{"id":995,"date":"2010-10-03T18:20:19","date_gmt":"2010-10-03T18:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.parkingallery.com\/?p=995"},"modified":"2026-08-17T16:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:08:29","slug":"the-knowledge-stop-2-tehran-at-delfina-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/?p=995","title":{"rendered":"The Knowledge – Stop 2: Tehran at Delfina Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Knowledge – Stop 2: Tehran<\/h2>\n
\"The<\/a>
Persepolis, Solmaz Shahbazi, production still, 2005<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Series of events between 5 and 19 October 2010, at The Delfina Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A journey through visual culture, one city at a time. After Damascus, our second stop will be Tehran. This series of events focuses on emerging artistic networks and strategies in the youthful Iranian capital. With contributions from Amirali Ghasemi, Malu Halasa, Vali Mahlouji, Mahmoud Bakhshi, James Neil and Solmaz Shahbazi.<\/p>\n

Exhibition: Bahman Cinema, by Mahmoud Bakhshi.
\nPrivate view: Tuesday 5 October 2010, 18:30 – 20:30
\nOpening times: 6 to 19 October 2010, Mon – Sat, 10:00 – 18:00<\/span>
\nBahman Cinema<\/em> (2010) explores the tight relationship between culture and socio-political context. The word “Bahman” refers to both, the eleventh month of the solar calendar (a month of victory for the Islamic Revolution of 1979) and a popular Iranian cigarette among working classes. In downtown Tehran, on Revolution Square, the location of many protests (since 1979 and more recently in 2009), the Bahman Cinema was established in 1997, broadcasting films for a large audience. Current resident artist Mahmoud Bakhshi’s new mixed media work features 3 Bahman cigarette boxes, in which small-scale, carton replicas of a cinema’s screening rooms have been fitted.<\/p>\n

Film Screening: The Tehran Trilogy, by Solmaz Shahbazi.
\nThursday 7 October 2010, 19:00 – 20:30
\nFree event, limited seats available, rsvp required.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Solmaz Shahbazi’s trilogy explores the recent historical, social and urban trajectory of the Iranian capital, a city that has experienced several revolutions in the 20th century and counts over 12 million inhabitants today.<\/p>\n

Tehran 1380<\/em><\/strong> (by Solmaz Shahbazi and\u00a0Tirdad Zolghadr,\u00a045min, 2002). Through interviews with permanent inhabitants and visitors, professionals of architecture and non-professionals, juxtaposed with images from Tehran, Shahbazi and Zolghadr ask pertinent questions about the place of the city in the process of globalisation, and carve out a portrait of Tehran as a socially heterogeneous, ever expanding metropolis that does not fit into any existing urban planning or aesthetic standards.<\/p>\n

Good Times \/ Bad Times<\/em><\/strong> (31 min, 2003). With over 70% of the population aged under 25, Iranian youth culture is an incredible transformative power that shapes the country’s social, economical and political trajectories.\u00a0Good Times \/ Bad Times<\/em> follows five young people, each as a representative of a certain group in the Iranian society. The documentary looks at some of the strictures confronting Iranian youth and examines the practices of everyday life through which young people demonstrate defiance against the official culture and parental dominance.<\/p>\n

Persepolis<\/em><\/strong> (2005, 17min), the last video of the trilogy, is as much a tale about Tehran as it is about how individuals situate themselves in relation to the grander narratives of history. Set in a large scale, bourgeois housing complex in Tehran, the video explores a layered history through composed interior shots, played back against the voice of their owners, as they recount their lives in this neighbourhood and its place in the city’s recent evolution, often referring to “before” and “after” the Islamic Revolution of 1979.<\/p>\n

Lecture: Young Tehran – Artistic Strategies, by Malu Halasa.
\nTuesday 12 October 2010, 18:30 – 19:30
\nFree event, limited seats available, rsvp required.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“The Internet, youth and fashion culture and the home-grown trends of the Islamic Republic fuel the city’s paradoxes – its pains as well as its pleasures. Sunk in permanent smog, tangled in traffic jams, suffused with the threat of war and unrest, life in Tehran is chaotic and unpredictable. Its passions and preoccupations make it a city like no other.”\u00a0(Transit Tehran, 2008)<\/p>\n

Writer and editor Malu Halasa discusses youth and popular culture, generational divides, cultural strategies and resistance in contemporary Tehran. Focusing on a new generation of young artists whose works document the social transformation of their country, Malu explores how Iran’s long tradition of artistic and cultural resistance has influenced young Iranians, and addresses two questions: what are Tehran’s young artists’ aspirations, and how much are their elders prepared to accommodate them?<\/p>\n

