Liana Rostamian

In this lesbian operatic video performance of Batti, batti from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Sophia Zuzga explores the ecstatic and erotic dimensions of pain and trust through BDSM staging. Inspired by Annie Sprinkle’s playful merging of pleasure and performance in Sluts and Goddesses Video Workshop (1992), Ron Athey’s radical bodily extremes in The Judas Cradle (2004), and well as Florentina Holzinger's landmark staging of Sancta (2024), she pushes classical opera into queer, post-porn territory. Using 90s DIY video aesthetics and embodied impact, this project reclaims and queers a controversial aria through empowered kink.

An aimless, adrift video store clerk jumps at the first opportunity to become someone new - a chance to transform, to step into the spotlight, to become a STAR™. As he immerses himself in the role of STARBOY, he loses a self that he didn’t even know existed. It's about being an outsider, someone who never fits in, finally being given the opportunity to become someone who does.