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Contemporary Iranian Art: The Emergence of New Artistic Discourses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Hamid Keshmirshekan
Hamid Keshmirshekan*
Affiliation:
Sub-Faculty of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford
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Abstract

This article deals with the emerging discourses and concerns that have dominated the Iranian art community mainly since 1997. It discusses the existing, or rather conflicting, views of the current situation of the visual arts in Iran as expressed in recent artistic events, productions, and exhibitions as well as in critical reviews. It does not fully discuss the variety of artistic genres in Iran, but examines the dominant ideas from the main opposing factions of cultural and artistic thought. It also aims at identifying the structural changes in Iranian art as well as the prevailing artistic policy of recent years.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , June 2007 , pp. 335 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2007

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Footnotes

1

This article is a revised version of the paper presented to the seminar series “Iran Today” at the Middle Center, St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, October 2005.

References

2 At the time when this article was being written, it was only about two months after the 2005 presidential election in Iran when it was yet too soon to evaluate or judge the implications for art, as for other areas of political and social areas, in the post-election period. However, it might be possible to predict radical changes in artistic administration and management, like other parts of cultural and political areas of the country, towards a more conservative direction.

3 For further details about the situation of artistic trends and parallels in the socio-cultural arenas in Iran in the 1960s, see the author's article, “Neo-traditionalism and Modern Iranian Painting: Saqqa-khaneh School in the 1960s,” Iranian Studies 38, no. 4, (December 2005): 607–630.

4 During about twenty years after 1979, the Iranian population almost doubled. It reached nearly sixty million, when most of the population consisted of young people. Despite various difficulties and complexities caused by the Revolution and war, a large group of the younger generation gravitated towards different forms of arts, especially visual art.

5 The “Society of Painters” (Anjuman-i hunarmandan-i naqqash) and the “Society of Sculptors” (Anjuman-i mujassameh-sazan) were both established in 1999 as the independent cultural-artistic association funded exclusively by the membership fees they receive from their members. They have, however, benefited from the support of the Centre of Plastic Arts of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. They were housed in the newly established “House of Artists” (Khaneh-i Hunarmandan) in Tehran.

6 This Centre, under the Deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Artistic Affairs, was established in 1983. Since then, the Director of the Centre has been the Director of the TMoCA too. It was in this period that with directorship of Dr Alireza Sami-Azar, visual art activities, including those in major public galleries, already controlled by the governmental section started to experience a period of more relaxation in rules. Even private galleries, which had to first gain the Centre's approval for exhibiting works of artists for each show, were freed to this restriction. In this context, it in fact sounds a great development against those limitations imposed by the governmental section on art and artistic affairs.

7 Perhaps the only and most important presence of Iranian artists outside Iran, before 1997, was the exhibition of arts and crafts which was held in Düsseldorf, Germany in a Festival entitled “Iranian Art Festival” in 1991. This exhibition, which was launched to introduce Iranian art, mostly consisted of works of Iranian traditional artists and craftsmen including 150 works in the fields of miniature painting, carpets, calligraphy, Qahveh-khaneh painting, ceramics, tiles, etc. In this period, however, Iranian artists exhibited their works in various venues and famous exhibitions including Venice Biennale.

8 Reza Jalali, “guft-u-gu ba ductur Namvar Motlagh dabir-i farhangistan-i hunar: tafakkuri khas nisbat beh jahan-i islam,” Sharq (daily newspaper), no. ccclxxxii, 1383/2005: 14

9 Jalali, “guft-u-gu ba ductur Namvar Motlagh dabir-i farhangistan-i hunar: tafakkuri khas nisbat beh jahan-i islam,” 14.

10 They were mainly held in two newly established galleries by the Academy called Saba and Khiyal.

11 The first presence of contemporary Iranian art in the post-revolutionary period was in the fiftieth Venice Biennale in 2002.

