Classical and Persian traditional singer Salar Aqili, will perform his piece ‘My Homeland’ on Iran’s National Day at Milan Expo 2015.
The manager of Iran Institute for Contemporary Art Development, Mehdi Afzali, said the expo officials have declared August 23 as ‘Iran’s National Day’ due to its concurrence with ‘Doctors’ Day’, the birth anniversary of Avicenna, the great Persian polymath, ISNA reports.
“Iranian and Italian officials and guests from over 100 countries will attend the event and Aqili, the popular young vocalist, will give a performance,” Afzali added.
Azari traditional dance and ‘Naqqali’ (traditional Iranian story-telling) groups will give performances under the theme of the event, ‘Feeding the Planet’.
This is the first time in the expo’s history that Iran has conceptualized and designed its pavilion. Tradition, sustainability and openness to diversity, the main concepts of the Iranian pavilion, are part of the Persian culture and have developed thanks to Iran’s strategic position as a bridge between the East and West.
Conceived and designed by a team led by architect Kamran Safamanesh, the first phase was developed by Rah Shahr Architectural Consulting Engineers and the second by the Italian studio RPA S.r.l.
The three concepts are summarized by an object that conveys them all: the ‘Sofreh’, a square or rectangular fabric that identifies with a set table, and is one of the most important items of Iranian culinary culture. The pavilion’s architecture is derived from the image in the form of an open structure, similar to a tent, where the inner skin is reminiscent of traditional embroidery of the Sofreh. Its weave tells the story of the Iranian people’s food and agriculture from past to present.
This is the second time Milan is hosting the exposition—the first was the Milan International in 1906.
On November 23, 2010, Milan was officially named the host by the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE), whose General Assembly in Paris decided in favor of Milan’s candidature on March 31, 2008.
The expo embraces technology, innovation, culture, tradition, creativity and the way they relate to food. It will further develop themes introduced in its earlier editions such as water (Zaragoza, 2008) in the light of new global scenarios and emerging issues. The expo is generally focused on the right to healthy, secure and sufficient food for all inhabitants of the world.
