Category Archives: music and arts

Strolling through Tehran’s art galleries – Part III

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July 2018, Iranshahr Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Iranshahr Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Iranshahr Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Iranshahr Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Honar Online.
August 2018, Saless Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online.
August 2018, Saless Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online.
August 2018, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Sara Sasani, Honar Online.
August 2018, Golestan Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Maryam Ramezanloo, Honar Online.
August 2018, Hoor Gallery (in collaboration with Emrooz Gallery). Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online.
August 2018, ECO Cultural Institute, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online.
August 2018, Ayrik Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Ahmad Aghasiani, Honar Online.
August 2018, Ariana Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online.
August 2018, Ariana Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online.
August 2018, A Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online.
August 2018, Dastan Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online.
August 2018, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online.
August 2018, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online.
August 2018, Mostaghel Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online.
July 2018, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Seyed Hatef Hosseini, Honar Online.
July 2018, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Seyed Hatef Hosseini, Honar Online.
July 2018, Mah Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Maryam Ramezanloo, Honar Online.
July 2018, Mah Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Maryam Ramezanloo, Honar Online.
July 2018, Aaran Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online.
July 2018, Etemad Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Sara Sasani, Honar Online.
July 2018, Iran Art Gallery, Tehran. Photo credit Mahdiye Babaee, Honar Online.
July 2018, Seyhoun Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online.
July 2018, Sayé Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Sara Sasani, Honar Online.
July 2018, Sayé Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Sara Sasani, Honar Online.
July 2018, Tehran Art Center. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Tehran Art Center. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Tehran Art Center. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Shalman Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Maryam Ramezanloo, Honar Online.
July 2018, Shalman Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Maryam Ramezanloo, Honar Online.
July 2018, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Vista+, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Saeed Rabiee, Honar Online.
July 2018, Vista Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Saeed Rabiee, Honar Online.
July 2018, Golestan Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Seyed Hatef Hosseini, Honar Online.
July 2018, Golestan Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Seyed Hatef Hosseini, Honar Online.
July 2018, Saless Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Honar Online.
July 2018, Seyhoun Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Sara Sasani, Honar Online.
July 2018, Seyhoun Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Sara Sasani, Honar Online.
July 2018, Seyhoun Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Sara Sasani, Honar Online.
July 2018, Atbin Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Saeed Rabiee, Honar Online.
July 2018, Atbin Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Saeed Rabiee, Honar Online.
July 2018, Homa Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Photo credit Khosro Parkhideh, Honar Online.
July 2018, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran. Photo credit Maryam Ramezanloo, Honar Online.
July 2018, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran. Photo credit Maryam Ramezanloo, Honar Online.

Overview and sources

  1. “Warhol saved me”, exhibition by Khosrow Hassanzadeh at Iranshahr Gallery. Bio, photos.
  2. Painting exhibition by Ali Bazmandegan at Saless Gallery. Bio, photos.
  3. “Sacred Garden”, exhibition by Anahita Ghazanfari at Shirin Gallery. Bio, photos.
  4. “100 works, 100 artists”, group exhibition at Golestan Gallery. Photos.
  5. Painting exhibition by Alireza Baghi at Hoor Gallery (collaboration with Emrooz Gallery). Photos, poster.
  6. “Inward regard 2”, exhibition by Faezeh Afjehniya at ECO Cultural Institute Tehran. Bio, photos, poster.
  7. “Human Being & Forgetfulness”, painting exhibition by Shirin Moayya at Ayrik Gallery. Bio, photos, poster.
  8. “Moment”, sculpture installation by Solmaz Lienhard at Ariana Gallery. Photos, poster.
  9. “Home is a name”, group exhibition (by Mona Najafizadeh, Miriam Hamann and Matin Soofipour) at A Gallery. Cooperation between Austrian and Iranian artists. The project will continue in January 2019 at Atelierhaus Salzamt in Linz. Photos, poster.
  10. “On the pictures”, exhibition by Pouya Parsamagham at Dastan Gallery. Photos and more.
  11. Painting exhibition by Sohrab Marzban at Shirin Gallery. Bio, photos.
  12. “Tehran to me”, conceptual costume exhibition at Mostaghel Gallery. Photos.
  13. “Corruption, Retooling, Connection”, installation by Arya Tabandehpoor at Mohsen Gallery. Bio, photos and more: mohsen.gallery, harpersbazaararabia.com.
  14. “Qajar”, painting exhibition by Ghasem Hajizadeh at Mah Gallery. Bio, photos.
  15. “Three bodies”, group exhibition (works by Shaqayeq Ahmadian, Farzad Shekari and Parisa Taghipour) at Aaran Gallery. Photos.
  16. 1st annual young adults drawing exhibition at Etemad Gallery. Photos.
  17. Artworks by Narges Baghermoradi at Iran Art Gallery. More (in Persian) and photos.
  18. “Living inside death”, drawing exhibition by Mojtaba Yadollahi at Seyhoun Gallery. More (in Persian) and photos.
  19. “Fifty years in Abbey Road”, retrospective of artworks by Hamid Nourkeyhani at Sayé Gallery. Bio, photos, photos.
  20. “Illusion and reality”, works by Mehrdad Sadri at Tehran Art Center. Bio, photos.
  21. “Beyond the grays”, painting exhibition by Aisan Mohammad at Shalman Gallery. Bio, photos, poster.
  22. “Four corners of imagination”, group exhibition at Iranian Artists Forum. Photos.
  23. “Live dolls”, painting exhibition by Manoochehr Soltani at Vista+. Photos and more.
  24. “In darkness”, painting exhibition by Mina Feshangchi at Vista Gallery. Photos and more.
  25. Painting exhibition by Shahin Kimiagar at Golestan Gallery. Photos.
  26. Painting exhibition by Hosna Karnama at Saless Gallery. Bio, artist’s page and photos.
  27. “In our jungle”, painting exhibition by Mozhdeh Sajadi at Shirin Gallery. Photos.
  28. “The empty space”, painting exhibition by Sedigheh Fatollahzadeh and Orhan Umut at Seyhoun Gallery. O. Umut’s bio, interview with S. Fatollahzadeh (in Persian) and photos.
  29. “Zelkova’s serenity”, painting exhibition by Ebrahim Ganjian at Atbin Gallery. More (in Persian), photos and poster.
  30. “the short stories of roseland”, painting exhibition by Ladan Broujerdi at Homa Gallery. Bio, photos.
  31. Exhibition by Norwegian photographer Mats Alexander Grenabo at Iranian Artists Forum. Grenabo’s instagram, photos.

Strolling through Tehran’s art galleries – II

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Tehran’s Art Center, May 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Tehran’s Art Center, May 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Gallery A, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Gallery A, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Shirin Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Shirin Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Negar Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit negar_art_gallery, instagram
Mahmoudiyeh House, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit ahmad.nadalian, instagram
Dena Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Dena Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Ab/Anbar Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Ab/Anbar Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Artists: Aydin Aghdashloo, Hosein Ahmadinasab, Parvaneh Etemadi, Hannibal Alkhas, Naser Ovissi, Reza Bangiz, Sima Bina, Jazeh Tabatabai, Mahmoud Javadipour, Bahman Dadkhah, Mehdi Sahabi, Iraj Zand, Jahangir Shahdadi and Manocher Motabar, May 2017 in Tehran. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Artists: Aydin Aghdashloo, Hosein Ahmadinasab, Parvaneh Etemadi, Hannibal Alkhas, Naser Ovissi, Reza Bangiz, Sima Bina, Jazeh Tabatabai, Mahmoud Javadipour, Bahman Dadkhah, Mehdi Sahabi, Iraj Zand, Jahangir Shahdadi and Manocher Motabar, May 2017 in Tehran. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Jaleh Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Jaleh Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Delgosha Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Honar Online
Delgosha Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Honar Online
Did Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Did Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Hoor Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Shirin Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Negar Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit negar_art_gallery, instagram
Works by R. Santaguida (Canada), F. Moraes (Brazil) and Naïmé Perrette (France) – Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit kooshkresidency, instagram
Works by R. Santaguida (Canada), F. Moraes (Brazil) and Naïmé Perrette (France) – Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Works by R. Santaguida (Canada), F. Moraes (Brazil) and Naïmé Perrette (France) – Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Assar Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Assar Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Homa Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Homa Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Rarely seen works by Sohrab Sepehri, Bahman Mohasses, Hossein Zendehrudi, Parviz Kalantari, Jazeh Tabatabi and many other artists. Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Siamak Zomorrodi-Motlaq, Honar Online
Rarely seen works by Sohrab Sepehri, Bahman Mohasses, Hossein Zendehrudi, Parviz Kalantari, Jazeh Tabatabi and many other artists. Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Siamak Zomorrodi-Motlaq, Honar Online
Works by Abolfazl Shahi, Zahra Ebrahimi, Iraj Eskandari, Neda Azami, Fereidoun Omidi, Samila Amir Ebrahimi, Masoud Babakhani, Ladan Borojerdi, Homayoun Salimi, Hamid Jafaree Shakib, Mehdi Hosseini, Setareh Hosseini, Behnam kamrani, Sorme Arab, Katayoun Golestanian, Navid Atrvash, Neda Ghayouri and Gizella Varga Sinaee. Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Works by Abolfazl Shahi, Zahra Ebrahimi, Iraj Eskandari, Neda Azami, Fereidoun Omidi, Samila Amir Ebrahimi, Masoud Babakhani, Ladan Borojerdi, Homayoun Salimi, Hamid Jafaree Shakib, Mehdi Hosseini, Setareh Hosseini, Behnam kamrani, Sorme Arab, Katayoun Golestanian, Navid Atrvash, Neda Ghayouri and Gizella Varga Sinaee. Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Vista+, Vista Art Gallery, Tehran in May 2017. Photo credit Saeed Rabiee, Honar Online
Vista+, Vista Art Gallery, Tehran in May 2017. Photo credit Saeed Rabiee, Honar Online
Works by Forugh Khoshnevis, Parvaneh Razzaqi, Mahta Moeini, Shahla Homayuni and other artists to raise funds for people with cancer. Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ehsan Neghabat, Honar Online
Works by Forugh Khoshnevis, Parvaneh Razzaqi, Mahta Moeini, Shahla Homayuni and other artists to raise funds for people with cancer. Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ehsan Neghabat, Honar Online
Works by Forugh Khoshnevis, Parvaneh Razzaqi, Mahta Moeini, Shahla Homayuni and other artists to raise funds for people with cancer. Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ehsan Neghabat, Honar Online
Golestan Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Mohammad Khodabakhsh, Mehr News Agency
Golestan Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online

