The Perfect Curve is the result of anthropological research conducted among everyday car drivers and commuters in Brandenburg, Germany, who were personally asked to recall moments on the road that triggered specific emotional reflections and feelings. For many citizens in rural areas, driving is a routine task and an integral part of daily life. In this project, the situations described by the drivers were reenacted by Teimur Bek Safiuli. Since the drivers recalled these moments almost like vivid films — often resembling in their structure film scripts — the visual representation of the works in the series adopts the format of imaginary film stills with subtitles.
Unlike Cindy Sherman’s iconic work Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980), which evokes suspense through staged cinematic imagery and leaves the viewer questioning the narrative beyond the frame, The Perfect Curve focuses on capturing the emotional depth of real-life experiences. While Sherman’s work employs dramatic lighting and angles to create an illusion of story behind, each piece in The Perfect Curve carries a unique emotional and personal background. The series aims to reenact the specific feelings and experiences shared by the drivers (to certain extent generalized by the artist), rather than focusing on cinematic tension or ambiguity.
The series is intended to be exhibited as a slideshow, with intervals of ten seconds per slide and accompanying audio that reads the subtitles aloud in German. The slides will be projected through a carousel slide projector, offering an immersive experience that reflects the dialogical nature of the project.
*Translation of the work title into German: "Der perfekte Platz auf einem Feldweg – wartend auf das Auto, sich fragend, wie lange es noch dauern wird."