Escaping the Exotic: Contemporary Landscape of Iranian Graphic Design
Poster Exhibition, Film Screening, and Presentation with Behrouz Hariri
Date: December 9, 2008
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Auditorium, Noor Cultural Centre
Admission: $5
Film Screening:
Alef to Ye, Iranian Calligraphy and Typography
Documentary by Michael Koritschan and Kambiz Shafei
The 22 minute documentary offers an analytical history of calligraphy and typography narrated by prominent Iranian artists and art critics. Interviews with Aidin Aghdashlo, Mohamad Ehsaei, Saed Meshki, Majid Abbasi and Ebrahim Haghighi explore cultural significance of calligraphy in Iran and explain the story of its transformations and adaptations over the centuries. Many schools and movements in Iranian visual arts have taken their inspiration from calligraphic traditions and in return have paved the way for radical works that blur the boundaries of calligraphy with painting and sculpture. Aidin Aghdashloo talks about the pivotal role of avant-garde artists, including those of Saqhakhane movement, who are responsible for reincarnation of calligraphy with a voice relevant to modern art world.
Presentation:
Iranian Graphic Design has gained unprecedented international acclaim over the past decade. A rich and varied history of visual creation and well rooted traditions of calligraphy are among the factors that lend the contemporary scene in Iran its unique features. Overlap of traditional and modern practices provides designers with a rare opportunity to absorb and re-express the immediate past that surrounds them. Creating contemporary work that reflects upon its history and meaningfully acknowledges its predecessors – like any decent apprentice in the east should do – seems to be the grand work that lies ahead.
The new generation of Iranian designers, now younger than ever, is well connected to the rest of the world and aware of the context their work is viewed in. Given the political and social events that inevitably frame the works of Iranian artists, it is fascinating to discuss what is demanded of the artists nationally and internationally. While the young Iranians seek the their new identities the rest of the world seems to be falling behind, demanding to see more of what it is used to.
In this presentation we will recount historic traditions of calligraphy and picture making and try to illustrate the connections with contemporary graphic design of Iran. Then we will have a Q&A and start a conversation about what we see and out interpretations of it.
Behrouz Hariri holds a Bachelor degree of Graphic Design from York University. He is a part-time author and translator. His recent projects include organizing and managing a month of exhibitions, lectures and workshops centered around Iranian graphic design at York University. Recently his Farsi translation of the acclaimed documentary Helvetica was screened in vaious locations in Tehran. Anticipating collaborative projects and open to new ideas, Behrouz can be contacted through his website at www.elasticpattern.com.