Factory TT, an art education platform with branches in Iran and Germany, has organized a program ‘Beyond the Exhibit’ in Berlin.
The event is slated for January 7-21 and will be hosted by Katharina Maria Raab Gallery in Berlin, according to a press release by Factory TT.
Factory TT was initiated in 2016 by video and installation artist Shahram Entekhabi and graphic designer and photographer Asieh Salimian. The two artists have curated the upcoming event after observing that the image of Iranian art in the West was limited to a few curators who, for the most part, detach a few contemporary works from a limited number of galleries.
The project is titled ‘Beyond the Exhibition I: Contextualizing of Emerging Iranian Artists.’ It seeks to introduce young Iranian artists born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
All 12 participants have completed an academic major and are trying to work as full-time artists. Entekhabi and Salimian selected them based on their social presence and how their works are received in their own environment.
According to the organizers, the title of the exhibit indicates that the project goes beyond the mere presentation of artistic works. The works are accompanied by videos including interviews with their creators.
The interviews are directed and filmed by Entekhabi. Finalized in form of video clips, they shed light on the social position of the artists, their artistic careers, working environment and their recurrent themes.
Beyond the Exhibit is planned as a continuous series of exhibition projects in various locations in Germany and elsewhere.
Artists
Painter Shaqayeq Ahmadian from Mazandaran Province in northern Iran is one of the participating artists. She criticizes the formal and subject canon of the country’s academic training system.
After her law studies, Negar Alemzadeh-Gorji turned exclusively to painting. In her works, she questions stereotypical gender roles.
Mustafa Choubtarash, a painter from Dezful in Khuzestan Province, southern Iran, is working on the effects of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Photographer, painter, sculptor and installation artist Negar Qiamat addresses the vulnerability of man and nature.
Illustrator Fahimeh Haqiqi lives in Isfahan and works as a painting teacher for children who live on the margins of society.
Also from Isfahan is Sara Hosseini Sefid-Dashti whose photorealistic paintings depict the situation of women in public places and the psycho-social impact of violence on society.
In his drawings and installation arts, sketch artist and painter Mehrdad Jafari from Mazandaran focuses on the decisions and developments that lead to migration.
Painter Alireza Nekoui experiments with the concept of space and deals with isolation and exclusion in society.
Sculptor and painter Rouhangiz Safarinejad leads a critical discourse on consumer culture and addresses the impact of industry on environment.
Rene Saheb is a painter and sculptor whose frequent topics are communication formulas and language barriers.
The photos by sketch artist and photographer Farzin Shadmehr show women beyond traditional role models, and Shahryar Rezai from the desert town of Kerman works on the subject of rural migration.
Discussions
On the sidelines of the exhibition a panel discussion will be organized on January 11. The topic will be ‘Contemporary Art Production in Iran and Beyond.’ It will be attended by Julia Allerstorfer from Institute for History and Theory of Art, Katholische Privat Universität Linz, Austria; Geneva-based historian and curator Charlotte Bank; German-based author, philosopher and curator Almut Shulamit Bruckstein Çoruh; and Iranian art historian Katrin Nahidi from Free University of Berlin. Curators of the event Entekhabi and Salimian will also be in attendance.
Another meeting is slated for the final day, Jan. 21. It is on ‘Curating Under Restrictions, Finding Alternatives.’ Participants are German curator and art historian Kathrin Becker who is the director of Video-Forum at Berlin Arts Asscociation or Neuer Berliner Kunstverein; German curator, author and lecturer on art Alexander Kochl; and Christy Woody, director of Aperto Raum, an exhibition space in Berlin.
