The other

Page 1

The other Curator: Ali Ettehad

I found comprehension in you only so as to become the subject of my own comprehension. Ibn-e-Arabi, Fosoos-ul-Hekam

What creates I is something exterior to the I , something beyond it, an Other , abstract or concrete. With the creation of the Other, the borders of I begin to show. Now it is this I who is able to give the Other a sacred, kind, inimical or friendly role. As the creator of itself, I makes Other a means of processing itself. It glorifies, adores, considers it the reason behind its decadence or sympathizes with it. In times, as encountered in mystic concepts of profane I or impeccable I of the mystic, the subject projects his dear self unto the other to penetrate through his dark self and join him. Such relation between I and Other is so complicated that one cannot look for its beginning. Now if we place the Iranian contemporary artist in place of the subject, where will Other be located? What is the foundation upon which the domain of the artist s I is based? Which factors including cultural patterns, collective memory, social lived experience and many other make a part of what she calls I today? Is it possible to search for these parts in his artwork? The initial answer to such question is that no matter whether a contemporary artist runs away from himself or whether starts a quest for penetrating into his invisible layers she has to confront the Other. The artist is carving a statue of the Other; even if she builds the opposite of it, the initial example is still effective. -Ali Ettehad-


Behnam Kamrani behind Showcase (digital image on canvas board)

Behind Showcase is a collection of images of dummies in the showcases of Iranian boutiques. In this series, dummies are puppet-like but with a human gesture. They express variety and contrast in clothing. They might represent absolutely chaste women or conversely, women in very humble states. Their theatrical expressions are in times mirrored and other times added to images of the art of the past to initiate new readings.


Barbad Golshiri Middle East Impromptu (Video)

Making art, as I ve always put it, is a habit a poor one in my case. Making art is not initially creation but constant repetition, salvaged by making puny differences in certain orders on the plane of the feasible. Art is, semiotically speaking, purely negative; it cannot be defined positively. And of course doing it entails not doing something else. Like some of my Iranian colleagues, I m not doing it these days. We have all seen frames that we can freeze, stick to, and damn. Barring whatever may cross the thresholds of our studios and whatever may enframe and transcend what has been going on in the streets of Iran, perhaps the same thing crossed each of our minds: we have no future. Certainly we are also established abroad and we can have our own futures beyond these walls, but I m speaking of those like me who have refused to leave the country and who have decided not to become one more seated in Matisse s easy chair, chanting I will rebuild you my country with these tears, or one more dissolved in the out-of-context souks of the UAE. We have chosen to breathe hatred, tear and pepper gas, instead of hanging onto nostalgia and the myths of exile and of the innocent artist. So it s true to say that in the eclipse of relative political freedom and under the oligarchy and inquisitions of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, we like millions of Iranian citizens have planned our to-be by abandoning labour and work in favour of action.


The above text is the opening of an article titled, For They Know What They Know , by the artist, Barbad Golshiri. The full text can be access at: http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/80

Hamed Sahihi Thunder and Lightening (photo-based video)

When it rains, sometimes there is a sparkle, a glitter, a ray of light. Angels come and go if you watch carefully


Katayoon Karami (photo-Installation)

Other Gazing Silently Covertly And negatively Like the old colourless negative portraits At the bottom of a distant storage room. Buried between time and oblivion For our wakeless dreams.

A light-box which has doll eyes that close and open by movement. This light box moves by an electro-mechanic robot periodically.


Samira Eskandarfar Men and Carpets (Photo-based video)

Men of life appear standing or sitting somewhere: a glance, a breath and time. Now they hide.


Amirali Ghasemi Choose Your Background (Documents of a Performance in Public Space, Berlin, Oct 2007) (Photo-installation)

Amirali Ghasemi uses digital photography in his project, Choose Your Backgournd, parallel to an analogue medium: a painted drape in the background refers to the first days of photography and iterant photographers. For taking his photographs in public space, Ghasemi needed to talk to passersby and persuade them to choose their background from five to six existing options and stand


in front of the camera, taking a pose and trying to be playful so as to allow a hasty photo. He showed them the result which, thanks to digital technology, appeared instantly on a small screen. The conversations with the passersby, the actions and reactions of the photographer/performer interacting with the addressees makes for a great part of the his performative work. In this exhibition, Amirali Ghasemi puts on display an intimate installation of images of Berliners who have chosen Tehran Azadi Square as their background.

Farid Jafari Double (From My Family series) (digital image Printed on wood)

A collection of old personal and family photographs in the form of puzzles. All are photos about which I have heard many stories since my childhood: all memories of the family. You see puzzles made up of saved memories which you can change, clutter or arrange according to your will; like the memories you remember or a narration you can transport. You cannot deny it but can render it upside down.


The series "my family" consists of family pictures that have been printed on the wood and cut into pieces like a puzzle. Some images can be re-installed again and again. This image shows artist's grand mother before and after the Islamic revolution of Iran.

