The 13th Iranian Biennial of Photography opened on Sunday (Jan 25) at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.
Head of visual arts department at the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance Majid Molla-Norouzi, who is also the director of the museum, said that unlike in the previous years when the biennial served as a state event, this year for the first time, it has been organized by the National Iranian Photographers’ Society, which, despite certain shortcomings, is considered a step forward, reports ISNA.
He further called for organizing all biennials in different field of art under one umbrella. “As every specialized event in the world is supported by one professional organizer, similarly, here too we can establish a body to run one major event entitled ‘Tehran Biennial’ to cover all the arts and bid farewell to separate biennials held in different fields of art.”
The official added that “government can assist in the process by paving the way, preparing the required infrastructure, and supervising the whole procedure.”
Art deputy at the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance Ali Moradkhani, head of National Iranian Photographers’ Society Masoud Zenderooh-Kermani, secretary of the biennial Esmaeil Abbasi, and a number of artists and art fans also attended the opening function.
Two Sections
This year, the biennial included two sections of ‘art photography’ and ‘creative photography’. In the art category, which was dedicated to the projects including up to 7 photos accompanied by a 100-300-word statement, 488 people sent 541 works and among them 19 collections were approved by the selection committee. In the creative section, where single photos were entries, a total of 1122 people sent 3077 photos, out of which 38 were selected to be showcased at the exhibition.
Zenderooh-Kermani stressing that this year’s biennial has been organized without any government help, said, “To reach this level of independency, we have struggled for six years. We had to prove that the photographers’ society is capable of holding such a big event by itself. Finally our wish was granted and they trusted us and let us prove ourselves.”
On the sidelines of the function, Moradkhani expressed the government’s readiness to provide the private sector with proper infrastructure “to pave the way to handle all artistic events including theater, music, and visual arts.” The exhibition will run till next month.
