Professor Pamela Karimiexploresthe spatial and temporal turns that have animated Iranian art scenes since the 1990s. Sheilluminatesthe economic, social, intellectual, and visceral forces that have driven Iran’s creative agents toward increasingly original forms of site-orientedand durational artmaking.Predominantly ephemeral, most of these artworksdon’tenter theglobalart market, at least not in the conventional sense of the term.Hence,outside theirlocal contexts, thesecreative enterpriseshaveremained largelyunexplored.Played outacrossprivate homes,garages,pop-up venues, dilapidatedbuildings, and otherinformalplatforms, theseradically alternative art formsarenonethelessprofoundlyinfluentialon the ground.
Post-revolutionary places where unconventional and grassroot activities take place, are frequently rendered as theunderground, a perception that is highly contested by many artists inside Iran.Indeed, while there isarguablya bit of“underground-ness”in everyartistic eventoutside the purview of theauthorities,nothing is entirely hidden or covert.Moreover, despite their ostensibly radical characteristics,alternative art formsare notalwayspoliticalor controversial; rather, they convey wide-ranging messages. While someexudesocial or subversivemeanings, otherssimply undertakenovel aestheticconsiderations. Through a series of significant case studies, this lecture elucidates an understudied aspect of contemporary Iranian art which is intimately intertwined with everyday life, urban space, and architecture.
Pamela Karimiis an architect,an architectural historianand an Associate Professor at the University of MassachusettsDartmouth. She is the author of Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iranand co-editor of Images of the Child and Childhood in Modern Muslim Contexts, Reinventing the American Post-Industrial City&The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in the Middle East: From Napoleon to ISIS. Herwritings havealsoappeared inJSAH, Harvard Design Magazine, andArtMargins,among others.Karimi’s majorcuratorial projects includeBlack Spaces Matter, andContemporary Iranian Art & the Historical Imagination. In 2018Karimireceived the UMass system’sManning Prize for Excellence in Teaching,and more recentlyshewas the co-recipient of a major grant from the Getty Foundation, whichinvolvesextensive research on arthistoricaleducation in theMENAregion. Co-founder of Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative,Karimi currently serves on the editorial and scholarly boards ofThresholds Journaland the Association of Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World, Iran, and Turkey, respectively.The current presentationfeatures selected case studies fromthe researchKarimiconductedfor aforthcomingmonograph,which waspartially supported by an Iran Heritage Foundation Fellowship at SOAS.Based on personal interviews with over a hundred artists, gallerists,theatreexperts, musiciansanddesigners,the book tells thehitherto understudiedstories ofalternativeart scenesin Iran.
Organised by Dr Robin Schuldenfrei (91Ӱ)