraid, but I rose to the challenge. Both in my work and in my private life, there is this dichotomy between being a woman and political tyranny and oppression.”
Her admiration for Hinterhäuser helped seal the deal, as well as the story of Aida. Like Neshat, Aida was forced against her will to move to another country. Aida was forced from Ethiopia, where she was a princess, to Egypt, where she became the slave to the Pharaoh’s daughter. Neshat left Iran in 1975 for the United States to attend the University of California at Berkeley. “I identify with Aida,” said Neshat. “I know how Aida must feel; you undergo a process, you realize you can go on, that you can fall in love again, adapt to the circumstances.”
Neshat triumphed in telling the tale of a torrid love triangle between Aida, Amneris, the daughter of the king of Egypt, and Radamès, the captain of the Guard of Egypt. The opera sold out — performances for the Salzburg Festival often sell out months in advance. Neshat chose to use a stark white cube for the main piece of the set. It could be configured in a number of ways — closed, open, split in two. At times, the artist-cum-director projected scenes depicting the various characters on to the white box, instilling her own graphic touches on to the stage.
“This reminds me of the conflict between Trump and North Korea,” whispered operagoers during intermission. Although Aida was first performed in 1871, its themes still resonate in 2017, as it touches on migration, conflict, war, and exploitation. Ethiopia and Egypt are battling it out for land, and Aida’s father asks her to convince Radamès to reveal the game plan.
The director said she finds the opera’s tragic ending be appropriate. “I thought about the opera’s ending for a long time,” said Neshat. “And I find it a wonderful ending. – After all, it ends with the human decision by Aida and Radamès to resist the rules of power, and to choose death instead. It is a human decision, a human ending. To me, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