First part: Strolling through Tehran’s art galleries – I

Overview

  1. Photos, cartoons, comic strips and paintings by Kambiz Derambakhsh at Tehran’s Art Center. Bio: iranianroots.com. More photos: Honar Online
  2. “Between Two Curtains”, painting exhibition by Shahroo Kheradmand at Gallery A.
    Bio (in Persian): galleryinfo.ir and a-gallery.ir. More photos: Honar Online
  3. “V[!]ROLLURGY, #Fake news and fake science” by Mamali Shafahi at Mohsen Gallery.
    Bio: mohsen.gallery and aptglobal.org. More photos: Honar Online
  4. “Colorful Universe”, painting exhibition by Amir Bakhtiar Sanjabi at Shirin Gallery.
    Bio: amirsanjabi.com and financialtribune.com. More photos:  Honar Online
  5. Calligraphy exhibition by Alireza Shirafkan at Negar Art Gallery. Bio (in Persian): negarartgallery.com. More photos: instagram @alirezashirafkan90
  6. “The color of the island”, 10 year review of Ahmad Nadalian’s work in Hormuz Island at Mahmoudiyeh House. Bio: greenmuseum.org. More photos: instagram @ahmad.nadalian
  7. “I’m an artist”, “From Historical Documents”, photos, paintings and videos from Ramin Etemadi Bozorg at Dena Gallery. Bio: creativedisturbance.org. More photos: Honar Online
  8. “I know why the rebel sings”, photo exhibition by Newsha Tavakolian at Ab/Anbar Art Gallery. Bio: theotheriran.com. More photos:  Honar Online and Borna News
  9. “Figure and figuration”, group exhibition at Farmanfarma Art Gallery. Artists: Aydin Aghdashloo, Hosein Ahmadinasab, Parvaneh Etemadi, Hannibal Alkhas, Naser Ovissi, Reza Bangiz, Sima Bina, Jazeh Tabatabai, Mahmoud Javadipour, Bahman Dadkhah, Mehdi Sahabi, Iraj Zand, Jahangir Shahdadi and Manocher Motabar. More photos: Honar Online
  10. “Delete”, photo and video art exhibition by Yekta Darvish at Jaleh Gallery.
    Interview (in Persian): honaronline.ir. More photos: Honar Online and ISCA News
  11. “Horses and smiles”, painting solo exhibition by Poorang Pirataei at Delgosha Gallery. Short info about the artist: theculturetrip.com. More photos: Honar Online
  12. Handmade Printmaking Woodcut Exhibition by Parvin Hani Tabaei at did Gallery. Bio: parihani.com. More photos: Honar Online
  13. Painting exhibition by Davood Emdadian at Hoor Art Gallery. Bio: hoorartgallery.com. More photos: Honar Online
  14. “Khaki & Light Cyan”, painting exhibition by Morteza Goudarzi Dibaj at Shirin Gallery. Bio (in Persian): hamshahrionline.ir. More photos: Honar Online
  15. “Circle of life”, painting exhibition by Mohsen Etemadifar at Negar Art Gallery. Bio: arthibition.net. More photos: instagram @mohsen etemadifar
  16. 3rd KARA Open Studio at Mohsen Gallery, BAAM project. Works by Rob Santaguida (Canada), Felippe Moraes (Brazil) and Naïmé Perrette (France), awardees of the third edition of Kooshk Artist Residency Award (KARA 2017) as the result of their one month stay in Kooshk in May 2017. Bios: R. Santaguida, F. Moraes, N. Perrette. More photos: Honar Online
  17. “Variations on an instrument of a human anatomy”, artworks by Payam Mofidi at Assar Art Gallery. Bio: assarartgallery.com and mim.gallery. More photos: Honar Online
  18. “The eye that sees series”, painting exhibition by Ahmad Morshedloo at Homa Art Gallery. Bio: assarartgallery.com and saatchigallery.com. More photos: Honar Online
  19. “New Era Pioneers”, group exhibition at Mojdeh Art Gallery. Rarely seen works by Sohrab Sepehri, Bahman Mohasses, Hossein Zendehrudi, Parviz Kalantari, Jazeh Tabatabi and many other artists. More photos: Honar Online
  20. “Naghsh Band”, group exhibition at Vista Art Gallery. Artists: Abolfazl Shahi, Zahra Ebrahimi, Iraj Eskandari, Neda Azami, Fereidoun Omidi, Samila Amir Ebrahimi, Masoud Babakhani, Ladan Borojerdi, Homayoun Salimi, Hamid Jafaree Shakib, Mehdi Hosseini, Setareh Hosseini, Behnam kamrani, Sorme Arab, Katayoun Golestanian, Navid Atrvash, Neda Ghayouri and Gizella Varga Sinaee. More photos: Honar Online
  21. Chalcography exhibition by Mahdieh Azizi Rad at Vista+. Bio: arthibition.net. More photos:  Honar Online
  22. Group exhibition at Behnam Daheshpour Gallery to raise funds for people with cancer. Works by Forugh Khoshnevis, Parvaneh Razzaqi, Mahta Moeini, Shahla Homayuni and other artists. More photos: Honar Online
  23. “Suddenly aged 84”, painting exhibition by Rafat Sarraf at Golestan Gallery. About the artist: Tehran Times. More photos: Honar Online and Mehr News Agency

Other sources: Honar Online (Shahroo Kheradmand, in Persian), Honar Online (Rafat Sarraf, in Persian), Ab/Anbar Art Gallery, Assar Art Gallery (P. Mofidi), Behnam Daheshpour Charity Organization, Golestan Gallery (R. Sarraf), Homa Art Gallery (A. Morshedloo), KARA 2017 Open Studio, Mohsen Gallery (V[!]ROLLURGY), Negar Art Gallery, Shirin Gallery (A. Bakhtiari Sanjabi), Tehran’s Art Center, Vista Art Gallery (M. Azizi Rad), Vista Art Gallery (Naghsh Band), facebook @AbSlashAnbar, instagram @a_art_gallery, instagram @assarartgallery, instagram @behnamcharity, instagram @delgoshagallery, instagram @Dena.gallery, instagram @did_gallery, instagram @homaartgallery, instagram @hoorartgallery, instagram @jaleh.gallery, instagram @mohsengallery, instagram @mojdeh_art_gallery, instagram @negar_art_gallery, instagram @shiringallerytehran, instagram @VistaArtGallery, Tavoos Online (A. Nadalian), Tavoos Online (K. Derambakhsh), Tehran Times (Behnam Charity), Tehran Times (New Era Pioneers), Poster (A. Morshedloo), Poster (Behnam Charity), Poster (D. Emdadian), Poster (Figure and figuration), Poster (KARA 2017), Poster (M. Etemadifar), Poster (M. Goudarzi Dibaj), Poster (New Era Pioneers), Poster (Pari Hani), Poster (V[!]ROLLURGY)

Strolling through Tehran’s art galleries – Part I

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Aria Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Aria Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Shokou Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit Honar Online
Emkan, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit: Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
O Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit: Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
O Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit: Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Vista Art Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit: Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Vista Art Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit: Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Atbin Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit. Farzan Ghasemi, Honar Online
Atbin Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit. Farzan Ghasemi, Honar Online
Jaleh Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Jaleh Gallery, Tehran, April 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Vista Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Vista Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Golestan Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online
Golestan Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ramona Mirian, Honar Online
Roberoo Mansion, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Farzan Ghasemi, Honar Online
Roberoo Mansion, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Farzan Ghasemi, Honar Online
Roberoo Mansion, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Farzan Ghasemi, Honar Online
Shirin Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Shirin Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Gata Ziatabari, Honar Online
Tehran’s Art Center, May 2017. Photo credit: Ramona Mirian, Honar Online
Tehran’s Art Center, May 2017. Photo credit: Ramona Mirian, Honar Online
Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Golestan Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ehsan Neghabat, Honar Online
Golestan Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ehsan Neghabat, Honar Online
Golestan Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit Ehsan Neghabat, Honar Online
Saless Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Saless Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Iranshahr Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Iranshahr Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Dena Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani
Dena Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani
Sareban Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Honar Online
Sareban Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Honar Online
Vali Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Vali Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Sharareh Samei, Honar Online
Fereshteh Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Fereshteh Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online
Fereshteh Art Gallery, Tehran, May 2017. Photo credit: Alireza Farahani, Honar Online

Overview

  1. “Journey to myself”, painting exhibition by Morteza Asadi in memory of Davood Emdadian at Aria Gallery. Bio: tavoosonline.com
  2. “Horn”, group painting exhibition at Shokou Gallery
  3. “Faraway”, photo exhibtion by Mohsen Shahmardi at Emkan. Bio: mohsenshahmardi.com
  4. “The earth”, selection of works on paper, sculptures and installation by Niloofar Lohrasbi at O Gallery. More: O Gallery (The Eart)
  5. “Dark evolution”, painting exhibition by Azin Rostami at Vista Art Gallery. More: Vista Gallery
  6. “The unseen”, collection of works by Nasser Ovissi at Atbin Gallery. Bio: galleryovissi.com
  7. “Eve’lution”, photo exhibition by Nazanine Ezdiari at Jaleh Gallery. Bio: mekicartgallery.com
  8. “Vacuum bag”, installation by Razieh Aarabi at Vista Art Gallery. More: Vista Art Gallery
  9. Painting exhibition by Alireza Esmaeli at Golestan Gallery. More: Golestan Gallery
  10. “Ghabaleh”, group exhibition curated by Mojdeh Atrak at RoBeRoo Mansion. Artists: Amirmasoud Agharebparast, Hoda Amin, Nazly Pourshirmohamad, Ehsan Tahvilian, Negin Haddadzadeh, Nojan Heydari, Zahere Donyadide, Ehsan Rooholamin, Ehsan Ziaee, Yookabet Farokhi, Zahra Ghyasi, Mahya Giv, Tarlan Lotfizadeh and Maryam Mostaghel
  11. Painting exhibition by Reza Hedayat at Shirin Gallery. More: shiringallery.com
  12. Painting exhibition by Nasser Azizi at Tehran’s Art Center. Bio: mahartgallery.com
  13. “Copy-Paste”, curated by Shahram Entekhabi at Azad Art Gallery. The exhibition intends to review the phenomenon of reproduction, replication and transcription in art.
  14. “Outer Facade, Inner Essence”, painting exhibition by Hadi Farahani at Golestan Gallery. Bio: iranian.com
  15. “Immigration postal boxes”, painting exhibition by Mehrshad Khosravi Yekta at Saless Gallery
  16. “Night, daylight twilight”, painting exhibition by Pariyoush Ganji at Iranshahr Gallery
  17. “Human is the difficulty of duty (1); Ability of loving and to be loved”, group multimedia exhibition curated by Farshid Parsikia at Dena Gallery
  18. “The shadow inside”, painting exhibition by Niloufar Qaderinejad at Sareban Gallery. More: Sareban Gallery
  19. “Girls of the turquoise land”, painting exhibition by Behzad Bozorgi at Valir Art Gallery.
    Bio: Vali Art Gallery
  20. “Typography”, group calligraphy exhibition at Fereshteh Art Gallery. Artists: Mohammad Ehsaei, Nasrolah Afjehi, Salar Ahmadian, Omid Khakbaz, Babak Rashvand, Alireza Saadatmand, Eineddin Sadeghzadeh, Mehdi Falah and Kiarash Yaghubi

Sources: Honar Online (HO) 1, HO 2, HO 3, HO 4, HO 5, HO 6, HO 7, HO 8, HO 9, HO 10, HO 11, HO 12, HO 13, HO 14, HO 15, HO 16, HO 17, HO 18, HO 19, HO 20, Aria Gallery (Journey to Myself), Atbin Gallery, Azad Art Gallery (Copy-Paste), Emkan (Faraway), Fereshteh Art Gallery (Typography), Golestan Gallery (H. Farahani), Jaleh Gallery (Instagram), Shokou Gallery, Tehran Art Center, instagram @behzadbozorgi, instagram @davoodemdadian, instagram @Dena.gallery, instagram @fereshtehartgallery, instagram @iranshahrgallery, instagram @mehrshad_khosravi_yekta, instagram #نازنین_ازدیاری (Nazanine Ezdiari), instagram @rooberoo_mansion, instagram @salessgallery, instagram @sarebangallery, instagram @shiringallerytehran, instagram @VistaArtGallery, Honar Online (in Persian, about Bakhtiari, Bozorgi, Hedayat and Farahani), Mehr News (N. Azizi) (in Persian), Payvand (H. Farahani), Poster (N. Azizi), Poster (Horn), Poster (Vacuum Bag)

Art collective Slavs and Tatars’ first exhibition in Iran (Photos)

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“Nose to Nose” will run from May 5 to July 14 featuring publications, lecture-performances and exhibitions at Pejman Foundation’s newly opened Argo Factory in downtown Tehran.

The installation looks to the Sufi notion of hamdami, the breathing together of sensuality and spirituality. Their “Not Moscow Not Mecca” installation, first exhibited at the Vienna Secession in 2012, will be restaged. A new Persian translation will be commissioned for their multi-channel audio installation “Lektor”, joining Aboriginal Yuggera, Arabic, Polish, German, Danish, Flemish and Spanish and a translation of David Joselit’s “On Aggregators” will be made available in Persian.

About Slavs and Tatars
Wishing to remain largely anonymous as a collective of unnamed artists, Slavs and Tatars was founded in 2006 by a Polish-Iranian duo. Over the years they have been joined by other artists from all over the world. The group’s work is centered on three activities: exhibitions, books and lecture performances, focusing on an often forgotten sphere of influence between Slavs, Caucasians and Central Asians. They refer to themselves as “archaeologists of the everyday”.
Their works are in collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin; Tate Modern, London and The Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, among others.

Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit argofactory, instagram
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit shdalvand, instagram
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit argofactory, instagram
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit hossein_rezvani, instagram
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit life.style.ideas, instagram
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit Mojtaba Arabzadeh, Honar Online
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit pejman_foundation, instagram
Argo Factory in Tehran, Iran – May 5 to July 14, 2017. Photo credit shiva_ebrahimi27, instagram

Related articles on Slavs and Tatars (2016): The Brooklyn Rail, Houston Chronicle, Blouin Art Info

Sources: Pejman Foundation, instagram #slavsandtatars, instagram #pejmanfoundation, instagram @argofactory, instagram Pejman Foundation: Argo Factory, Slavs and Tatars, culture.pl, Wikipedia, The Third Line

Tooma Art Group Exhibition at Iranian Artists Forum in Tehran

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Tooma Art Group was formed by a number of Iranian artists concerned about environmental issues. The exhibition, that will run through May 5, features paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs and tapestries with focus on Iran’s wildlife. Part of the event’s revenue will go towards environmental projects such as wildlife water holes and facilities for treatment of animals.

Participating artists include illustrators Negin Ehtesabian and Pejman Rahimizadeh, Ilgar Rahimi, Saeedeh Rezaee Badr, Saba Arabshahi, Mahnaz Saadatkia, Anis Soltani, Mahnaz Soleymannejad, Pedram Kazerooni as well as Afsaneh Khorramshahi and Alireza Owji. Nazanin Tahaee, Maryam Tahmasbi, Somayeh Alipour, Moslem Alamzadeh, Nastaran Anbari, Fereshteh Jafarimand and Mohanna Fazli are among others attending the event.

The current exhibition also features works by painters Asal Hazeqi and Leyla Refahi, as well as by graphic artist and photographer Homa Rostami, children’s book illustrator Mojgan Saeedian, graphic journalist Kamal Tabatabai, animator and caricaturist Sara Tayebzadeh and photographer Arezou Amidi.

Sources: Tavoos Online, instagram @tooma_art_group, instagram #tooma_art_group, Iranian Illustrators Society (in Persian)

Collage exhibition by five artists at Tehran’s Vista Art Gallery (Photos)

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Shirin Ettehadieh, Tooran Zandieh, Talieh Kamran, Minoo Asaadi and Fereshteh Ghazirad presented their works at an exhibition titled “Singing Pieces” hosted in Tehran by Vista Art Gallery.

Sources: Honar Online, Vista Art Gallery

The World Youth Orchestra to perform in Iran (Photos)

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The World Youth Orchestra arrived in Tehran on Monday and has already had its first joint rehearsal with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday under the leadership of its Italian conductor Damiano Giuranna. Both orchestras will perform together from August 10th to 12th at Vahdat Hall (Roudaki Hall) and will be conducted by Giuranna, Loris Tjeknavorian and Nasir Heidarian.

The World Youth Orchestra, based in Italy, consists of young musicians from 10 different countries, including Armenia, Portugal, Germany and Canada. The guests are also scheduled to hold several master classes and workshops during their stay in Iran.

Seventy-five young musicians from the five continents founded the World Youth Orchestra in Rome in 2001 just four days after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The World Youth Orchestra has been nominated Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF Italia; it has been awarded a Silver Medal and a Silver Plaque for cultural and social merits by the President of the Italian Republic.

Photos: The World Youth Orchestra and the Tehran Symphony Orchestra rehearsing in Iran under Italian conductor Damiano Giuranna

“Peace Symphony” at Ariana Gallery in Tehran (Photos)

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Ariana Gallery showcased sculptures and paintings by Nasser Palangi, Saghar Masudi and Kaveh Afaq in an exhibition named “Peace Symphony”.

Sources: Tehran Times, Honar Online 1, Honar Online 2

Marcos Grigorian’s “Earthworks” on display in Tehran

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Dastan +2 is hosting “Earth Works” by Iranian-Armenian artist Marcos Grigorian. The exhibition will be open from June 10th to July, 2nd.

Marcos (better known as Marco) Grigorian was an Iranian-Armenian artist, actor, teacher, gallery owner, and collector who played a pioneering role in the development of Iranian modern art. As a modernist pop artist, he turned to ordinary objects and popular ethnic forms and approaches. He used ethnic food such as “nan sangak” and “abghousht” to evoke authenticity in his work. Grigorian was a trend setter in experimenting with Earth Art in Iran.

Other posts on Iranian Armenians: https://theotheriran.com/tag/armenian/

Biography
Grigorian was born in Kropotkin, Russia in 1925, to an Armenian family from Kars who had fled that city when it was captured by Turkey in 1920. The family moved to Iran when Grigorian was five, living first in Tabriz, then Tehran and settling later in Julfa, the Armenian district of Isfahan. In 1940 his family moved back to Tehran where he attended Alborz College and later Kamal-al-Molk Art School in 1948.

After finishing pre-university education in Iran, in 1950, Grigorian went to Rome, and enrolled at the Academia di Belle Arti. He studied with cubist sculptor Roberto Melli (1885-1958). Upon graduation in 1954, he returned to Iran and opened Gallery Esthetique, one of the first modern galleries in Tehran.

In 1958, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, he organized the first Tehran Biennial. Grigorian was also an influential teacher at the Fine Arts Academy, where he disseminated his enthusiasm for local popular culture, including coffee-house paintings, a type of folk art named after the locations in which they were often displayed.

In 1959, after two years of intensive work, Grigorian completed a succession of enormous murals centering on the topic of the Holocaust. During the same period, he started applying dirt to the center of his canvases. This became the starting point of his celebrated “Earthworks Series”.

In 1960 he started acting in several Iranian films as Gregory Mark. An energetic and talented performer, he played villains in many movies, soon specializing in anti-hero roles and conspicuously contrary characters.

After moving to the USA in 1962 Grigorian started a new phase in his artistic career. He worked and lived in New York until 1970, when he returned to Tehran and joined the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University. Grigorian left Iran in 1977.

In 1980 he returned to New York and established Arshile Gorky Gallery, named after the Armenian abstract expressionist painter who committed suicide in the U.S.A. in 1948. There he exhibited the works of Iranian and Armenian artists for several years.

In 1986 Grigorian lost his daughter to a massive heart attack. The tragedy caused a shift in Grigorian’s entire perspective and artistic priorities. He immersed himself in his other passion, that of Armenian folk art and rug weaving. He later donated 5,000 of his artworks to the government of Armenia.

In 1993 established the “Sabrina Near East Museum of Yerevan”, where he housed his own works and exquisite collection. Known as the Middle East Museum, the Museum displays 2,600 exhibits containing works of Russian, European and Middle Eastern applied arts. In particular the Persian Section is unique. Persian Pre-Islamic Zoroastrian culture, Islamic culture, Ghadjarac art is on display as well.

Some of his works are now on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kerman, and the National Gallery of Armenia. Grigorian died on August 2007 in Yerevan, Armenia.

Sources: dastan+2, Facebook | Dastan’s Basement, HonarOnline, Encyclopaedia Iranica | Grigorian, Marcos, Wikipedia | Marcos Grigorian, armeniainfo.am

“The Salesman” crew received a warm welcome in Iran after winning two awards at Cannes Festival (Photos)

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Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi and actors Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti got an overwhelming welcome in Tehran after arriving home from the 69th Cannes Film Festival, where Farhadi won the best screenplay prize and Shahab Hosseini received the Palme d’Or for best actor.

The film, whose screenplay was also written by Farhadi, is about Emad (Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) who move into a new flat in the center of Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant dramatically changes the young couple’s life.

Shahab Hosseini and Asghar Farhadi had worked together in “A Separation“. The first Iranian film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012. “A Separation” also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Bear for Best Film and the Silver Bears for Best Actress and Best Actor (Shahab Hosseini and Peyman Moaadi), becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. Farhadi’s “The Past” (Le Passé) had been nominated for a Palme d’Or in 2013.

Iranian film “The Salesman” by Asghar Farhadi (Forushande, 2016)

Sources: Festival de Cannes, Tehran Times 1, Payvand Iran News, Wikipedia | A Separation, Facebook | Festival de Cannes – Page Officielle, Tehran Times 2, Mehr News Agency 1, ISCA, Tehran Picture Agency, Mehr News Agency 2,

Tehran was turned again into an art gallery (Photos)

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Tehran hosted for its second consecutive year “A Gallery as big as a City”, an art event that turns the Iranian capital into a city-wide gallery where large-scale reproductions of hundreds of well-known artworks – both Western and Iranian – hang randomly along the city’s main arteries.

800 copies of artworks by artists across the world have been put on display on 2000 billboards in Tehran. Some of the billboards are dedicated to pictures of objects of cultural heritage, such as reproductions of traditional Persian miniatures, carpets and calligraphy but other also to paintings of Iranian artists like Jafar Rouhbakhsh.

Two-third of the works are from Iran and the rest have been selected from the world’s major artists, some of which may be famous enough to be recognized by nearly half of the population, such as Van Gogh’s The Starry Night or Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Other international artists included are Americans Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol, Austrians Egon Schiele and Joseph Anton Koch, Belgian René Magritte, British Lucian Freud, French Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse, Germans Käthe Kollwitz and Caspar David Friedrich and Paul Klee, Italians Leonardo da Vinci (The last supper), Giorgio de Chirico, Japanese Gyokusen (artist name: Gyokkei) and Katsushika Hokusai and Spanish Pablo Picasso.

Related article: The other Iran | Photos compilation: A gallery as big as Tehran

Sources: kojaro.com, IRNA, shahrekhabar.com, Tehran Picture Agency, Payvand Iran News 1, Payvand Iran News 2, Hamshari Photo Agency, Iran Economist, Etemad Online, zibasazi.ir 1, zibasazi.ir 2, zibasazi.ir 3, zibasazi.ir 4, zibasazi.ir 5, zibasazi.ir 6, Tehran Times, sothebys.com

 

Iranian cartoonist wins top award at contest in Luxembourg

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The theme of the 9th International Contest of Caricature and Cartoon in Vianden, Luxembourg was “My Home Is My Castle”. A six-member jury selected the three winners and three trophies from 1312 submitted drawings by 504 artists from 33 countries, including caricaturists and cartoonists from Russia, Syria, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Nicaragua, Peru, many artists from Iran, China, Croatia, Germany, Canada, Cuba, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Ukraine.

Iranian cartoonist Mohammad Habibi has won the first prize, Angel Boligan from Mexico and Klaus Pitter Austria were awarded the second and third prizes. Agim Sulaj from Italy, Raúl Zuleta from Colombia and Zbigniew Kolaczek from Poland received honorable mentions.

The winning works and a selection of entries were displayed at the Museum of Caricature and Cartoon of Vianden. The museum was initiated by Florin Balaban and his wife Sandra. Balaban is a known Luxembourgian political cartoonist.

Sources: Payvand Iran News, Der Trierer (in German),

Tehran Contemporary Music Festival (Photos)

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The first edition of the Tehran International Contemporary Music Festival was held last April at Roudaki Hall (Vahdat Hall), Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and Iranian Artists’ Forum. The festival, an independent cultural and artistic endeavor that is planned to be held annually, included lectures about contemporary music and art in general, different stage performances and experimental improvised presentations by more than thirty ensembles.

A wide spectrum of national musicians like Mehdi Behboudi, Mohammadreza Govahi, Sina Shoaei, Siavash Sojoudi, Kian Hosseini, groups like “Arvand”, “A4” and “Trans-Modern” string quartets, “O.R.P. Quartet” and “Anil Guitar Quartet”, along flute recitals by Firouzeh Navaei and Ali Choupani, violin by Arash Asadnejad, guitar by Farzin Tehranian, double bass by Farshid Patinian and more performed at the week-long event.

The festival welcomed also many artists from abroad, including Geert Callaert (Piano) and Bert Helsen (Bassoon) from Belgium, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Opia Ensemble with Aleksandra Pykacz (Cello) from Poland and Ioana Mandrescu (Piano) from Romania, Reso Kiknadze from Georgia (Saxophone and Free Improvisation), Lugano Ensemble from Switzerland and Martyna Kosecka (Piano and Electronics) from Poland.

Sources: Tehran Contemporary Music Frestival, Iran Daily, Facebook | Spectro Center,
(in Persian): tiwall.com, musicema.com 1, musicema.com 2, musicema.com 3, musicema.com 4, musicema.com 5, Honar Online 1, Honar Online 2, Honar Online 3, Honar Online 4, Honar Online 5, Honar Online 6, Honar Online 7, Honar Online 8, Honar Online 9, Honar Online 10

Iran’s Fajr International Film Festival – Winners (Photos)

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The closing ceremony of 34th Fajr International Film Festival was held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall. 150 international guests from 20 countries attended the festival, watched films and participated at different sections of the six day long event.

