Project Misplaces chronicles the wacky adventures of the fictional character Simon (Soleyman) Ordoubadi, a megalomaniacal Iranian immigrant to the United States. The series takes the form of advertisements in Farsi-language periodicals in Los Angeles, published over the course of several months in 2003, as well as flyers distributed in the streets of California during the same period. It turns out that, before moving the United States, Houman Mortazavi worked for an ad agency in Tehran.
Mortazavi’s vocabulary in these advertisements evokes the identity crisis felt by his compatriots upon emigrating to the United States. Simon Ordoubadi can handle all their problems. In a mixture of Farsi and broken English, Ordoubadi offers: “I babysitter your kid. Also love your old mother.” In Arabic script he adds: “We care of your child with traditional, religious and exercise-based styles: * Counting * Self-defense * Dog bites * Slip and fall * Resisting urban mafia (gangs) * Increased sex drive * With dance and music,” signed Professor Simon Ordoubadi.
A self-proclaimed professor, athlete, businessman, spiritual guide and even diplomat, Ordoubadi represents for Mortazavi the post-revolutionary generation of Iranians who left their country to pursue the American dream. Ordoubadi’s flattery and misplaced pretension make him strangely endearing. “Project Misplaced was/is about displacement which in turn translates into becoming irrelevant (as the main character did),” says Mortazavi. “When his ego misleads him into running for governor against Arnold Schwarzenegger, the ads switch to English (poor guy needed the native vote).” Desperate, the candidate improvises a slogan: “Even Foreigner understand I am a good leader.”
Humor is central to Mortazavi’s work, but it remains a critique of Iranian politics, which champions unity as a means to divide. Using the slogan, “Who cares ? I cares,” Simon Ordoubadi defends his political campaign: “* No one attends to you like your kind * Voting for another equals betraying Iran * Remember your friends in the next elections.”
