"I live in a country, the United States, which together with Israel has attacked my country, Iran," says visual artist Shirin Neshat (Qazvin, 1957). She explains this during a break in rehearsals for the production of the opera Aida, by Verdi, for which she is the stage director and which will inaugurate the 2026-2027 season of the Gran Teatre del Liceu on September 25th. Seventeen performances will be held until October 15th, including one for those under 35 on September 23rd. "Aida is an Ethiopian princess in love with Radames, an Egyptian general who will invade her country. And the taxes I pay in the United States have been used to attack Iran, where my relatives live," recalls Neshat, known for works about women in the Middle East, "situated between political tyranny and religious fanaticism, who try to defend both their individuality and their humanity"; women who, in addition to contexts of oppression, also suffer from Western gazes fueled by orientalist stereotypes.