Alternative Iran: Contemporary Art and Critical Spatial Practice by Pamela Karimi is a significant contribution to the study of contemporary cultural practices in Iran and the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Organized into four chapters and an epilogue, Alternative Iran presents extensive research and rich illustrations, each chapter addressing a particular aspect of alternative art and its relation to the partially “covert” sites in which it is produced. The chapters themselves exhibit cohesion, offering a rich and detailed array of materials along with compelling arguments. The book is meticulously structured, characterized by clear language that facilitates seamless reading. As the title suggests, the focus is on a diverse spectrum of alternative art scenes. The majority of art forms examined herein belong to post-studio practices, encompassing socially engaged art, interventionist art, collaborative art, and community-based art. These practices involve physical and intellectual engagement with various agents on the ground and have largely remained unexplored in prior publications on the subject. Consequently, the art under scrutiny here is described as “dematerialized,” a phenomenon blurring the boundaries between art production and consumption (p. 10). These alternative art practices and projects unfold outside the customary temporal or spatial frameworks such as biennials, annual formal exhibitions, museums, and galleries, which typically cater to the art market's demand or the Islamic Republic's inclination toward control.
Drawing on interviews with a diverse array of practitioners including artists, musicians, gallerists, designers, and theater experts working within Iran, Karimi explores various art and performance practices, spanning from curatorial projects to independent guerrilla installations and tacitly subversive performances. By examining the complex interplay of political, economic, and intellectual forces with art production, the book offers insights into practices from the 1980s to the present time, particularly focusing on those not intended for official venues but instead operating independently or sanctioned by the Iranian state. Throughout its chapters, the book elucidates key concepts such as invisibility, escapism, ephemerality, improvisation, and zirzamini (underground) and critical spatial practice.
Karimi posits that within contemporary Iran, art practices navigate the fluid boundaries between legality and illegality, visibility and non-visibility, publicness and privacy, presence and absence, transparency and ambiguity. Iranian artists, according to Karimi, demonstrate a penchant for improvisation, with official protocols often exhibiting a degree of flexibility. Regardless of official consent or performance location, the examples of practices explored in Alternative Iran illustrate what Karimi terms “a loose covertness across both art spaces and art practices” (p. 6). While some alternative art forms portrayed in the book seem to challenge state-oriented ideologies and aesthetic norms, others direct their critique toward neoliberal economies, targeting influential private entities or real estate developers involved in urban renewal projects. Furthermore, Karimi examines the significance of ephemeral music and theater, particularly their engagements with alternative sites. In terms of musical practices, the book primarily focuses on the experimental style, which has gained traction among directors and actors following the official privatization of theater in 2009. The architectural projects are also explored, particularly when the design process reflects a quest for the creation of alternative spaces for both art and everyday life.
Karimi suggests that most of the art featured in this book lacks explicit political aims. Instead of interpreting the art for its political connotations, the author aims to explore how it becomes more about evoking visceral responses when it intersects with a particular context. She asserts that Alternative Iran does not aim to construct a narrative centered on ordinary individuals employing informal tactics to circumvent state regulations. Instead, it focuses on how acts of nonviolent civil disobedience manifest within art venues, often elegantly and purposefully conceptualized and improvised by art professionals and designers. The author further examines how the notion of “abstract space” is challenged not only by artists but also by architects and curators who seek to dismantle notions of “abstraction” and “alienation” through innovative design solutions. These approaches propose alternative modes of living, empower the users of the space, and intervene within the existing spatial dynamics of the Islamic Republic.
The book opens with a comprehensive introduction that elucidates the theoretical and methodological approaches of the text, together with a summary of the subsequent chapters. Following this, Chapter 1, “Invisibility: Art in Concealed and Loosely Covert Spaces,” examines the origins of systems of invisibility and covertness, primarily exploring private and circumstantial alternative art scenes. It explores the alternative cultural and art spaces established by individual figures in the pivotal years prior to the 1979 revolution in Iran. The chapter further investigates how the culture of control under the revolutionary regime led to self-censorship, manifesting in covering or modifying the aims of artworks, or avoiding sensitive topics. With meticulous detail, the chapter provides a historical overview of censorship and political activism in Iran from the 19th century to the present day. It highlights alternative challenges, exemplified through various forms of art practices such as graffiti, and other instances of anti-institutional musicians, performers, and artists. Moreover, the chapter offers a succinct analysis of recent Iranian political history in relation to cultural enterprises, particularly delineating the shift from pre-2005 site-oriented projects to the site-referenced and site-specific practices of the subsequent period. It explains the gradual “institutionalization” of informal art projects in the 2000s, where strategies of escapism, ephemerality, and improvisation supplanted earlier techniques of covertness and invisibility. In this context, the chapter discusses the prospects for expressions afforded by certain locations that were not available in standard art spaces. For example, in the case of theater, zirzamini performances – those not authorized by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance – may persist because of a reluctance to seek permission rather than an incapacity to secure it. The chapter lays the groundwork for the conceptual themes that permeate the subsequent chapters.