In the main competition section, “Rams”, a humanist drama by Icelandic director Grimur Hákonarson, won the Golden Simorgh for Best Film and its protagonists, actors Sigurður Sigurjónsson and Theódór Júlíusson, shared the Best Actor award. “Frenzy” by Emin Alper from Turkey was awarded the Silver Simorgh for Best Director and Iranian actress Pantea Panahiha won the Best Actress award for her role in “Breath” by Narges Abyar.

Spanish film “Amama: When a tree falls” written and directed by Asier Altuna Iza won the Silver Simorgh for Best Script. “Arvand” by Iranian director Pouria Azarbayjani received the Special Jury Prize. “Seen” by Soheil Amirsharifi from Iran won the Best Short Film award.

In Eastern Vista Kazakh filmmaker Yerlan Nurmukhambetov received the Best Film Trophy for “Walnut Tree”. “Madam Courage” by Algerian director Merzak Allouache won the Best Director award. Iranian documentary “A157” by Behroz Nouranjipour received a Special Mention.

Winners of the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Mitra Samavaki / Young Journalists Club)
Best Actress Silver Simorgh winner Pantea Panahiha for her role in “Breath” by Narges Abyar at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Mitra Samavaki / Young Journalists Club)
Music performance at the closing ceremony of the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: IRNA)
Iranian director Mehdi Ghorbanpour winner of the Interfaith Award for “Zemnaco” at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
Interfaith Award Special Mention Diploma for “Hasti” by Iranian director Kamal Parnak at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Armin Karami / Fars News Agency)
“Love marriage in Kabul” directed by Amin Palangi was the winner in the Muhammad Al-Ameen category at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
“Walnut tree” by Kazakh director Yerlan Nurmukhambetov won the Best Film Trophy in the Eastern View section at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: IRNA)
“Madam Courage” by Algerian director Merzak Allouache won the Best Director Trophy in the Eastern View section at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
“A157” by Iranian director Behrooz Nouranjipour received a Special Mention in the Eastern View section at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Mahmood Hosseini / Tasnim News Agency)
Best Film Golden Simorgh was awarded to “Rams” by Icelandic director Grimu Hákonarson at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Ali Najib / ISCA News)
Best Director Silver Simorgh was awarded to “Frenzy” by Turkish director Emin Alper at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
Best Actress Silver Simorgh winner Pantea Panahiha for her role in “Breath” by Narges Abyar at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
Best Actor Silver Simorgh was shared by Icelandic actors Sigurður Sigurjónsson and Theódór Júlíusson for ther role in “Rams” at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Ali Najib / ISCA News)
Best Script Silver Simorgh was awarded to “Amama: When a tree falls” written and directed by Asier Altuna Iza at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: IRNA)
Special Jury Prize Silver Simorgh was awarded to “Arvand” by Iranian director Pouria Azarbayjani at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Ali Najib / ISCA News)
Best Short Film Silver Simorgh was awarded to “Seeing” by Iranian director Soheil Amirsharifi at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Babak Borzouye / Mehr News Agency)

“Zemnaco” by Iranian director Mehdi Ghorbanpour won the Interfaith Award. “Hasti” directed by Kamal Parnak from Iran and “Love Marriage in Kabul” by Australian filmmaker Amin Palangi received a Special Mention Diploma. His film was the winner in the Muhammad Al-Ameen section.

“Dawn” by Latvian director Laila Pakalnina was awarded the Trophy for Best Film and “Figura” directed by Katarzyna Gondek from Poland received the   Trophy for Best Short Film in the Art and Experience category.

The 34th edition of Fajr International Film Festival was held from April 20th to April 25th, 2016 in Tehran’s Charsou Cineplex, under supervision of Iranian filmmaker, Reza Mirkarimi, current Managing Director of Khaneh Cinema, Iran’s Alliance of Motion Picture Associations.

Sources: FIFF 2016, Azad News Agency, Borna News, Fars News, IRNA, ISCA, ISNA, Mehr News Agency (MNA) 1, MNA 2, Tasnim News Agency, Young Journalists Club

Fajr International Film Festival: Overview (Photos)

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A wide range of movies, documentaries and shorts by directors from around the globe were screened this April during the 34th Fajr International Film Festival.

Fifteen featured films competed in the official section, including “Guaraní” by Luis Zorraquín (Argentina, Paraguay), “1944” by Elmo Nüganen (Estonia, Finland), “El Clásico” by Halkawt Mustafa (Iraq, Norway), “Norfolk” by Martin Radich (United Kingdom) and “The Treasure” by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania, France), the winner of the Prix Un Certain Talent prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. (Details: FIFF 2016 | International competition | Featured films)

This section also included eighteen short films from Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Iran, Ireland, Russian Federation, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and Venezuela. (Details: FIFF 2016 | International competition | Short films)

Directors Majid Majidi and Nasser Taqvai from Iran, Chinese filmmaker and producer Tian Zhuangzhuang, Spanish director José Luis Guerín, producers Ivo Felt from Estonia and Zeynep Ozbatur Atakan from Turkey and Canadian writer Emmanuel Prevost were the official competition’s jury members.

Eastern Vista, a segment dedicated to films from Asian and Muslim nations, included “Solomon” by Zaza Khalvashi from Georgia and “My Sister, the Pig Lady” by Jang Moon-il from South Korea. A jury formed by Iranian actress Golab Adine, Afghan filmmaker Sahra Karimi, Indian actor and producer Jaaved Jaaferi, French-Moroccan director Ismael Feroukhi and Italian writer Teresa Cavina selected the winners of Best Asian Film and Best Asian Director from a total of sixteen movies from twelve different countries. (Full list: FIFF 2016 | Eastern Vista)

Directors Andrew Lau from Hong Kong, Alexander Sokurov from Russia and French journalist and critic Jean-Michel Frodon attended the festival. Special Screenings, a section focusing on documentaries, presented Sokurov’s new feature, Francofonia and Jia Zhang-ke by Brazilian director Walter Salles, writtern by Salles and Frodon. (Full list: FIFF 2016 | Special screenings)

Ten films were screened outside competition, including “The Assassin”, a martial arts drama by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien and “Lamb” by American director Ross Partridge. (Full list: FIFF 2016 | Festival of Festivals)

The festival highlighted French cinema, as one of its side section programs, screening “The Fear” by Damian Odoul (2015), “Rabid Dogs” by Eric Hannezo (2015), “The Little Prince” by Mark Osborne (2015), “The Measure of a Man” by Stéphane Brizé (2015), “The Clearstream Affair” by Vincent Garenq (2014) and “Anton Chekhov 1890” Rene Feret (2015).

A restored version of Dariush Mehrjui’s acclaimed 1969 drama “The Cow” was screened along with “The Lover’s Wind” by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse (1978) and “The Country of Lion and Sun: Persia” by Vladimir Erofeev (1935). A photo exhibition with selected scenes of “The Cow” and “The Lover’s Wind” was also held at Charsou Cineplex.

A number of top Iranian cineastes, including Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi , actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, actor Reza Kianian and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Majid Majidi, have held a series of workshops on the sidelines of the festival. Over 100 students from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Iran attended the six-day workshop program entitled “Dar ul-Funun”, the name of the Iranian polytechnic established in 1851.

The 34th edition of Fajr International Film Festival was held from April 20th to April 25th, 2016 in Tehran’s Charsou Cineplex, under supervision of Iranian filmmaker, Reza Mirkarimi, current Managing Director of Khaneh Cinema, Iran’s Alliance of Motion Picture Associations.

Sources: Tehran Times, Fajr International Film Festival, kinokultura.com, Mehr News Agency (MNA) 1, MNA 2, Young Journalists Club (YJC) 1, YJC 2, YJC 3, YJC 4, YJC 5, YJC 6, Azad News Agency (ANA) 1, ANA 2, Borna News Agency (BNA) 1, BNA 2, BNA 3, BNA 4, BNA 5, BNA 6, Fars News Agency (FNA) 1, FNA 2, FNA 3, FNA 4, IRNA 1, IRNA 2, IRNA 3, IRNA 4, IRNA 5, IRNA 6. IRNA 7, IRNA 8, ISCA 1, ISCA 2, ISNA 1, ISNA 2, ISNA 3, ISNA 4, ISNA 5, ISNA 6, ISNA 7, Tasnim News Agency (TNA) 1, TNA 2, TNA 3, TNA 4, TNA 5, TNA 6, TNA 7, TNA 8, TNA 9, Borna News Agency (BNA) 1, BNA 2, BNA 3, BNA 4, BNA 5, BNA 6, Tehran Picture Agency (TPA) 1, TPA 2, TPA 3, TPA 4, TPA 5

Painting exhibition by Iranian students in Tehran

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“Jokal”, a national art festival organized by Tehran University of Art addressed to young artists, was launched at Pardis Mellat Gallery in Tehran.

The members of the jury, veteran Iranian artists Farah Ossouli, Behnam Kamrani, Babak Etminani, Masoumeh Mozaffari and Jamal Arabzadeh, selected 79 out of 1.212 submitted works.

Sources: Financial Tribune, Honar Online 1, Honar Online 2, Honar Online 3 (in Persian)

French orchestra touring in Iran

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The Orchestre de l’Alliance, under the baton of Pejman Memarzadeh, performed at Vahdat Hall in Tehran earlier this week. Other performances are scheduled in the Iranian cities of Isfahan, Kerman and Shiraz.

In 1995 Pejman Memarzadeh, conductor and cellist of Iranian origin, founded the Association Les Musiciens de la Prée, with the aim of proposing a humanistic and innovative approach to classical music. In 2000 it became the Orchestre de l’Alliance.

All music related posts on the blog: https://theotheriran.com/tag/music/

Orchestre de l’Alliance rehearsing in Tehran, Iran (2016) – Photo credit: Javad Hadi / Fars News Agency
Orchestre de l’Alliance rehearsing in Tehran, Iran (2016) – Photo credit: Javad Hadi / Fars News Agency
Orchestre de l’Alliance rehearsing in Tehran, Iran (2016) – Photo credit: Javad Hadi / Fars News Agency
Orchestre de l’Alliance rehearsing in Tehran, Iran (2016) – Photo credit: Javad Hadi / Fars News Agency

Sources: Tavoos Online, Wikipedia | Orchestre de l’Alliance, Fars News, Honar Online

Photos: Painted eggs across Tehran

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Hundreds of Nowruz eggs painted by Iranian artists were placed in five of Tehran’s parks (Mellat, Laleh, Abbas Abad, Park Shahr and Bagh-e Ferdows) during Baharestan, an urban art event to welcome spring as part of the Persian New Year celebrations. Charities have organized a workshop at the Iranian Artists’ Forum where visual artists and 120 children have painted Nowruz eggs.

Painted eggs symbolize fertility and are displayed on the Nowruz table, called Haft-Seen together with various other symbolic objects. In ancient times Zoroastrians painted eggs for Nowruz, their New Year celebration, which falls on the Spring equinox. Nowadays this Nowruz tradition is common to Iranians of Islamic, Zoroastrian, and other faiths.

Related article: Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran

Sources: Borna News, Fars News, ISNA, Tasnim News 1, Tasnim 2, Mashregh News, Wikipedia | Easter egg, Honar Online 1 (Persian), Honar Online 2, Honar Online 3, Honar Online 4, Honar Online 5, IRNA 1, IRNA 2, Tehran Picture Agency (TPA) 1, TPA 2, TPA 3, zibasazi.ir 1, zibasazi.ir 2, zibasazi.ir 3, zibasazi.ir 4, zibasazi.ir 5, zibasazi.ir 6, zibasazi.ir 7, Azad News Agency, Young Journalists Club (YJC) 1, YJC 2, ISCA News, Mehr News Agency

Photos: Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran

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Baharestan, a spring urban art event, has started as part of the Persian New Year celebrations. Projects by five hundred artists are being displayed until late April across the Iranian capital.