Ahmad Zolfagharian Dark Raging Waters of Silent Culture (Interactive video)


They pass each other without understanding their being-together is all there is: all their bless and agony. To hide what is best in us while exchanging unbearable similarities. Lonely creatures trapped in intertwined networks: dissimilar creatures, simple, easy to understand and incomparable. Raging currents rupture not thousand-years-old islands: they are torn apart by emptiness: nothingness, nothingness, nothingness: thousand years of lack of nothing. In this inseparable fabric of nothing, in this cruel night of nights, the determined glory of the nothingness of desert reigns in scientific accuracy of carved particles of meaninglessness. In between silent currents of stupidity, castles of silence are erected: winding stupid labyrinths of myths; the might of nonsensical myth. To wander, not in the sense of stepping into perplexity rather of surrendering every relation with the other to the nonsensical culture: to leave every hand waving in the violence of empty vortexes, vortexes of nonsensical culture. To stand on the edge of universal abyss of indigenous culture of solitude and endless autism: to look angerily at the infinite sky above or the ethical principle within. To scream in vacuum chokes not only the scream but the screamer.


Babak Kazemi Souvenir of Friendly Neighbouring Country (photo)

Production Year: 1947 Weight: 16 grammes Use: Edible


Use Condition: Gift usable under all conditions.

Nima Esmailpoor Americans Ask, Who Attacked Our Country? (Photo)


G.W.Bush My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of union, and it is strong. Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done. All of America was touched on the evening of the tragedy to see Republicans and Democrats joined together on the steps of this Capitol singing "God Bless America." And you did more than sing. You acted, by delivering $40 billion to rebuild our communities and meet the needs of our military. Speaker Hastert, Minority Leader Gephardt, Majority Leader Daschle and Senator Lott, I thank you for your friendship, for your leadership and for your service to our country. America will never forget the sounds of our national anthem playing at Buckingham Palace, on the streets of Paris and at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. America has no truer friend than Great Britain. Once again, we are joined together in a great cause. I'm so honored the British prime minister has crossed an ocean to show his unity with America. Thank you for coming, friend. Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking, "Who attacked our country?" The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al-Qaida. Al-Qaida is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money. Its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere. The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children.


In Afghanistan we see al-Qaida's vision for the world. Afghanistan's people have been brutalized, many are starving and many have fled. Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough. The United States respects the people of Afghanistan--after all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid--but we condemn the Taliban regime. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate. I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. Americans are asking, "Why do they hate us?" They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other. Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. Perhaps the NATO charter reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack on one is an attack on all. The civilized world is rallying to America's side. And you know what? We're not going to allow it. Americans are asking, "What is expected of us?" I ask you to live your lives and hug your children. I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy. Terrorists attacked a symbol of American prosperity; they did not touch its source. It is my hope that in the months and years ahead life will return almost to normal. We'll go back to our lives and routines, and that is good. Thank you. George W. Bush - September 20, 2001

Nikoo Tarkhani The image through the mirror (digital image)


Man should lose his memory little by little. Although this happens gradually, he understands memory is all our life. Life is not life without memory It is our mind, our memory, our raison d ĂŞtre, our behaviour and feeling. Without our memory, we are nothing Luis BuĂąuel, My Last Sigh

The image through the mirror is not I! It is a collection of memories and of those who have appeared in my life. What the Other sees of my, is different from what I see of myself. He sees me the way I am: beautiful, ugly, tired, angry, sad But what I see is only a shadow in the mirror lurking behind a pile of memories and feelings invading my mind. Whenever I looks in the mirror, it sees a different self; a self so tied with the past that is inseparable from it, one that knows itself in the shadow of its memories.


The series "The image through the mirror" consists of a number of artist's self portraits in which the pictures of relatives, friends, and personal pictures of the artist have occupied the whole portrait. There is a sound file accompanying this work that is made of the voices and sounds related to these pictures and memories; from the childhood of the artist, her memories of war, and .

Sohrab Kashani The Last Day of Saint Andrias (digital image installation)


People of this city pass each other like those of my city; they sometimes look at each other and might even exchange smiles. They become happy or upset. The people of this city even sin. I change my clothes. I have packed my luggage. I take my camera and come to street to take my last photos of the city and its people. I enter street. The smell of peddler s hotdogs makes me faint. It is my last day in Saint Andrias.

Saint Andrias is a virtual city that the game GTI happens in it. Players can walk or ride in the city during or after the game. The Artist has used a photo camera that is available in the game to take pictures and do some ethnologic researches in the city for almost considerable period.


Jinoos Taghizadeh Lost (3D print)

Perhaps those typesetting newspapers in 70s with hot-metal technology putting small simple uniform ads at the bottom of pages in the empty spaces between paragraphs with Lost as their title and with a picture of a man, woman or child never returning home promising a reward for anybody finding them, would have never thought these ads each constituted a narrative of being lost beyond flesh and in a fated time span. The idea of identifying yourself with these faces, that you might one day find your image between the typeset letters worrying you might be lost Between news devouring your past years like a black-hole growing darker and larger, you know pretty well that you are lost. Now you are the one who orders an ad and the seven-year-old child of those years who thought her greatest obligation was to look in the eyes of those lost and remember their faces so that one day she can find them somewhere is replaced with a woman for whom obligation is a vague and incomplete notion that does not leave her. It is because of her obligation that she wakes up in the morning and searches between everyday news what she does not find. What she finds agitates her with such hatred that she recognizes herself no more. It is due to obligation that she goes to street and takes her hatred with her with some fear and whenever returning safely home she cannot but identify herself with those lost. It is because of obligation that she falls into sleep and has nightmares of innumerable faces. No more than those lost, she looks for those faces in the streets that she considers as agents of lostness, faces that she can forgive but cannot forget. This is a 3-D image. By moving in front of the work the audience can see the artist's childhood for a moment and her adulthood for another.