Chapter 2, “Escapism: Critical Engagements with Remote Natural Sites,” illustrates how, at times, interacting with natural environments serves as a means to foster artistic expression rather than solely contributing to environmental discourse. The chapter further explores the selection of escapist sites by musicians, visual artists, and performers, and how these locales provide avenues for performances and discussions that may not be readily available in formal or official venues in major urban centers. By deliberately distancing themselves from central locations and venturing toward the periphery, Karimi argues that artists and curators aim to create additional opportunities for alternative art forms. Moreover, this chapter offers a comparative analysis of Iranian visual, performing, and environmental practices and projects alongside similar examples from the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, particularly examining counterparts in Poland and Slovakia.
Exploring public art projects from the 1980s, Chapter 3, “Ephemerality: Temporal Interjections in the City,” revisits the issue of ownership of public space through a lens specific to urban life in Iran, encouraging new perspectives on the concepts of “openness” and “accessibility.” Unlike the spaces explored in previous chapters, the case studies in this chapter are not necessarily hidden or inaccessible. Performances and installations occur in plain view, in accessible locations around bustling urban areas. However, because of their commonly insurgent nature, they are typically ephemeral, even if approved by the authorities. The author contends that the mobility and transience of both the artwork and the artist within visible and accessible public spaces fundamentally redefine the relationship between art and site. Thus, this chapter underscores the importance of “when” rather than “where” art takes place (p. 147).
In Chapter 4, “Improvisation: Artful Curation and Spatial Reconfiguration in and out of Conventional Sites,” Karimi delves into the evaluation of alternative Iran by Iranian critics as well as on the global stage, with a particular focus on unconventional curatorial practices within more traditional settings such as galleries and meticulously designed architectural spaces. Karimi argues that these radical and alternative curatorial practices in Iran adopt a more muted strategy. Departing from conventional strategies of concealment, they instead rely on a variety of theoretical frameworks centered on improvisation and negotiation. Through these methods, curation evolves into an art form in its own right, intertwined with the exhibition itself and serving as a catalyst for critical spatial practices. Following this is the epilogue, “Alternative Iran: Allures and Aversions,” where Karimi examines how alternative art is perceived and evaluated both within and outside Iran.
The book offers a plethora of information, including names, places, and events presented in English alongside Persian transliteration, making it a valuable resource for readers unfamiliar with the local context. However, there are a number of minor errors scattered throughout the text, including inaccuracies in dates, names, and events. For example, mo'sseseh-ye honar-ha-ye tajassomi is referred to as being in charge of national biennials, whereas it was actually named the Center for Visual Arts (markaz-e honar-ha-ye tajassomi). In another instance, it is worth noting that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was elected mayor of Tehran in 2005, not 2001. Therefore, Keyvan Pournasr's work executed in 1998 could not be related to that context. It was, in fact, Mehdi Ghadyanloo's work that was primarily executed in the 2010s. The relationship between these practices and the Tehran Municipality's Beautification Organization with the Howzeh, under the Islamic Propaganda Organization, and the Owj Art and Communication Organization, a private body affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, remains somewhat unclear. Furthermore, the application of the term “public art” for both Parham Ghalamdar's graffiti and Ghadyanloo's painting may lack sufficient justification, particularly since Karimi appropriately refers to some graffiti works as “street art” in other instances. Moreover, the rationale behind the inclusion of certain architectural projects and designs in the book, particularly in relation to alternative spaces, is not always evident. It is not entirely clear how the “design process reflects a quest for the creation of alternative spaces for both art and everyday life” (p. 10). For example, the logic behind Alireza Taghaboni's architectural project or Leila Araghian's Tabiʿat Bridge in Chapter 4 is not clearly justified.
Karimi's attempt to draw comparisons between the Iranian art scene and those of the Eastern bloc or the former Soviet Union may occasionally present challenges. She acknowledges that she aims to do this “out of a desire to initiate a dialogue between Iranian alternative art and other global models” (p. 7). However, given the inherently different contextual implications in which these movements were shaped and the Iranian context, applying these paradigms to the study of contemporary art and material culture in Iran may prove challenging. Karimi herself highlights this point, emphasizing that in tracing the sources of influence, including philosophical approaches and theoretical frameworks, she prioritizes the goals of the artists over providing a distanced art-historical reading.
Despite these minor shortcomings, Alternative Iran offers a fresh perspective on alternative contemporary art and cultural practices in Iran. It is an invaluable contribution to the burgeoning field of contemporary art and cultural studies of the MENA region.