“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: BORNA News Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Amir Kholousi / ISNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: IRNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: IRNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: IRNA
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Omid Vahabzadeh / Fars News Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Omid Vahabzadeh / Fars News Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Aidin Karimi / Honar Online
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: zibasazi.ir
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: zibasazi.ir
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: zibasazi.ir
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: zibasazi.ir
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: zibasazi.ir
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: zibasazi.ir
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Arezoo Bayat / Azad News Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Arezoo Bayat / Azad News Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Mohammad Delkesh / Tasnim News Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency
“Baharestan” – Urban art event to welcome spring in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: Shayan Mehrabi / Tehran Picture Agency

Sources: Borna News, Fars News, ISNA 1, ISNA 2, IRNA, Honar Online (in Persian), Honar Online 2, Honar Online 3, Honar Online 4, Honar Online 5, Honar Online 6, Mehr News Agency, Tehran Picture Agency (TPA) 1, TPA 2, Azad News Agency, Tasnim News 1, Tasnim News 2, zibasazi.ir 1, zibasazi.ir 2, zibasazi.ir 3, zibasazi.ir 4, zibasazi.ir 5, zibasazi.ir 6, zibasazi.ir 7, zibasazi.ir 8, zibasazi.ir 9, zibasazi.ir 10, zibasazi.ir 11, zibasazi.ir 12, zibasazi.ir 13, zibasazi.ir 14, zibasazi.ir 15, zibasazi.ir 16, zibasazi.ir 17, zibasazi.ir 18, zibasazi.ir 19, zibasazi.ir 20, zibasazi.ir 21, zibasazi.ir 22, zibasazi.ir 23, zibasazi.ir 24, zibasazi.ir 25, zibasazi.ir 26, zibasazi.ir 27, zibasazi.ir 28

Iran’s Fajr International Theatre Festival: Performances

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Fajr International Theater Festival (FITF) is a golden opportunity to enjoy theatre projects from other cultural backgrounds. This year over 300 plays from Japanese, Hungarian, Spanish, German, Norwegian, Polish, French as well as Iranian artists were presented on all theater stages as well as some outdoor public spaces in Tehran.

The members of the jury panel for the international section – Stefan Schmid from Germany, Jerzy Limon from Poland, Oleg Loevski from Russia and Iranians Masoud Delkhah and Farrindokht Zahedi – honored “Hamlet” with two awards; German director Thomas Ostermeier received the Grand Prix of the festival and Lars Eidinger won the Best Actor Award. The play had three completely sold-out performances.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hamlet – Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hamlet – Germany

Photos: “Hamlet” directed by Thomas Ostermeier, Germany

Norway participated with a powerful performance of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” by Visjoner Teater, founded by Juni Dahr in 1988. The play was staged at a house and not at a theatre to allow the site specific artistic concept of this production. The shows were sold out, thus an extra performance was organized. Actress and artistic director Juni Dahr won in 2014 the Jury’s FITF Special Prize for “Ibsen Women”.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway

Photos: “Hedda Gabler” by Visjoner Teater, Norway

“The Shadow Game” written by Koichiro Iizuka and directed by Tatsuya Hasegawa from Japan’s Dazzle Dance Company took the stages by storm with four sold out shows at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, leaving the audience breathless long after the actors have left the stage.

The play, about the clash between positive and negative energy to highlight the effects of the natural disasters in Japan, used a magnificent combination of street dance, electronic music, theater, elements of video games and anime plot with Japanese commentary all wrapped up in street and contemporary dance styles choreographed by Hasegawa himself. In 2012 Hasegawa’s “Misty Mansion” won the FITF Best Play Award.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – The Shadow Game – Japan
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – The Shadow Game – Japan
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – The Shadow Game – Japan
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – The Shadow Game – Japan

Photos: “The Shadow Game” directed by Tatsuya Hasegawa, Japan

Hungary’s “Becoming Butterfly – Conspiracy” written and directed by Zsófia Bérczi, has taken the audience through an existential journey on the wings of imagination and visual aesthetics. There was something universal and deep about the play that made it connect with the audience no matter from which country and culture. “Human beings are not the most beautiful creation on earth, but they are the most beautiful dream of all creations on earth.” Bérczi also staged Living Surface at this year’s festival.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Living Surface – Hungary
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Living Surface – Hungary
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Living Surface – Hungary

Photos: “Living Surface” and “Becoming a Butterfly – Conspiracy” directed by Zsófia Bérczi, Hungary

“Peregrinus” from Poland’s KTO Theater is a performance without dialogue, illustrated by music that depicts a single day in the life of an individual of the 21st century. The contemporary “Everyman”, whose life is “suspended” between home and work for a corporation, identifies his or her “pathway through life” as a “pathway to work”. Homo Peregrinus is a formatted human being, stripped of emotionality, predictable and bereft of individual characteristics. Perigrinus’s belongings can be packed in one piece of hand luggage.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland

Photos: “Peregrinus” from KTO Theater, Poland

“Katastrophe” and “A House in Asia” were presented by Agrupación Serrano, a Spanish theatre company that creates original productions based on stories drawn from contemporary times, blending stage performance, text, video, sound, and scale models to stage stories about discordant aspects of today’s human experience.

The FITF international section also included “Dance of Death B La La”, a joint Iranian-German production by Iranian director Yaser Khaseb from Crazy Body Group, “Body Revolution” by Belgium based Iraqi director Mokhallad Rasem, the monologue “Monsters” by Laurent Fraunie from France, Georgian “Me-Medea” written and directed by Salome Joglidze and more.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Body Revolution – Belgium
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Me-Medea – Georgia
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Monster – France
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany

Photos: 34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran

Sources: Mehr News Agency (MNA) 1, MNA 2, MNA 3, MNA 4, Tehran Times 1, Tehran Times 2, srserrano.com, na-weekly.com, fitf.theater.ir, tiwall.com | 34th FITF (in Persian), tiwall.com | Dance of Death B La La (in Persian), teatrktro.pl, Honar Online, swr.de, Facebook | Visjoner Teater, Instagram @crazybodygroup, IRNA, Facebook | Teatr KTO

Iranian documentary wins Amnesty International Film Prize

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Mehrdad Oskouei’s ‘Starless Dreams’ (Royahaye Dame Sobh) along with ‘Fuocoammare’ (Fire at Sea) by Gianfranco Rosi have won the Amnesty International Film Prize at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. Rosi’s documentary film about the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean off the Italian island of Lampedusa, won also the Golden Bear prize for Best Film.

Oskouei, one of Iran’s best documentary filmmakers, explores in ‘Starless Dreams’ the anguish and joys of girls in a juvenile correctional facility on the outskirts of Tehran. His small, all-male crew spent 20 days talking to the young women who gave them surprising access to their lives and feelings. The film won in Iran the Best Documentary Director Award at the 34th Fajr Film Festival earlier this year.

The German branch of Amnesty International has awarded the Amnesty International Film Prize for the first time at the Berlinale 2005. The aim of the prize is to draw the attention of audiences and representatives of the film industry to the theme of human rights and encourage filmmakers to tackle this topic. German actress Meret Becker, Swiss film maker Dani Levy and Markus Beeko, Director of Campaigns and Communications for Amnesty International Germany were the members of this independent jury at the Berlinale 2016.

Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei (1st R) and Italian director Gianfranco Rosi (2nd L) with Jury members Dani Levy (1st L) and Meret Becker (2nd R) in Berlin - Feb 20, 2016. Photo credits: Henning Schacht / Amnesty International

Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei (1st R) and Italian director Gianfranco Rosi (2nd L) with Jury members Dani Levy (1st L) and Meret Becker (2nd R) in Berlin – Feb 20, 2016. Photo credits: Henning Schacht / Amnesty International

About Mehrdad Oskouei
Oskouei, an independent producer, filmmaker, photographer and researcher, was born in Tehran, Iran in 1969. He has a B.A. in film direction from the University of Arts, starting in the theatre in 1981 and the film world in 1988. In 2010, Oskouei received the Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands.

Sources: Tavoos Online, Berlinale, Hollywod Reporter, Reuters, Wikipedia | Starless Dreams, Fajr Film Festival (in Persian)

Isfahan Music Museum (Photos)

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The Music Museum in Isfahan is a private museum opened thanks to the efforts of two masters in traditional Iranian music. The museum is divided in different sectors: national and local instruments, photgraphs, a teaching music hall and a rehearsal hall.

Listen to traditional Iranian music here: The other Iran | Music

Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)
Isfahan Music Museum, Iran (Photo credit: Alieh Saadatpour / Mehr News Agency)

Sources: Mehr News Agency, isfahanmusicmuseum.com (in Persian)

‘Women without Men’ by Iranian artist Parastou Ahadi at Arte Gallery in Tehran

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Arte Gallery in Tehran hosted ‘Women without Men’, a solo photography exhibition by Parastou Ahadi.

Parastou Ahadi is an Iranian painter and illustrator born on April 19th,1982. She got a diploma in Mathematics in 2000 and received a B.A. in Graphic Design in 2006. Ahadi lives and works in Tehran, Iran. She is currently pursuing a M.A. in Dramatic Literature at University of Tehran.
More information: parastouahadi.com

^Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online
Photo: Saeed Rabiee / Honar Online

Sources: Honar Online, Facebook | Parastou Ahadi

‘Quantum Soup’ by Iranian artist Mohamadreza Ahmadi Monfared at Mohsen Gallery in Tehran

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Mohsen Gallery hosted ‘Quantum Soup’ a solo painting and drawings exhibition by M. Ahmadi Monfared.

“Quantum Soup, is an informal expression for the linking of all matter and energy in the universe, and Demiurge, in Platonic philosophy is not exactly the Creator but a figure who constructs the world especially by using triangles. These two entitle my last two series of paintings and drawings of recent years and in this exhibition.” — Mohamadreza Ahmadi Monfared, Fall 2015

Born in 1983 in Iran, Ahmadi Monfared lives and works as a painter and art teacher in Tehran. After graduating in 2007 with a M.A. in Painting at Tehran University of Art, he has held numerous group and solo exhibitions in Iran. More information: ahmadimonfared.com

Sources: Honar Online, Facebook | M Ahmadi Monfared, saatchiart.com | M. Ahmadi Monfared

Winners of the 32nd Tehran Short Film Festival (Photos)

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The winners were announced during the closing ceremony of Tehran’s 32nd Short Film Festival held at Andisheh Hall.

The jury members of the International Competition Section were Andrzej Bednarek from Poland, Matthias Flügge from Germany, Seigo Tono from Japan, Gipsy Chang from Hong Kong and Alireza Shoja Noori from Iran.

“A Warm Spell” by Toshimichi Saito from Japan received the Grand Prix of the festival. Best Fiction Film was awarded to “It Will Be Alright” by Patrick Vollrath from Austria. “Songbirds’ Shop” by Anatoliy Lavrenishyn from Ukraine won the Best Animation Award. Best Documentary was awarded to “Touch of Freedom” by Sardar Arshad Khan from Poland.

Jessica Dürwald from Germany received the Best Experimental Award for “Eat My Dream”, “Survival” by Masoud Hatami from Iran won the Special Jury Prize, “Electronic Town” by Tony Mullen from Japan was chosen as the Best Film from Asian Countries. Saeed Nejati from Iran received the Best Film from Islamic Countries Award for “Prohibition” and “Angelus Novus” by Aboozar Amini from Netherlands won the Best Anti-Violence Film Award.

Sources: Tavoos Online, Tehran International Short Film Festival, Fars News, ISNA 1, ISNA 2, Tasnim News, Mehr News

‘Haft Negah’: Selection of works by Iranian artists displayed at Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran (Photos)

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The Niavaran Culture Center in Tehran hosted the 8th annual edition of Iran’s Seven Views (Haft Negah), an art expo coordinated since 2006 by seven major art galleries. A selection of paintings, sculptures and calligraphy works by about 400 contemporary Iranian artists were displayed during exhibition.

“Works by the giants of Iranian visual arts including Sohrab Sepehri, Mohammad Ehsai, Sedaqat Jabbari, Yadollah Kaboli, Ebrahim Haqiqi and Farah Osuli will be offered at reasonable prices,” said Lili Golestan, Secretary of Seven Views. According to Golestan, people’s trust in the galleries is one reason behind the success of Seven Views, while the reasonable prices also help.

Related article: The other Iran | Haft Negah art exhibition closes tomorrow (Nov 28th, 2014)

Source: Tehran Times, Honar Online

Commemoration of Iranian artist Morteza Momayez with French Graphic Designer Michel Bouvet

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In honor of late Iranian graphic designer Morteza Momayez the Iranian Artist’s Forum in Tehran organized a series of events which included a commemoration ceremony, an exhibition of his work and an exhibit and workshop presented by the event’s special guest, French graphic designer Michel Bouvet.

