IRAN Vs. Guided by Amirali Ghasemi at PiST///
PiST/// Interdisciplinary Project Space has started its Artist Information project on May 2007 to focus on Istanbul and Turkey’s contemporary art production. On 2010 this project will cross borders to focus on contemporary art practices abroad. The first country of this research series will be Iran, a neighboring country with a 499 km border with Turkey. Its capital Tehran is 66 hours away from Istanbul by train and 3 hours by plane. Iran is one of a few countries that does not request a visa from Turkish passport holders. There is a 1,5 hours time difference in between them. Both countries have a population of over 70 billion. While there is a lack of local support for the contemporary art production in Turkey, it is the opposite in Iran, rather it is difficult to get international support.
Amirali Ghasemi is an independent curator and media artist from Tehran. He is the founder of the independent art space Parkingallery and since 1998 he continues his projects there, in different countries / cities and online. Starting from January 2010, Saturday and for the following 4 weeks, PiST will start a research period with the guidance of Amirali on Iranian contemporary art. This instruction, research and discussion period will start with cliches and prejudices, and by the second week Amirali will return back to Tehran and we will continue screening those works of Iranian artists curated by him. The screenings will continue by Q&A sessions via a skype connection to Parkingallery with Amirali and those artists he will invite. On May 2010 Parkingallery will screen works from Turkey with the guidance of PiST and we will answer those questions forwarded from Tehran to Istanbul for 4 weeks.

* The talks will be in English and there is a limited space for 30 people.