“Laban U” is a performance by the artist CHOKRA (Conscious Hoarding of Kinetic Rage, Associated) that was screened live as a streaming video performance. Utilizing the reflective technology of webcam feedback, the performance transforms from a somatic operative into a liquid transmission of “Performance Art in the United Arab Emirates.” The simulated compression of liquid in the stream addresses the associative format of private/public erotic display often conditioned by the proxy coda established in the Emirates. “Laban U” presents an intensified ablution that utilizes fresh packets of Laban Up: the popular Emirati yogurt drink that replenishes salt levels. As liquid yogurt is excitedly consumed in this performance, gold leaf is applied to the body for a hyper overlay of imagery to be transformed in the stream and processed by algorithmic feedback from custom software programmed by CHOKRA. The performance also features rap in Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, and English-from CHOKRA’s composition of “What are you?”-addressing a declaration of offensive terms and questions including, “

Shooo yaani khanis?

” (What is the meaning of khanis?)