Film Screening: The Real Bahman Cinema – New films and videos from Tehran.
\nThursday 14 October 2010, 19:00 – 20:30
\nFree event, limited seats available, rsvp required.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Curated by James Neil, Parallax Media, this screening gathers a selection of documentary films, focusing on the complex relationship that young Iranians have to their rapidly evolving surroundings, as they negotiate their way through paradigmatic cultural shifts on the one hand, and a resistance to notions of modernity and contemporanaeity on the other.<\/p>\n

Essi <\/strong><\/em>(directed by Reza Haeri. Iran, 2007).\u00a0Essi was a salesman at the legendary Beethoven Music Store and the unofficial advisor to generations of Tehrani music lovers. He now gets by selling selected albums from his huge collection of LPs at the Friday morning flea market downtown. An eccentric connoisseur of eclectic music – from Elvis Presley to John Coltrane to Herbert Von Karajan – he lives in a world of real and imagined memories.<\/p>\n

127 <\/em><\/strong>(directed by Reza Haeri. Iran, 2005).Jazz and Rock & Roll, and most other kinds of ‘Western’ music are officially banned in Iran. But, thousands of Iranians, and especially the young, love the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Metallica and Pink Floyd. Countless talented musicians have formed their own bands and are now showcasing their music in underground concerts. Among the most famous is the band\u00a0127<\/em>, whose blend of Iranian jazz and rock has attracted a large following of devotees.<\/p>\n

Imamzadeh Internet <\/strong><\/em>(directed by Reza Haeri. Iran, 2005).\u00a0In south Tehran, next to the mausoleum of Imam Yahya, there is an Internet caf\u00e9, which attracts the young and the not-so-young. This is the starting point for a film about the impact of the internet on Iranian culture and society. From the crowded streets of the city to the small village of Shahkooh, we meet students, intellectuals, and members of parliament and hear their views on chat-rooms, sex-talk, and the larger issue of Iran and the West.<\/p>\n

Artist Talk: Iran & CO, by Amirali Ghasemi
\nFriday 15 October, 18:00 – 19:00
\nFree event, limited seats available, rsvp required.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Artist Amirali Ghasemi discusses\u00a0Iran & CO<\/em>, his ongoing curatorial project.\u00a0Iran & CO<\/em> includes an exhibition, a documentary and an archive project. The exhibition gathers a number of site and context specific commissions conceived by the newest generation of Iranian artists, who have all been invited to produce works outside of the gallery space.<\/p>\n

The ‘documentary\/film\/installation’\u00a0Iran Beyond Borders (1960-2010)<\/em>maps out the history of modern and contemporary art in Iran, from the late 50s to today. It aims to archive and review more than 100 Iranian art exhibitions in the last 10 years, and features interviews with key figures of the contemporary Iranian art scene (such as Khosrow Hassansadeh, Ghazel, Alireza Samiazar, Fereydoun Ave, Hamid Keshmirshekan, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Barbad Golshiri and Rose Issa) on subjects including the impact of the market on artistic practices, the local in relation to the global, the politics of representation and identity. The film will be premiered in Bruges, Belgium, in October 2010.<\/p>\n

Iran & CO<\/em> is a production of the Cultural Centre of Bruges, with the support of the Vlaamse Gemeenschap, and Parkingallery projects Tehran.<\/p>\n

Artist Talk: Mahmoud Bakhshi in conversation with Vali Mahlouji
\nTuesday 19 October, 18:30 – 19:30
\nFree event, limited seats available, rsvp required.
\n<\/span>Current resident artist Mahmoud Bakhshi draws inspiration for his works from the political and social issues that surround him. He discusses his practice to date and his recent exhibition at the Saatchi gallery with Vali Mahlouji.<\/p>\n

All events at\u00a0The Delfina Foundation<\/a>. To rsvp, please call 0207 233 5344 or email rsvp@delfinafoundation.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Knowledge – Stop 2: Tehran Series of events between 5 and 19 October 2010, at The Delfina Foundation. A journey through visual culture, one city at a time. After Damascus, our second stop will be Tehran. This series of events focuses on emerging artistic networks and strategies in the youthful Iranian capital. With contributions … Continue reading The Knowledge – Stop 2: Tehran at Delfina Foundation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abroad","category-uncategorized-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.parkingallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}