Young Russian artist Rima Zamzam works on exploring human experience through daily interactions with objects, space and contact with other people and her own self. A simple question that the artist is eager to answer is what is it, ultimately, to be a human being?

Modern society leaves us nothing but sterile forms of existence where not paying meticulous attention to anything but a norm becomes a threat and is prone to being liquidated. Today, in all forms of communication and interaction, there is a tendency to sort and separate — rubbish, information, people, feelings. Is it all because it is becoming too much or because we — as humans — are designed to estrange ourselves from anything unknown, uncomfortable, unusual and unfamiliar, whether it is a black cat on the street or a black period in our lives?

We are made to believe that we are on the way to the most liberal form of existence ever known. But are we? Any force creates a shadow just by simply existing.

We humans get scared by the products of our own body, like fluids, thoughts and emotions. Isn’t this why we try so hard to be tolerant and acceptable on the outside? We befriend everyone by becoming strangers to our own selves.

For her new performance piece CLEAN SHITS, Rima Zamzam finds inspiration in her four-week stay in Venice and old Italian movies by Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica. Intrigued by the images of the city and the people appropriating them — that altogether create nothing but movie scenery — she, as usual, is trying to answer questions (mainly to herself): Where is she going? Where is she now? Which experiences brought her here?

You can watch a video on and see more pictures on cculdesac.com

Artist: Rima Zamzam @rimasuperstar

Curator: Yana Malysheva-Jones @yanakot

Producers: Rima Zamzam, Yana Malysheva-Jones

Sound design and video editor: Evgeny Mezhibovskiy @evgenymezh

Photography: Kristi Giambattista @kriissg

English Editor: Ben Jones @bhdecjones