Factory TT, an art education platform with branches in Iran and Germany, has organized a program ‘Beyond the Exhibit 3.14’ in Bergen, Norway.
The event is slated for March 2-April 15 and will be hosted by Kunsthall 3.14, a non-profit art institution in Bergen, according to a press release by Factory TT.
Factory TT was created in 2016 by video and installation artist Shahram Entekhabi and graphic designer and photographer Asieh Salimian. The two planned the event after finding out that the image of Iranian art in the West is seemingly limited to a few curators who mostly detach a few contemporary works from a limited number of galleries.
The project ‘Beyond the Exhibition: Contextualizing of Emerging Iranian Artists’ seeks to introduce Iranian talent born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
According to organizers, the title of the exhibit shows that the project goes beyond the mere presentation of artistic works. The works are accompanied by videos including interviews with the creators.
The interviews are conducted by Entekhabi. Finalized in form of video clips, they shed light on the social status of the artists, their artistic careers, working environment and recurrent themes.
There are plans to hold a series of exhibitions in various locations in Germany and elsewhere.
The event is loosely based on Belgian philosopher Isabelle Stengers' thought about the 'art of paying attention.' She characterizes 'paying attention' as an art that brings into play connections people tend to keep separate.
The program is an emphasis on how artists focus on daily life, how they take care of everyday life and situations familiar to everyone.
Participating Artists
All the 12 artists participating at the exhibit 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.
Negar (Zahra) Alemzade Gorji is questioning stereotypical gender roles for women in traditional societies in her video installations and paintings. In her work Split, she is searching for a balance within the domestic–public dichotomy, to find her place and her identity in the balance.
In the work Transformation, she has drawn filigree, upward-striving bundles of figures on a white shroud that could be flowers, but also human bodies.
With a humorous and personal approach Mustafa Choobtarash, from Dezful in Khuzestan Province, reflects Iranian history in his installations and paintings.
Fahimeh Haghighi lives in Isfahan and works as a teacher with marginalized children at the margins of society, to whom she gives a face in her paintings.
The photorealistic paintings by Sarah Hosseini Sefiddashti from Isfahan deals with the situation of women in public places, especially with a number of acid attacks in Isfahan and their psycho-social impact on society.
In his drawings and installations Mehrdad Jafari focuses on decision-making processes related to migration.
Alireza Nekouei, in his spatial experiments in the medium of painting, deals with isolation and exclusion in society.
Roohangiz Safarinezhade leads a consumer-critical discourse and addresses the impact of industrial society on the environment.
The photographic works of Farzin Shadmehr show women beyond traditional role models: athletes and the disabled.
Shahryar Rezaei from the desert town of Kerman works on the subject of rural depopulation and migration.
Also works by Shaghayegh Ahmadian, Negar Ghiamat and Rene Saheb will be on display.