The commemoration ceremony took place in the Ostad Shahnaz Hall at the Iranian House of Artists and it was followed by the opening of an exhibition of Momayez’s work. Michel Bouvet also displayed his work at the Iranian House of Artists and presented a workshop on poster design.

About Morteza Momayez
Morteza Momayez was an Iranian graphic designer, born on August 26, 1935 in Tehran, Iran. He got his bachelor in painting from the School of Fine Arts at University of Tehran in 1965 and his diploma from Ecole National Superier des Art Deco in Paris, France in 1968. He was Editor-in-chief of “Neshan”. Throughout his career, Momayez initiated many cultural institutes, exhibitions and graphic design publications. The renowned pioneer of graphic design in Iran, Momayez received the Art & Culture Award of Excellency from the president of Iran in 2004.

About Michel Bouvet
Michel Bouvet (born 1955 in Tunis) is a French designer and poster artist. He is professor of visual culture at ESAG Penninghen (Paris). Bouvet studied and graduated at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSB-A). His design influences include Fernand Léger, Raymond Savignac, André François and Roman Cieslewicz. His posters are very often the result of a mixture of techniques (photography, collage, sculpture, painting), which gives them a highly poetic graphic dimension. Bouvet has won many national and international design awards in Poland, Finland, Japan, China and Czech Republic. Since 2002, he designs the corporate identity for the Rencontres d’Arles. He has been the curator of several international graphic design exhibitions.

Sources: Tavoos Online, Wikipedia | Morteza Momayez, Honar Online 1, Honar Online 2, Wikipedia | Michel Bouvet

Mixed exhibition of Iranian and Western art at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (Photos)

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The exhibition, entitled ‘Towards the Ineffable: Farideh Lashai’, presents a collection of 130 works including paintings, glassworks, drawings and video arts. It will be on display through February 26, 2016 at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

Italian Germano Celant, Artistic Director of the Prada Foundation in Milan, co-curated the exhibition with the Iranian curator, architect, and filmmaker Faryar Javaherian. It marks the first time a non-Iranian curator of such stature has curated an exhibit at the museum since the revolution.

Javaherian and Celant have created an anthology of works by the Iranian modernist Farideh Lashai (1944-2013), who became one of Iran’s leading artists of the era. The Western works are being presented as context for Lashai’s retrospective. The intercultural exchange was achieved by hanging works by Western artists on gray walls, often across the room from Lashai’s works, which are hung on white walls.

Forty two works by Jackson Pollock, Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly, Claude Monet, Willem de Kooning, René Magritte, and many others will surround Lashai’s art. Iranian artists are also represented, as works by Manoucher Yektai, Sohrab Sepehri, and Nasser Assar are included.

Photo: Ehsan Neghabat / Honar Online
Photo: Mehrdad Saljoughi / Honar Online
Photo: Mehrdad Saljoughi / Honar Online
Photo: Mehrdad Saljoughi / Honar Online
Photo: Mehrdad Saljoughi / Honar Online
Photo: Ehsan Neghabat / Honar Online
Photo: Alireza Farahani / Honar Online
Photo: Alireza Farahani / Honar Online
Photo: Alireza Farahani / Honar Online
Photo: Ehsan Neghabat / Honar Online
Photo: Alireza Farahani / Honar Online
Photo: Ehsan Neghabat / Honar Online
Photo: Abdolvahed Mirzazadeh / ISNA
Photo: Abdolvahed Mirzazadeh / ISNA

“I want to force the audience to see the context,” Celant said. “There’s a self-portrait by Farideh, and there’s a self-portrait by Giacometti. We’re trying to say, O.K., the identity of the Iranian art is related to another identity in the world. That’s a dialogue that needs to be established, and that’s my function as a non-Iranian curator.”

In addition, Catherine de Zegher, director of the Museum of Fine Arts Gent in Belgium, and Venetia Porter, the Assistant Keeper in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum participated at a one-day seminar held at the museum. Art critics and historians Media Farzin, Marjan Tajeddini and the curators also discussed and reviewed the exhibition at the seminar.

In October, the museum signed a tentative agreement with the German government to send 60 artworks from Tehran – 30 Western and 30 Iranian – to Berlin for a three-month show next fall, which would mark the museum’s first exhibition overseas.

About Farideh Lashai
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Farideh_Lashai.jpgBorn 1944 in Rasht, Farideh Lashai was among the most successful Iranian artists, writers and translators, best known for her abstract paintings. She studied art at the Academy of Decorative Arts in Vienna, Austria, and held over 100 solo and group exhibitions in Iran and many other countries, such as Italy, Germany, the US, Switzerland, Britain and France. After a long battle with cancer she passed away in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in 2013. She was 68 years old.

Lashai particularly won fame for her lyrical abstract paintings and multimedia installations that combined video projections and canvas works. Her works were mostly inspired by her personal experiences and modern Iranian art forms.

Sources: Tehran Times, Vanity Fair, IRNA, Tavoos Online, Honar Online 1, Honar Online 2, Honar Online 3, ISNA, The Telegraph

Iranian winners at ‘Graines d’artistes du monde entier 2015: Face or Mask’, a children and young adults competition in France

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Eighteen Iranian children have received awards or honorable mentions for their art work submitted to the international visual art competition held by the Centre pour L’UNESCO Louis Francois based in Troyes, France.

Every year the organization launches an international visual arts competition for children and young adults. This year, the Centre pour L’UNESCO Louis Francois received 5000 submissions from 53 countries.

Bahar Raznahan (1st place), Hediyeh Hasri (7th place), Sara Esmaeilinia (8th place) in the 10-13 age group and Pantea Nemati (12th place) in the 14-17 age group received awards.

Bahar Raznahan – 1st place (10 to 13 years category)
Hasri Hediyeh – 7th place (10 to 13 years category)
Sara Esmaeilinia – 8th place (10 to 13 years category)
Pantea Nemati – 12th place (14 to 17 years category)
Poster

Shakiba Bourki, Pouyan Pireh, Nazafarin Akia, Mardin Fathi, Sajjad Mohseni, Rastin Tajik, Parham and Pouya Javidan, Samin Abbasi, Zahra Hemmati, Amir Abbas Parast, Aynaz Shadmanesh, Soheil Kargar, Kiarash Samimi, Fatemeh Abiri and Mohammad-Mehdi Khoshhal received honorable mentions. The drawings were collected and submitted by the Iranian Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.

Sources: Facebook | Centre pour l’UNESCO Louis François, Tavoos Online

Iranian artist Pariyoush Ganji honored with Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun

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Iranian artist Pariyoush Ganji has been honored with the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government. She received the “3rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon Order of the Rising Sun” at the Embassy of Japan in Tehran.

The 70-year old artist was commissioned by the Japan Foundation to conduct research in the city of Kyoto on Sassanid-era designs, which had been transferred via the Silk Road and appeared on the kimono, the traditional Japanese female costume, and the belt obi.

In addition, Ganji, who has been teaching in Iranian art universities, has long promoted the Japanese art of sumie (Japanese black ink painting) and shoi (traditional Japanese architecture) in her classes. She has had a big share in introducing and promoting Japanese art in Iran and has also helped elevate the artistic exchanges between Iran and Japan.

The Japanese government honored 89 foreign nationals on November 3rd, 2015. Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami also received the Order of the Rising Sun in 2013.

The Order of the Rising Sun was established by Emperor Meiji of Japan in 1875 and was awarded in nine classes until 2003. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun. The design of the Rising Sun symbolizes energy as powerful as the rising sun in parallel with the “rising sun” concept of Japan (“Land of the Rising Sun”).

The order is awarded to those who have made distinguished achievements in international relations, promotion of Japanese culture, advancements in their field, development in welfare or preservation of the environment.

Sources: Tavoos Online, Embassy of Japan in Iran, Honar Online I, Honar Online II, Wikipedia | Order of the Rising Sun

‘Curriculum Mortis’ by Iranian artist Barbad Golshiri in Tehran

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Aaran Gallery hosted one of Barbad Golshiri’s versions of ‘Curriculum Mortis’, that portrays concepts related to death and graveyards.

“I am a taphographer [1], I make grave markers, for the past fifteen years I take pictures of graves and burials and I make frottages on epitaphs of those eliminated only to distribute them. I have also made cenotaphs [2]. Memorials too, for the dead and the living. All these frame Curriculum Mortis. It is true to say that Curriculum Mortis  is not a series. I cannot make series.” […]
– Barbad Golshiri on the catalogue of the exhibition

About Barbad Golshiri
Barbad Golshiri is an Iranian contemporary artist, born in 1982 in Tehran, Iran. His father was Houshang Golshiri, a famous Iranian writer. He studied painting at The School of Art and Architecture, Azad University, Tehran. He has worked both as a media artist and a critic. He works with video, digital media, installation, photography, the internet, graphic novels and Lettrism. He won the third prize of the 6th Tehran Contemporary Painting Biennial, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. (More information: Wikipedia | Barbad Golshiri)

To read the review of the New York Times (Sep 19th, 2013) of one of Barbad Golshiri’s versions of ‘Curriculum Mortis’ click here.

Comments
[1] Tapographer: A tapographer is a copier of tombstones.
[2] Cenotaph: A cenotaph is an “empty tomb” or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere.

Sources: Honar Online, Instagram @aarangallerytehran, tandismag.com, Tehran Times, Aaran Gallery, Wikipedia | Barbad Golshiri, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, Wikipedia | Cenotaph

‘Distant memories’ by Iranian artist Tara Behbahani in Tehran (Photos)

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Golestan Gallery hosted ‘Distant memories’, a painting exhibition by Tara Behbahani.

Tara Behbahani (born 1983) has been learning tricks and techniques of sculpturing with her mother, and painting with her father, who himself is one of the most famous contemporary artists, Taha Behbahani, since early childhood. She has been studied Art and Mathematics along side each other and after completing her university studies in Mathematics she started to research the relationship between art and geometry in Eastern Art.

She has participated in several exhibitions in Iran and abroad and has written about Islamic and Eastern Art in various magazines. For the past 12 years she has been teaching painting to youth and children.

Sources: tarabehbahani.com, mopcap.com, Honar Online, Instagram @tarabehbahani, Golestan Gallery

‘Emigrants’ by Iranian artist Shirin Ettehadieh in Tehran (Photos)

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Shirin Gallery hosted ‘Emigrants that carry away their memories’, a painting exhibition by Shirin Ettehadieh.

Autumn is the season of reminiscence, this time my paintings are the memory of flowers and the emigrants that carry away the memory of their homeland.
– Shirin Ettehadieh, Autumn 2015

Shirin Ettehadieh studied at École du Louvre in Paris. She has held exhibitions in France, Greece, the Netherlands and Switzerland, as well as numerous solo and group exhibitions in Iran.

Shirin Ettehadieh on Facebook, website

Sources: 360cities.net, Honar Online, Instagram @shiringallerytehran

Street Art in Iran: Mehdi Ghadyanloo (Photos & Video)

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Iranian Mehdi Ghadyanloo’s canvas is the skyline. His illusions create windows to other — more magical — worlds. Seeking to combine minimalist architectural spaces with surreal scenes from another universe, he has painted over 100 murals across the Iranian capital, giving unsuspecting drivers good reason to do a double take, as the fantasy blends in with the real.

Like exaggerated dream sequences, his images portray gravity-defying figures and portholes to other dimensions, all from altered perspectives that meld sky and structure.

About Mehdi Ghadyanloo
Mehdi Ghadyanloo is an Iranian painter, born 1980 in Karaj, Iran. He moved to the capital to study at Tehran University’s College of Fine Arts. He graduated with a BA in 2005 and subsequently earned a MA in film studies from Tehran’s Teachers College (Tarbiyat-e Modarres).

Known primarily for his gigantic trempe l’oeil [1] style murals in central Tehran, Ghadyanloo also creates small scale paintings, with surreal and minimalistic themes. Through his works, Ghadyanloo opens a window into the mood of life in Iran today. At the same time, he provides an autobiographical perspective, portraying the landscapes of his youth, his memories of Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), and his life experience in the Islamic Republic.

In 2015 he visited London for an exhibition of his “indoor” paintings, and painted murals there also, including one in Shoreditch.

