Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukács commissioned Iranian opera singer Shahram Yazdani to create a Persian version of “Nature Boy” for their film “Forest on Location”, set in the digital reconstruction of the primeval Bialowieza forest. The song itself has a migratory history: Herman Yablokoff, a Russian immigrant from Bialowieza, first composed Shvayg Main Harts for the Yiddish theater in New York, a lament on migration and alienation. Its melody was later appropriated by Eden Ahbez, who passed it to Nat King Cole as “Nature Boy”.
Performed in Loods 6—once the shipping hall of the Royal Dutch Steamboat Company, a hub of trade routes spanning the Mediterranean, New York, the Indies, and South America—Yazdani’s Persian version resonates with the building’s layered history of global circulation.
Just as Loods 6 shifted from a colonial warehouse to a space for artists and new voices, the song migrated from Bialowieza through New York and Nat King Cole to Yazdani. In his performance, the wise tree speaks back to him, offering a new perspective on this history of movement and encounter, and on our relation to nature.
Biography of Shahram Yazdani
Shahram Yazdani is an Iranian-German tenor, vocal coach, and songwriter. Trained in classical singing and the Italian Appoggio technique, he has performed internationally in roles such as Don José (Carmen), and will soon appear as Prince Sou Chong in Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns and as Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (fall 2025). In 2026 he will also debut as Otello in Germany. He won 3rd prize at the New York International Singing Competition and was a finalist at the Gala Tournament of Great Tenors in Poland.
Beyond the stage, Shahram has served as a jury member for international competitions, including the Romana Vaccaro Opera Singing Competition. He has taught at universities and music schools, and released over fourteen pop singles in multiple languages. His performances range from opera arias and tenor classics to ballads, weaving traditions into a distinctive and moving style.
Biography of Broersen & Lukács
Margit Lukács and Persijn Broersen are an Amsterdam-based artist duo whose practice explores the intricate entanglements between nature, culture and technology. Their practice includes films, digital animations, and spatial installations that explore how media shapes perceptions of the natural and constructed worlds.
Graduates of Graphic Design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, they went on to complete their MFA at the Sandberg Institute and were artists-in-residence at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.
Broersen & Lukács’ artistic inquiry is rooted in a deep engagement with media theory, art history, and mythology. Drawing from cinematic, scientific, and historical sources, they reimagine landscapes and natural phenomena through digitally layered environments. Their work often reflects on the politics of representation and the appropriation of nature—reconfiguring dominant narratives through fragmented, multi-perspective storytelling.
Their installations and films have been widely shown at major institutions and international biennials, including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL), Centre Pompidou (FR), FOAM (NL), MUHKA (BE), Centraal Museum (NL), MacKenzie Art Gallery (CA), WRO Biennale (PL), Biennale of Sydney (AU), Rencontres Internationales (HKW Berlin, Louvre and Grand Palais Paris), and Wuzhen Biennale (CN). In 2024, they represented the Netherlands at the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea. Their film I Wan’na Be Like You was nominated for the Tiger Award at IFFR 2024.
