Locus, Upcoming Iranian Artists Abroad, at Gemak/Vrije Academie, The Hague

Some time ago i visited the exhibition Locus, Upcoming Iranian Artists Abroad at Vrije Academie/Gemak to write an article about it. The article being published on Villa La Repubblica, it’s time to show some more impressions. It starts with

a poetic touch by Farhad Fozouni (1979) using both Latin and Persian script and

even integrating illustrations as part of the poem, or vice versa. Another possibility

for a starter is to watch a documentary by Hamed Yousefi (1981) about modern and present day visual culture in Iran,

amongst others about Reza Abedini (1967), who designed the poster for this exhibition.

Celia Eslamieh Shomal (1981),

having become part of both Dutch and Iranian culture,

puts a face on that hybridity, using the colour orange.

Pendar Nabipour (1985) mystifies remembrances of Iranian design of the 1980’s.

Nabipour is also co-curator of the exhibition (compliments!).

Amir Tirandaz (1984) has moved his studio to Gemak for the time of the exhibition. Around the time

of my visit there wasn’t much activity, but that’s some time ago already. So, go and check!

Ehsan Behmanesh (1979)

left this suitcase,

trying to find its way in two cities.

Arefeh Riahi (1979) makes writing in both scripts corporeal by

writing simultaneously with both hands.

Ehsan Fardjadniya (1983) has built a dome referring to

architecture which puts the weight of power on

our shoulders and full of monitors showing the power of the media, while

you hear him reading a letter to his mother, making

the whole thing almost heart breaking.

Another heart breaker (well, in a positive sense, that is) is

Mehregan Kazemi’s (1985) photo and text installation about

the loss of innocence and becoming part of a humiliated and humiliating community. For

Siamak Anvari’s (1981) installation you have to take off your shoes. His is

partly a sound installation. The santur

(the musical instrument) is broken by the change of climate, but will sound by itself now and then. In another

room you can see still more documentaries by Yousefi. Take

your time, it’s interesting.

And don’t forget to sign up for Joubin Zargarbashi’s (1976) endearing and sympathetic Omnigaze project!

All together this is another fine museum-like presentation by Gemak. Take your time and see that the world is bigger than your little town.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge)

Bertus Pieters

Click here for the full article and some more pictures on Villa La Repubblica (in Dutch)

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