The 5th Festival of 30 Performances, 30 Artists, 30 Days was launched on December 17 at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.
An art performance by Iranian conceptual artist, Alireza Amirhajebi opened the event, with an audio clip by six vocalists invoking the name of God, Honaronline reported.
The qualities of the Supreme Being are enumerated in various ways in all traditions. In Islam, Allah is the most frequently used name for God. Ar-Rahman (The Entirely Merciful) and Ar-Rahim (The Especially Merciful) are also used in reference.
A perceptual work of art, (a form that can trace its roots to the art history concepts of perceptualism as well as to the 20th century inventions of conceptual and performance art), the sound clip was originally composed by the late German composer, Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1968, titled ‘Stimmung’ (literally moods). The current performance includes important concepts which should be understood by the viewers during the show, said Amirhajebi.
“Such a performance, partly inspired by Zen, a school of Mahayana Buddhism, has prevailed since medieval times. The show is an adapted form of the original, to which I’ve added some parts.”
The festival is organized by the newly established New Media center, said event organizer Amir Raad, adding that the center focuses on training, research and operational issues.
“The festival introduces the performance art medium to the audience,” Raad said. In the earlier editions, the festival emphasized the specific features of performance art, and “in the current event we are involved in the creative process of art, an important feature in the field.”
He said one-third of the participants are art enthusiasts who are members of the Beta Art Group, or have attended his workshops, or earlier editions of the festival. The increase in the number of activists in performing arts proves its importance.
“We selected 30 works from among more than 60 submitted,” Raad said. Various techniques, namely cinema, video, music and poetry are used in creating a performance art, so named because of its unique ‘inter-media’ nature.
The festival is open to the public through January 28, 2016.
