Is Iran, under fire for its nuclear activites, trying a little cultural diplomacy?
Last week, the country opened a “Permanent Art Gallery” in Rotterdam, Holland, according to a couple of press reports. Also known as “Iran Art,” it is showing contemporary paintings, miniatures, graphic arts and calligraphy by about 40 artists. They include Iraj Eskandari, Reza Khodadai, and Gizella Sinaii. The opening ceremony was attended by M. Hosseini, deputy ambassador to the Netherlands, and Mahmud Shaluii, director of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Office for Visual Arts.
The Tehran Times quotes Shaluii as saying: “After Iran’s successful participation in the Venice Biennale this year and the opening of Iran’s art gallery, it was decided to establish additional galleries in other countries to help introduce Iranian art and artists.” He added that Iran would soon inaugurate a Paris gallery. And he said that he hopes sales from the galleries will boost the art economy.
The Asian Art Newspaper, however, recently dissected the Venice Biennale and thought Iran’s presence there was diappointing.
For its first participation at the Venice Biennale, there were high expectations for Iran, all the more so as Iranian contemporary art is considered as promising as Chinese or Indian contemporary art used to be. The artists selected to represent Iran, Iraj Eskandari, Sedaghat Jabbari, and Hamid Reza Avishi were clearly technically speaking good artists, but they were the wrong artists for a biennale focusing on the latest developments in contemporary art. It is unfortunate that some artists from Iran who have already gained international recognition were not seen worthy of representing their country in Venice.
Meanwhile, but unrelated to diplomacy, this summer the Chelsea Art Museum mounted Iran Inside Out, including both artists working in Iran and those part of the diaspora.
This looks like a beginning. Here’s a link to the Tehran Times article, the most complete of the three I discovered.
Photo Credits: PRESS TV (top); Tehran Times (bottom).