Behrooz Raee Untitled, from Narcissus (Photo)

A place similar to Helmut Newton s black and white photograph. By replacing the woman in the photograph with his own image Newton refers to a familiar work while presenting a new definition of the artist s self. Similar to the image he has borrowed from, Raee s photographic image is the result of recording light on the sensitive surface of photographic film and as such, the borrowed aspect of the work is reflected in the technical aspect of the image.


Samira Alikhanzadeh (digital image printed on canvas board)

It is a long time I am working with old photographs. They are imaginative. They are familiar for all of us. We find our mothers and grandmothers behind time. Mirrors reflect us in their absence and while standing in front of the image, a voyage through time begins. In this work, life gazes at us in the form of a fire-coloured child waiting for her turn so that a mirror redefines her gaze and being.


Melody Hosseinzadeh Safety match (digital image printed on card board)

Tavakkoli Matches Co. annually produces 10 billion matchboxes with 300 workers. Each ordinary Tavakkoli matchbox contains 40 matchsticks. Tavakkoli Matches Co. annually produces 400 billion safety matches. Considering the fact that the company was established in Iran in 1917 at the end of the First World War and has been active for more than 90 years, it has produces thousands of billion safety matchsticks till now. Tavakkoli Matches Co. can provide each living human being with 60 safety matchsticks per year. On Wed. 29th July 2009 at 10:37 am Rasekhoon website affiliated with Religious Donations Charity Organization reported under the title of We have the Biggest Match Producing Company in the World quoting Green Family Magazine : Today lighters have replaced matches. Large matchstick producing companies each produce certain kind of matches. One produces fantasy matchsticks, the other fireplace matches, etc. But Tavakkoli Matches Co. is the only factory in the world that produces all these products. Mr Tavakkoli says, Nowadays each matchbox is sold for two dollars while Tavakkoli matches are sold for only 50 cents and he adds with much pride that, we are the largest most efficient and influencial producer in the world .


On Tavakkoli matchboxes is either a picture of an animal or an advertisement. The animals portrayed on boxes are different in kind and have iconic quality. Tavakkoli matches are a standard of our culture. On the other side of matchboxes, Tavakkoli Matches Co. congratulates the victory of Islamic revolution on 11th Feb. to the consumers. Since the matches are used throughout the year, it congratulates the victory all yearlong and the consumers think of it when they light the matchsticks. Matches produced after 1844 are called safety matches, for early matches contained white phosphorus dangerous both to producers and consumers and would afflicted them with phossy jaw or other bone disorders. At that time, the amount of white phosphorus in one box was enough for killing a human being. Tavakkoli matches have been used throughout Iranian history for firing Reza Shah s cannons, lighting Molotov cocktails, burning cinema screens, lighting cigarettes of soldiers, drug addicts and those sentenced to death, for setting oneself on fire, for lighting fire in forests, for setting cats on fire, for allowing kids entertain themselves during long afternoons, for lighting alcoholic lamps or setting garbage cans on fire. As such, it is no doubt the symbol of our national identity. Matchsticks are made of pinewood and their so-called sulfur is made of a mixture of 12 chemical elements attached to the stick with animal silicone. The series "Safety Match" consists of images of animals that are usually printed on match boxes of the Iranian brand "Tavakkoli". These animals hide faces of people who have been made safe and impotent during these thirty years of Islamic Republic to gain governmental standard signs: Singers, Players, socio-political activists, and so on.

Behrang Samadzadegan Self-othering (digital image printed on T-shirt)


Becoming Other and believing in the superiority of the Other is a characteristics of our age, the age of media and advertising dictations. It is as if we have accepted turning ourselves into Other according to what media advertises and to adopt our beliefs, desires and even dreams to what Other suggests. Maybe we have accepted to conform to what the Other accepts in order to escape infamy and achieve a high status or popularity and power. Or maybe we have accepted that the grass is greener on the other side and what the other wants is towards perfection and anything else will lead to decadence. So we change clothing and put on what renders us acceptable and reproduce and advertise the Other s desire.

Kaveh Kateb Diary (Music)


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

B s=3 Sara's paradise Rostam, Sohrab Solo A Note for You Purdahs of Silence Self-Portraits

'Diary' series is a sonic diary written in sound. Each track, reminds me of certain moments of my life that makes me think of it. I started the series in 2001 and it now consists of more than hundreds of pieces. The collection you hear here is a unprejudiced selection of the Diary series.


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