Tehran: 1 mile²

Azad Gallery, Tehran | April 30^th – May 5^th | 16:00 – 20:00

Mehrdad Afsari, Mahmoud Bakhshi, Andrew Dodds, Bijan Moosavi, Neda Razavipour, Kianoosh Vahabi (more…)

Excerpts from catalogue by Arash Fayez
This exhibition is the latest works of Peyman Hooshmandzadeh, a set of projects; “ Time “ , “ Bank Notes “ , “ Trampled “ And “ Knives “ , all have a common trait of documentary but in a new mould.
The elements that are common in this series are objects that are either on our person during the day or close by; bank notes in our pockets, clocks that decorate the offices, bits and pieces that are crumpled every day and knives that are to be found on certain people.
The earlier  projects of the artist ; “ Tea House Regulars“ , “ Shooka Café “ , “ The Lads in Customs “ and “ Zourkhaneh “ were  documentaries with inclination to cast certain types .
The presence of Humans particularly the men in a Patriarchal Society that we live in , is extremely visible. But the present exhibition emphasizes on objects ; objects that are thought provoking and at the same time trivial , we are called on to open our eyes and ears and to concentrate on details.
What becomes quite fascinating is that the previous series , the
“ Paradoxical Life  “ is now the connecting link ; humans that were put behind window shields of cars with decorations that reflect our society  as a cabinet of curiosities.
The common thread that can be found in the artists’ body of work , is the common man’s Culture ( the Folklore ) . A culture that by it’s nature is mixed with Kitsch art ( The collection of Time) and also describes the mundane everyday ( The Bank Notes ).
What happens in back alleyways of Tehran , from Café Shooka to the Customs House , the contents of our pockets , prints on shirts , the belts , the mustaches , all make up and form sub cultures that are full of contradictions but utterly Iranian….

AAran Art Gallery. Tehran.
No 12 dey street. North Kheradmand ave.
Tel +9821 88829086- 9
www.aarangallery.com

“We Live in a Paradoxical Society”

"We Live in a Paradoxical Society" Ramyar Manouchehrzadeh & Ali Nadjian

Photo exhibition by Ramyar Manouchehrzadeh & Ali Nadjian at Silk Road Gallery
One of the few countries of the world whose people have been living in a dually politicized atmosphere for three decades is Iran; a nation -with a religious origin- which after a Cultural Revolution naturally stepped into a path that was different from the previously experienced one.

Emergent Behavior: Project for a Houston Biennial

On View: April 9 – April 25, 2010 by appointment only
the temporary space/1320 Nance Street/Houston, TX 77002/832-867-9207
www.thetemporaryspace.com/manager@thetemporaryspace.com

This exhibition presents a project for an imagined Houston Biennial of contemporary art curated by participants in Raphael Rubinstein’s Virtual Curating course at the University of Houston School of Art. This virtual biennial includes 52 international artists working in a variety of mediums.

The title ”Emergent Behavior” is borrowed from systems theory in which it is used to describe a phenomenon of independent parts working together, and not predictable on the basis of their properties. An emergent behavior can appear when a number of simple entities operate in an environment, forming more complex behaviors as a collective.

Unlike many biennial exhibitions that begin with a predetermined curatorial theme, the artists in this show were selected through an empirical process. Over the course of several months the curators refined a selection that includes established artists who have created significant new bodies of work within the last two years as well as younger recently emerged artists. Much of the work in the exhibition involves the scavenging of social detritus. This can be seen, for instance, in the drawings of Aurel Schmidt, the paintings of Mark Flood, and the videos of Cameron Jamie as well as in the work of seminal figures such as Mike Kelley and Jacques de la Villeglé. The exhibition also focuses groups of younger artists working in Iran and Houston.
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Installation view at Azad art Gallery

Safe to Fight

Text and Curator: Shaheen Merali

When is it safe to fight? The probabilities of such an undertaking are of course calculated, albeit by intelligent guesses and measures guided by speculations of the fight in terms of the enemy’s strength and the forces needed to defend.
Defence and offense, the twin co-evils of all invasive desires, have been with us for millennia, making an odyssey of long drawn out atrocities- wherein heroes and patriotism are borne from the deaths and violation of others.
History, when read between wars, in the so-called peaceful eras, often suggests peace as the outcome of fighting. I wonder if such peace can be deemed to be the result of a process of distillation, of land drenched in innocent blood, of hope drained from our future and of the likelihood of more to come.
Komu’s work has always been a striking and constant reflection on the contemporary condition where so much remains at stake, here, after many thousands of years of fear and heartbreak as our heritage, we remain ready to move into another ‘situation’; readily abandoning our wit and knowledge and surrendering to the forces that break our bonds and our lives. Komu, like many of his contemporaries, remains perplexed by our lack of conviction to resist war and to think only in terms of defense and offense.

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Khatchin (Dotted Line)

Directed by By Niyaz Saghari (IR/UK)

Niyaz Saghari is Born in 1977,Tehran-Iran she has graduated with and M.A in Animation, from University of Wales,Newport and a B.A-Film Directing from Art University-Tehran. her works has been exhibited in tehran and abroad

Khatchin was a part of Parkingallery’s Deeper Derpression video program exhibited in Azad Art Gallery in 2006.

Some quick snapshots from the Opening, there is more to see and you still can catch it before its finishes on 16th of April
Thirteen Artists for the New Day: Group Painting
Opening Friday 13 Farvardin (2 April), 11-20 hrs. Curated by Fereydoun Ave,
Thru 27 Farvardin (16 April),16-20 hrs.

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