12 The title that was used since the exhibition of conceptual art in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and Tehran Gallery (attached to the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran) in 2002. Here it was used to distinguish the new art media, including video art, installation, performance, and photo art, from the other genres such as painting, sculpture, photography, etc., which had their own biennials and exhibitions.

13 During this time, apart from very active presence in several Euro-American exhibitions such as Venice Biennale, Iranian artists were able to receive recognition and also prizes from the prestigious exhibitions, including the Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh, the Beijing International Art Biennale in China, and the Sharjah Art Biennial.

14 Clark, John Anthony, Modern Asian Art (North Ryde, 1998), 49Google Scholar.

15 The first comprehensive conceptual art exhibition was held at the TMoCA in summer 2001.

16 Afsarian, Iman, “%87 bali,” Hirfeh Hunarmand no. i (1381/2002): 104Google Scholar.

17 Afsarian, Iman, “manirism-i jahan-i junub,” Hirfeh Hunarmand no.ii (1381/2002): 125Google Scholar.

18 Afsarian, “manirism-i jahan-i junub,” 125.

19 Afsarian, “Huviyyat an chizi ast keh beh ijra dar mi-ayad: guft-u-gu ba Mansur Barahimi,” Hirfeh Hunarmand no. v (1382/2003): 124.

20 Goudarzi, Mostafa, “rah-i chuharum,” Hunar-hay-i Tajassumi no. ii (1377/1998): 10Google Scholar.

21 Afsarian, “Huviyyat an chizi ast keh beh ijra dar mi-ayad,” 125.

22 Afsarian, “Huviyyat an chizi ast keh beh ijra dar mi-ayad,” 125.

23 Afsarian, “Huviyyat an chizi ast keh beh ijra dar mi-ayad,” 120.

24 Afsarian, Iman, “nazariyyeh-i tajrubeh-i zisteh, amuzish,” Hirfeh Hunarmand no. vii (1383/2004): 144Google Scholar.

25 Among others, Iman Afsarian, Farshid Azarang, Mohammad Hassan Hamedi and Vahid Sahrifian can be named.

26 N.A, “yad-dashti bar hunar-i mùasir-i iran (6),” Shargh (daily newspaper), no. ccclxxxvi, 1383/ 2005: 14.

27 Afsarian, “manirism-i jahan-i junub,” 125.

28 N.A, “yad-dashti bar hunar-i mùasir-i iran (6),” 14.

29 The son of the famous Iranian writer and novelist, Houshang Golshiri, Barbad is a member of the so-called Third-generation of Iranian artists. He has exhibited his works widely both in Iran and abroad. Golshiri is also a critic, and his critical writings on art and artists in Iran have been published in Iranian art journals in recent years.

30 Personal interview, 2005

31 This statement, however, is a connotation of the concept of Orientalism, as used by Edward Said (E. W. Said, Orientalism [New York, 1978]), which included recognition of migrations and cultural exchange. He was identifying a framework for understanding the colonial basis for how the West perceived the East, where the reception of the representation of the “Orient” was at the center of the gaze at the “Other.”

32 Personal interview, 2005

33 One of the purposes of holding the Tehran Biennials in the period before the Revolution was the participation of those award-winning artists in the distinguished European artistic events, including “Venice” and “Paris” Biennales. In this way, some artists selected by Tehran Biennial juries subsequently received awards in those Biennales.

34 M.R. Jowdat & R. Pakbaz, “Nimayishgah-i dasteh jamèi-i naqqashi,” kitab-i sal-i Talar-i iran, no. cxcviii (1344/1965): 10.

35 For example, see Abdolmajid Hosseni-Rad, “Shiklhay-i hunar-i sunnati va naqqashi-i mùasir-i iran,” Hunar-hay-i Tajassumi no. ii (1377/ 1998): 140; and Mostafa Goudarzi, “Rah-i chuharum (the fourth way),” Hunar-hay-i Tajassumi no. ii (1377/1998): 8.