A report from CNN about Mehdi Ghadyanloo:

Related articles:
1. The Guardian | Tehran’s answer to Banksy: Mehdi Ghadyanloo hits Britain,
2. Howard Griffin Gallery | Artists | Mehdi Ghadyanloo
3. Urban Outfitters Blog | Artist of the week: Mehdi Ghadyanloo
4. Facelifting Tehran | One Wall at a Time: Interview with Mehdi Ghadyanloo

Comments
[1] trompe-l’oeil: Art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.

Mehdi Ghadyanloo on Facebook, Bēhance, Instagram and Twitter

Sources: CNN, Huffington Post, Howard Griffin Prints, Wikipedia | Mehdi Ghadyanloo, The Guardian, Facebook | Blue Sky Painters, Bēhance, fubiz.net, yourmiddleeast.com, Wikipedia | Trompe-l’oeil

International sculpture symposium in Tehran, Iran (Photos)

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The 7th International Sculpture Symposium of Tehran 2015, from September 23rd to October 16th, included a stone workshop, an iron workshop and an exhibition section and was subdivided into a main and a student competition category.

The jury of the symposium, with two Iranian and a foreign member, had selected works by 14 foreign artists from Russia, Belarus, Albania, Portugal, Italy, Serbia, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany, Peru, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania to participate in the event.

Sculptors from South Korea, Taiwan and Peru took home the first prizes. Su-Dong Cho from South Korea and Wu Ming-Sheng from Taiwan shared the first prize in the stone category. The second prize in the stone category was also shared by Mehdi Seifi from Iran and Stefano Grattarola from Italy. In the steel category Peruvian sculptor Pool Guillen won the top prize and Amir Vafai from Iran won the second prize.

‘First Efforts’ by Butrint Morina from Albania
‘Living History’ by Roland Hoft from Germany
‘Cubic#51020161’ by Thierry Ferreira from Portugal represents death

Sculptors, experts and artists gathered at Tehran’s Milad Tower to examine the art of sculpting in four panels. During the first part of the conference the artists, including Saeed Rafiee-Fard, Javad Hassanjani and Kianoosh Motaqedi, presented papers. The second part analyzed the works presented at the symposium.

To see pictures of the artists click here: IRNA | Artists at the 7th Sculpture Symposium

To see pictures of the award ceremony click here:
1. Mehr News Agency (photos)
2. Honar Online (photos)

Sources: Iran Daily, Borna News, IRNA, Tasnim News 1, Tasnim News 2, Mehr News Agency (MNA) 1, MNA 2, MNA 3, Honar Online, Tehran Press Agency (TPA) 1, TPA 2, Tavoos Online,

Iran via Documentaries: Docunight is hosting Iran documentaries for audiences in the US and Canada

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On the last Wednesday of every month, Docunight screens a documentary about, around, or made in Iran or by Iranians in various cities throughout the US and Canada. ‘The Glass House’ by Hamid Rahmanian (2008, 92min) will be  on October 28th.

Docunight is a monthly program, focused on screening Iran-related documentaries that began in San Francisco and has grown to screen films in other cities including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, San Diego, Minneapolis, Washington, Vancouver and Toronto.

Organized by efforts of Ahmad Kiarostami in collaboration with NIAC in the US and ECUPC in Vancouver, the program aims to create an opportunity for cultural exchange and to provide proper grounds for foreign audiences to better understand the Iranian society.

For information on upcoming screenings please visit:
www.docunight.com or Facebook | Docunight

Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian in her studio working on Heptagon Star, Tehran, 1975 Photo: Courtesy of the artist and The Third Line, Dubai

These are the documentaries that have been shown so far:
– Trucker and the Fox (2014, 78min, Dir: Arash Lahooti)
– Abbas Kiarostami: A Report (2013, 82min, Dir: Bahman Maghsoudlou)
– Iranien (Iranian) (2014, 105min, Dir: Mehran Tamadon)
– Going Up the Stairs (2011, 52min, Dir: Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami)
– Behjat Sadr (2006, 46min, Produced by Marjaneh Moghimi, Dir: Mitra Farahani)
– Monir (2014, 54min, Produced by: Leyla Fakhr, Dir: Bahman Kiarostami)
– Caged (2013, 52min, Dir: Tala Hadavi)
– Street Sultans (2011, 38min, Dir: Paliz Khoshdel, Zeinab Tabrizy)
– Before The Revolution (2013, 60min, Dir: Dan Shadur & Barak Heymann)
– Molf-e Gand (2009, 53min, Dir: Mahmoud Rahmani)
– I Saw Shoush (2002, 8min, Dir: Bahman Kiarostami)
– Infidels (2004, 40min, Dir: Bahman Kiarostami)
– Pilgrimage (2005, 52min, Marjaneh Moghimi for Butimar Production, Dir: Bahman Kiarostami)
– The Bathhouse That Wanted To Keep On Being A Bathhouse (2010, 52min, Dir: Mehdi Shabani)
– Park Mark (2010, 42min, Dir: Baktash Abtin)
– “Mory” Wants A Wife (2009, 42min, Dir: Baktash Abtin)
– Be Like Others (2008, 74min, Dir: Tanaz Eshaghian)
– The Law In These Parts (2011, 90min, Dir: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz)
– My Name Is Negahdar Jamali And I Make Westerns (2012, 65min, Directed by Kamran Heidari)
– Lady of the Roses (2008, 52min, by Mojtaba Mirtahmasb)
– Back Vocal (2004, 40min, by Mojtaba Mirtahmasb)
– Kahrizak, Four Views (2012, 86min, Dir: Rakhshan Bani Etemad, Mohsen Amiryoussefi, Bahman Kiarostami, Pirooz Kalantari)
– Bassidji (2009, 114mins, Directed by Mehran Tamadon)
– Red Lines and Deadlines: Life behind the scenes of the Iranian newspaper Shargh (2004, 5-53min, Filmed, produced and directed by Taghi Amirani)
– Statues of Tehran (2008, 60min, Dir: Bahman Kiarostami)

Sources: docunight.com, Tavoos Online

Winners of the International Theater Festival for Children and Youth 2015 in Hamedan, Iran (Photos)

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The winners of the 22nd International Theater Festival for Children and Youth were introduced during the closing ceremony held on Tuesday, October 6th, in Hamedan.

Veteran Iranian director, Marzieh Boroumand, was honored for her lifetime achievements. Boroumand is most famous for her hits “Grandmother’s Home” and “School of Mice”, two popular puppet series from the 1980s.

About fifty theater troupes from nine different countries attended early October to the 22nd International Theater Festival for Children and Youth.

Related article: International Theater Festival for Children and Youth in Hamedan, Iran (Photos)

Sources: Tavoos Online, Mehr News Agency, ISNA, IRNA

International Theater Festival for Children and Youth in Hamedan, Iran (Photos)

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Hamedan hosted early October the 22nd edition of the International Theater Festival for Children and Youth. About fifty theater troupes from nine countries, among others Italy, Germany, Finland, Russia and England, attended the festival and competed in different sections (children, youth and international). Besides their performances the troupes also arranged several workshops.

Sources: Tavoos Online, IRNA, ISNA, Mehr News 1, Mehr News 2, Mehr News 3, Honar Online

Opera ‘Kalileh and Demneh’ performed by children in Shiraz, Iran (Photos)

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The opera of “Kalileh and Demneh”, arranged and conducted by Mohammad-Ali Fallahi, was performed by children younger than 12 years old at the Hafez Hall in Shiraz.

Kalileh and Demneh is a collection of didactic animal fables, with the jackals Kalileh and Demneh as two of the principal characters. Originally from India (between 500BCE and 100BCE), the fables were translated into many languages, undergoing significant changes in both form and content. In Persian literature Kalileh and Demneh has been known in different versions since the 6th century CE. In Sanskrit literature the story cycle is known as Panchatantra, while it was often called Fables of Bidpai in early modern Europe.

Sources: Mehr News Agency, Enciclopædia Iranica | Kalila wa Demna, Honaronline (in Persian)

‘Gate of Words’ by German artist Philipp Geist is lighting up the Azadi Tower in Tehran, Iran (Photos)

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A performance consisting of projections of light titled ‘Gate of Words’ by German artist Philipp Geist is taking place at Tehran’s landmark Azadi Tower until October 5th.

The installation artistically visualizes the topics of freedom, peace, space and time in different languages. During the performance Azadi Tower is to become a three-dimensional light sculpture that can be crossed by visitors.

‘I tried to illustrate words one by one to make the reader pay more attention to them. Sometimes, words are legible and sometimes not. Using this method, I make great attempts to make each and every reader have his/her own interpretation of the subject,’ said the German artist.

Facts about Azadi Tower
– It is one of the most familiar landmarks of Tehran.
– The builduing includes a cultural centre with a library, a museum and several art galleries.
– The entrance of the tower is directly underneath the main vault and leads into the Azadi Museum on the basement floor.
– The main display is occupied by a copy of the Cyrus Cylinder (the original is in the British Museum).
– The monument acts as a grandiose gateway to the Iranian capital, and is surrounded by a large plaza (approx. 50,000 m²).
– Built in 1971 in commemoration of the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, this “Gateway into Iran” was named the Shahyad Tower, meaning “Kings’ Memorial”, but was dubbed Azadi (Freedom) after 1979. It is 50 meters (164 ft) tall and completely clad in cut marble.

Sources: Mehr News Agency, ISNA, IRNA, Borna News, Instagram @videogeist, Tavoos Online, Wikipedia | Azadi Tower

Youth Music Festival 2015 in Tehran, Iran – Part 2: Winners (Photos)

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Close to 250 young musicians participated in this festival which was held in two main sections of classical and traditional Iranian music. The competition was held in three age groups ranging from 10-27 years old.

In the classical section, the highest number of instrumentalists played the piano, violin and guitar, while in the traditional section santur, tar and setar were mostly present. Traditional Persian music was held in eight sub-categories, including seven instrumental and a vocal section.

Related article: Youth Music Festival Practice & Performance (Photos) – Part 1 https://theotheriran.com/2015/09/22/youth-music-festival-2015-in-tehran-iran-part-1-practice-performance-photos/

Sources: tavoosonline.com, MEHR | Photos, nay.ir

Screening of Documentary Film on Parviz Tanavoli in London on Friday, September 25th

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The documentary film “Parviz Tanavoli: Poetry in Bronze” directed by Terrence Turner will be screening on Friday, September 25th, at Whitechapel Gallery in London. This documentary tells the story of how the artist was inspired to create his unique body of work. The screening will be followed by a Q&A between Parviz Tanavoli and writer, director and producer of the film, Terrence Turner.

About Parviz Tanavoli
With a career spanning three continents and more than half a century, Iranian sculptor Parviz Tanavoli has made an unparalleled contribution to art in the Middle East. Following his formal training as a sculptor in Italy, Tanavoli returned to Iran, where he was influenced by historic Persian and modern Iranian folk art, culture, and poetry. He broke with tradition and began creating modern art with a distinctly Iranian aesthetic.

Source: tavoosonline.com, wikipedia | Parviz Tanavoli, Bing Image Search

Youth Music Festival 2015 in Tehran, Iran – Part 1: Practice & Performance (Photos)

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Close to 250 young musicians participated in this festival which was held in two main sections of classical and traditional Iranian music. The competition was held in three age groups ranging from 10-27 years old.

In the classical section, the highest number of instrumentalists played the piano, violin and guitar, while in the traditional section santur, tar and setar were mostly present. Traditional Persian music was held in eight sub-categories, including seven instrumental and a vocal section.

Sources: MEHR | Photos, nay.ir, honaronline.ir 1, honaronline.ir 2, Tavoos Online

Iran’s Pallet band launches concert tour in US

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Iran’s Pallet music band has launched its new international concert tour with a successful performance in the US city of Portland. The group went on stage in Portland, Oregon on September 11. The tour will continue with concerts in 11 other US cities and wrap up in Washington D.C on October 4.

Iran's Pallett-music-band-US-tourAccording to bandleader and clarinetist Rouzbeh Esfandarmaz, Pallet will perform pieces from its two albums ‘Mr. Violet’ and ‘Tehran, Smile.’

Vocalist Omid Nemati, cellist Mahyar Tahmasebi, guitarist Kaveh Salehi and double-bass player Dariush Azar accompany Esfandarmaz during the tour.

