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Best Before End

Part of CRISIS, Bold Tendencies, London, UK, 2023

Installation views, Abbas Zahedi, Best Before End. Part of CRISIS, Bold Tendencies, London, UK, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Bold Tendencies. Photography © Damian Griffiths.
Installation views, Abbas Zahedi, Best Before End. Part of CRISIS, Bold Tendencies, London, UK, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Bold Tendencies. Photography by Damian Griffiths and Dan John Lloyd.

Artwork Text

Best Before End is a participatory installation centred on a custom fermented beverage, produced in collaboration with East London soft drinks manufacturer Square Root Soda. The vinegar-based drink, or “Shrub”, is a remix of the traditional Iranian drink sekanjabin – a nourishing refreshment typically served in summer and featuring locally-sourced honey, orange blossom, mint oil and blackcurrant.

Presented in an adapted shipping container, Best Before End creates a link between Zahedi’s life in London with the historic practices of his maternal family, who were ceremonial drinks makers in Iran.

Together colouring stories of movement and cultural exchange with references to international commerce and the instability of global supply chains, Best Before End nods to the increasing effects these abstract networks have on our daily lives.

Open at specific times of the day, Best Before End invites audiences to receive one of these drinks and contemplate associated notions of care, migration, community and ritual in times of crisis. Otherwise locked shut, the installation creates a tension between these conditions and the failure of global systems of economic scarcity to uphold the space for community-oriented practices in our daily lives.

Digital Tour

Courtesy of Bold Tendencies, London, UK

Further information about CRISIS can be found on the Bold Tendencies website source