‘THE FOLD’
ABSENCE, DISAPPEARANCE AND LOSS OF MEMORY IN WORKS OF 12 IRANIAN ARTISTS
AHMAD AALI, REZA ABDOH, CHOHREH FEYZDJOU, PARASTOU FOROUHAR, BARBAD GOLSHIRI, ARASH HANAEI, BAKTASH SARANG JAVANBAKHT, MANI MANZINANI, SHIRIN SABAHI, MONIR SHAHROUDY FARMANFARMAIAN, KAMRAN SHIRDEL, HOMAYOUN SIRIZI.
Al Shaab Yourid …* / Barbad Golshiri / 2011-12
Pigment inkjet on canvas, correction pen on paper, book
Each canvas approx. 170 x 115 cm
The CAB is delighted to announce its new exhibition, ‘The Fold’, curated by Michel Dewilde and Azar Mahmoudian, which explores motifs such as absence, disappearance, amnesia and the importance of memory set against the background of modern and contemporary Iran.
Inspired by the French Philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s work ‘Le Pli’ (1988), the curators choose the fold as the leitmotif for the exhibition. The exhibition makes use of the concept of the fold in a variety of modalities including the psychological, historical and political levels.
The fold simultaneously combines the idea of an action as well as a covering. It can be opened or closed: it unfolds itself to the world or can fold up into itself. The fold can also imply the passing of time – it can suggest memory or the loss of it – the interval where time is suspended, while its cracks or fissures refer to the unseen dimensions. The term can open up a different understanding of one’s relationship to oneself, a world where the internal and external or past and present cannot be easily located.
The exhibition ‘The Fold’, favours an intergenerational approach, confronting different aesthetic positions, spanning four decades of art in Iran. Beginning in the 1960’s modernist era, the show combines internationally renowned artists such as Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian who started her career at a time of an imposed modernism, with others who were living abroad or in exile and emerged in the 80s and early 90s such as Chohreh Feyzdjou and Reza Abdoh. These artists are put together with exponents of the most recent generations such as Shirin Sabahi or Mani Manzinani. The exhibition combines existing art works with site-specific creations by Parastou Forouhar, Homayoun Sirizi and Arash Hanaei.
Arash Hanaei / Behesht-e Zahra (From the Capital Series) / 2013
Diasec print, 250 x 88 x 3,3 cm, Edition of 3 (+2 ap)
Michel Dewilde is a curator and art historian based in Ghent (B).
He curated exhibitions for the MSK & SMAK museums (Ghent), the Art foundation Gynaika (Antwerp), the CC Bruges and worked freelance. Since 1996 he has initiated several projects with Iranian artists such as: Chohreh Feyzdjou, Shadi Ghadirian, BitaFayyazi, Neda Razavipour, SiminKeramati, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Shirin Sabahi, Sona Safaei, Baktash Sarang Javanbakht, etc.
Azar Mahmoudian is a freelance art critic and curator based in Tehran and London. She was the recipient of the Chevening scholarship and graduated with an M.A. from Goldsmiths in 2009. Her research interests are mainly focused on transcultural circulations and the politics of display. In 2010 she co-curated the archive and documentary series portion of “Iran and co” at Burges, Belgium, which engaged with international representations of Iranian contemporary art. She has collaborated with Tehran based project spaces and works as a researcher, associate editor and university lecturer.
CAB Contemporary Art
www.cab.be
Rue Borrens 32-34 – 1050 Brussels
19 April – 15 June 2013
Opening : Thursday 18.04.2013, 6 – 10pm
Exhibition : 19.04.2013 – 15.06.2013
Open: Thursday, Friday and Saturday : 2 – 6pm
Information : For more information please contact Eleonore de Sadeleer
eleonore.desadeleer@cab.be
+32 477 88 39 46