The fusion band Pallet has held many concerts in Iran and other countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands.

More songs from Pallet: http://www.last.fm/music/Pallet+Band

Source: Payvand | News, Youtube.com

Tehran calligraphy show promoting Iranian calico art

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An exhibition of works by calligraphers Omid Ganjali and Mohsen Soleimani opened at Tehran’ Niavaran Cultural Center on Sunday to promote qalamkari, Iranian calico art that the artists believe is being forgotten.

The artworks were previously showcased at “From Earth to Heaven”, an exhibition that the Salam Art Creations Institute, a Tehran-based private organization developing Iranian arts, held at Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul in July.

Photos by Mona Hoobehfekr for ISNA

All 30 calligraphy works are huge in size with designs of qalamkari done on their margins. Qalamkari is passing into oblivion in the country, Salam Art Creations Institute Managing Director Rafi Razavi told the Persian service of ISNA. The exhibition was organized to turn the spotlight on Iranian art, he added. “We need to take serious action to support artisans and masters who are still active in this field of time-honored art,” he stated.

The exhibition will run until August 25.

Sources: Tehran Times | Art Desk News, ISNA | Photos

Iranian ‘Mehr Theatre Group’ is in Europe performing its new play ‘Hearing’

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The Mehr Theatre Group, an Iranian troupe led by director/writer Amir-Reza Kuhestani, will be performing the play Hearing in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and France. The show centers on events happening in a girls’ dormitory.

Hearing premiered at Tehran’s City Theater in July before going on stage in Zurich, Switzerland at the Zürcher Theater Spektakel. They are attending the Noorderzon Festival in Groningen, the Netherlands with performances on August 25th and August 26th.

The troupe will next return to Geneva, Switzerland to perform Hearing on August 29th and August 31st at the La Bâtie, a festival of theater performances and film screenings. In September they will be heading to Frankfurt, Germany and Marseille, France. Full schedule: Mehr Theatre Group | Tour dates

About Hearing (Synopsis)
The girls’ dormitory was always like an unattainable castle. […] After the entrance door, a female world begun in which the entree of any man was prohibited. […] Now, presume that in a situation like this, one day, a girl reported that she had heard a man in one of the rooms. This would be the starting point of the performance.
More about the show: Mehr Theatre Group | Hearing

About Mehr Theatre Group
Mehr Theatre Group was created in 1996. The aim was to create a new type of theater — far from the traditional Iranian theater — based on new stage direction and a new acting style influenced by film. At first, Amir Reza Koohestani joined the Mehr Theatre Group to participate in their acting workshop, but after 6 months of the workshop they decided to produce theater productions based on their training. Since Amir was the only one with writing background he dedicated his time to write for the theater. […] The Mehr Theatre Group is today one of the most well known Iranian theater companies in Iran and has gained international acclaim with successful performances across the world. More about the troupe: Mehr Theatre Group

Below, a trailer of Timeloss, their last work before Hearing, also presented at the Under The Radar Film Festival in New York, USA. Other trailers: Mehr Theatre Group | Videos

About Amir Reza Koohestani
Amir Reza Koohestani is one of Iran’s most successful and prolific playwright-directors. With his third play, Dance on Glasses (2001), in tour for four years, Amir Reza Koohestani gained international notoriety and found the support of several European theatrical artistic directors and festivals. In February 2012, the movie Modest Reception, which script was co-written by Koohestani and Mani Haghighi – actor and film director – wins the Netpac Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 2012. He is the first director to win two consecutive awards for the “Best theatre production of the year” in Iran (Ivanov, 2011 and The Fourth Wall, 2012). More about him: Mehr Theatre Group | Amir Reza Koohestani

Related articles: The other Iran | Theater

Sources: Tehran Times | Art Desk, Mehr Theatre Group

China Philarmonic Orchestra performed together with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra in Iran (Photos)

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Iranian-Austrian conductor Alexander Rahbari conducted the Teheran Symphony Orchestra as it played Scheherazade by Rimski-Korsakov and Yu Long conducted the China Philharmonic playing the New World Symphony by Dvorak.

In preparation for the joint concert, Rahbari was in Beijing rehearsing with the China Philharmonic. “It’s a very nice orchestra,” he says. “I hadn’t been to Beijing before, but I am familiar with Chinese musicians and the way Chinese think. Over the past 40 years I’ve conducted a lot of orchestras with Chinese musicians.

“It took us just an hour and 40 minutes to finish rehearsals on the first day. This is a well disciplined orchestra. Good orchestras have similar qualities. When they get down to work, they’re not Chinese or Iranian or German; they’re all musicians.

Rahbari’s positive feelings about the orchestra seem to have been reciprocal. Zhao Yunpeng, the first cello, says: “He’s charismatic and he’s got very sharp ear. He seems to be able to pinpoint problems very quickly. […] We knew little about him before but the rehearsals have been terrific.”

The China Philharmonic Orchestra’s two-night appearance in Teheran is the fourth stop on a 14-day tour taking in five countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and  Greece) on the Silk Road.

About Alexander Rahbari and the Tehran Symphony Orchestra
Rahbari first conducted the Teheran Symphony Orchestra about 40 years ago, before the Islamic revolution, when the orchestra was in its heyday and hosted the likes of the violinist Yehudi Menuhin and the choreographer Maurice Bejart.

Rahbari left Iran in 1976 and did not return for another 30 years. In 2005 he was invited to rebuild the Teheran Symphony Orchestra but turned down the offer on political grounds. But eight years later, when Hassan Rouhani was elected Iran’s president, he promised to revive the 80-year-old orchestra and invited Rahbari back.

Sources: China Daily | Musical diplomacy’s perfect harmony, Honar Online | Photos 1, Mehr News Agency | Photos 1, Mehr News Agency | Photos 2, Honar Online | Photos 2, ISNA | Photos

Taha Zaker: Iranian artist wins Graphis gold award

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“Contemporary Musicians”, the poster series by Iranian graphic designer Taha Zaker received the gold award of the Graphis Poster Annual 2016. The collection including seven posters by Zaker has been produced in Tehran Studio, and the winners were announced by the jury late July.

Graphis is a Zurich-based international journal of visual communication, the first edition of which was published in 1944. Graphis is committed to presenting and promoting the work of exceptional talent in graphic design, advertising, photography and art/illustration.

About Taha Zaker
Born in 1987, Zaker is a graduate of graphic design. He is the art director and graphic designer at Tehran Studio. He has also produced several documentaries and experimental films. He has also designed the poster of the 33rd Fajr International Film Festival and several other movies such aa “I Am Not Angry”, “Rainy Day”, and “Parviz”.

Photo credit: graphis.com
Photo credit: graphis.com
Photo credit: graphis.com
Photo credit: graphis.com
Photo credit: graphis.com
Photo credit: graphis.com
Photo credit: graphis.com

Sources: Tehran Times, Mehr News, Graphis.com

Duluth orchestra and Iranian composer make music history

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For perhaps the first time since the Iranian revolution in 1979, an Iranian composer living in Iran collaborated with an American orchestra. It was the world premiere of “Kalileh,” a classic Persian fable set to music by composer Hooshyar Khayam, performed on July by the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra (LSCO), in Duluth, Minnesota.

The story of how a small orchestra in Duluth commissioned an original piece from a young Iranian composer begins last year, when conductor and artistic director Warren Friesen needed six more minutes of music for a concert. “So I literally went into YouTube, and I put in ‘piano and strings’ and let’s see what comes up,” he recalled. Thousands of pieces did and Friesen listened to snippets of dozens of them.

“I came across a piece called ‘Stained Glass’ by a composer I’d never heard of, with this funny name of Hooshyar Khayam. […] At this point I didn’t even know that Hooshyar was living in Tehran. All I knew was that I liked his music.” The LSCO performed the piece last July in Duluth, and an unlikely friendship was born between the 62-year-old Friesen and 36-year-old Khayam.

“I was very much moved by the extreme power of the musicians in the American orchestra, who could in fact play the Persian rhythms with that accuracy and that perfection,” Khayam said. So after that performance, Khayam agreed to create an original piece for shadow puppets and chamber orchestra based on an ancient Indian/Persian fable of the composer’s choice to play this year. Ultimately, Khayam added a youth chorus into the mix.

The result is “Kalileh,” based on an ancient Persian fable of the same name, which tells the story of a jackal, a trickster character, who seeks to become more powerful by becoming more beautiful. “The opening chorus, which I love, says ‘Come, Come Wanderer, lover of leaving, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times, come, come.’ It’s such a beautiful invitation,” Friesen said. The lyrics, explained Friesen, are verses of poetry written by famous 13th-century Persian poets Saadi and Rumi.

Khayam said the work “for me was more than a professional commission. I personally believe that ‘Kalileh’ shows something deeper of this relation of me as an Iranian with this wonderful orchestra in America. […] I’m always searching for sort of a higher meaning than only notes to listen to. […] The most important ingredient of this collaboration is that fact that it’s happening between two countries who have had years of misunderstanding and years of conflict.”

Khayam has collaborated with Friesen and others through Skype over the past year and visited Duluth for the performances.

All USA-Iran related posts on this blog: The other Iran | USA

About Hooshyar Khayam
Hooshyar Khayam (b. 1978) is an Iranian musician. He is active as a composer, pianist, and conductor. His works are in contemporary classical, contemporary jazz, Persian/world music; and in music for film, animation, dance, and theater.

He is the finalist of the Queen Elisabeth International Composition Competition for his piano concerto Before the Dream is Over (2013), first prize award winner of Franz Schubert and Modern Music International Composition Competition for his trio I Waited for You in Rain (2011), finalist of the Mauricio Kagel International Composition Competition (2013); Winner of Culture and Music Critic’s Prize: Tehran’s best album of the year for Tatari (2007); and 4-star winner Top of the World Albums by Songlines (75th issue) for his album All of You (with Amir Eslami, 2011) as distinctive music of Middle East.

Khayam has BM in Persian Music, University of Art, Tehran; AD in Piano Performance, Trinity College, London; MM and DMA in Composition, College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati. He lives and works in Tehran as an independent artist.

About Warren Friesen
Warren Friesen on Facebook

Further read: Duluth News Tribune | Duluth’s Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra set to bridge cultures with new work

Sources: Minnesota Public Radio News, Hooshyar Khayam | Biography, Duluth Reader | A musical blowout at the end of July 2015

Works by Iranian artist Pariyoush Ganji on display in Tehran

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The current exhibition ‘A decade of paintings” is a selection of works from Pariyoush Ganji’s Red, Night and Day Windows, Roses and Water series.

Over the past ten years Ganji has worked on several collections ‘Day, Night Windows’ (2012), ‘Day, Night Windows’ (2010), ‘Roses’ (2006), ‘Windows Red’ (2003), ‘Sumi-e, Ink Paintings’ (2000-2012) and ‘Windows, Memories of Childhood’ (1997-2007).

The exhibition will run until July 23rd at Aryana Gallery (No.9, Fayazi St.,(Fereshte St.), Tehran).

‘A decade of Paintings’ by Pariyoush Ganji at Ariana Gallery in Tehran
‘A decade of Paintings’ by Pariyoush Ganji at Ariana Gallery in Tehran
‘A decade of Paintings’ by Pariyoush Ganji at Ariana Gallery in Tehran
‘A decade of Paintings’ by Pariyoush Ganji at Ariana Gallery in Tehran

About Pariyoush Ganji
Pariyoush Ganji (1945 in Tabriz, Iran) studied painting from 1968 to 1975 in London (St. Martin School of Art, Sir John Cass Art School, Chelsea School) and Paris (École de Beaux Arts). Her research include ‘The History of Persian Textile’ (Italy, 2007), ‘The Influence of Sassanid Patterns on Kimono and Obi Patterns through the Silk Road’ (Kyoto, Japan, 1996) and ‘Saffavid tiles in Isfahan’ (London, England, 1974). She held exhibitions at Luci Makintosh Gallery (Switzerland, 2012), Bank Art Museum (Japan, 2006), Museum of Art and Science (USA, 2003) and National Museum of Tashkent (Uzbekistan, 1999).
A more detailed biography: Pariyoush Ganji | About or Caroun.com | Pariyoush Ganji.

Sources: Iran Daily | News, Art 360° | Ariana Gallery, Honaronline.ir | Featured