International Conference

IRANIAN CONTEMPORARY ART - Searching for Identity?

Venue: Kunstverein, Bonn Hochstadenring 22, D- 53119 Bonn

Institute of Art History and Archaeology
Department Art History The University of Bonn
Professor Dr. Anne-Marie Bonnet and HD Dr. Katharina Corsepius
Organized by: Elahe Helbig MA

CONFERENCE PROGRAM May 19, 2012

9:30 Registration and Coffee

10:00 Conference Opening

Anne-Marie Bonnet, Katharina Corsepius (University of Bonn)

10:15 – 11:15 SESSION 1: ART IN POLITICAL TURBULENCES

10:15 Hamid Severi (Art and Culture Institute Mahe Mehr, Tehran)
Contemporary Iranian Art: A Golden Age or Time of Crisis?

10:45 Kira van Lil (University of Colorado at Boulder)
Merging Iranian and Western Artistic Strategies in the Way Contemporary Iranian Artists Respond to War: Shiva Ahmadi, Shoja Azari, and Sadegh Tirafkan

11:15 Coffee Break

11:45 Bavand Behpoor (University of Munich)
The Aftermath of Image Production Revolution in Post-Revolution Iran

12:15 Caroline Rumpf (University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies)
The Evolution of Contemporary Iranian Art after the Reform Period of Mohammad Khatami

12:45 Julia Fritz (University of Bonn)
Green Art - Expression of a Wounded Generation

13:15 Lunch

14:30 – 18:00 SESSION 2: ART IN QUEST OF IDENTITY

14:30 Andrea Fitzpatrick (University of Ottawa)
Representation and the Female Voice in the Video of Samira Eskandarfar

15:00 Foad Torshizi (Columbia University, New York)
“Yes, but I loved her body too.” - Towards a Micropolitics of Homoeroticism in Contemporary Iranian Lenswork

15:30 Helia Darabi (University of Art, Tehran)
Alternative Spaces: Site-responsive Practice in Iranian Contemporary Art

16:00 Coffee Break

16:30 Katharina Jesberger (University of Applied Arts Vienna)
Silent Signifiers. Image Language Relations and Format in the Video Works of "IRAN

17:00 Judith Albrecht (University of Bochum)
Iranian Artists Dealing with the Image of Iranian Women in the USA

17:30 Ahoo Najafian (University of Stanford)
To Know That Much Silence: From Silence to Death in Shirin Neshat’s Women of Allah and Women Without Men

18:00 – 19:00 EXHIBITION OPENING

UNANIMOUSLY CONDEMNED / VIDEO ART AND DOCUMENTARY FROM IRAN
Helia Darabi and Elahe Helbig

19:00 – 20:00 EVENING LECTURE

19:00 Ali Behdad (University of California Los Angeles)
On Photographic Self-Representation in Iran

May 20, 2012

11:00–13:00 READING LECTURE (in German)

11:00 Eva Orthmann (University of Bonn)
Introduction to the Oeuvre of Mahmoud Dolatabadi

11:15 Mahmoud Dolatabadi (Tehran)
The Iranian Author Mahmoud Dolatabadi recites excerpts of his oeuvre in Farsi followed by a German recitation

13:00 Lunch

14:00–15:00 ARTIST TALK (in German)

Shulamit Bruckstein Çoruh (TASWIR Projects / ha'atelier, Berlin) in a talk with the Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar (Frankfurt/Tehran)

15:00 Coffee Break 15:30 – 17:00

SESSION 3: TRADITION AND MODERNITY

15:30 Alexandra Karentzos (Technical University of Darmstadt)
"Appropriation Art". Between Occidentalism and Orientalism

16:00 Staci Gem Scheiwiller (California State University, Stanislaus)
Performing the Past: Historical Performativity and Corporeality in the Photographs of Shadafarin Ghadirian, Afshan Ketabchi, and Arman

16:30 Combiz Moussavi-Aghdam (Art University, Tehran)
Neo-Orientalism and the Narratives of the Body in Contemporary Iranian Art

17:00 – 17:30 FINAL DISCUSSION

17:30 Break

18:00 – 19:00 PANEL DISCUSSION
Professor Anne-Marie Bonnet (University of Bonn) in talk with Iranian artists from Iran and from the Diaspora as well as with experts coming from press and media and from museum and exhibition work.
Panellists: Behrang Samadzadegan (Artist / Tehran) Shahram Entekhabi (Artist / Berlin) Swantje Karich (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) Nicoletta Torcelli (Arte)

There is no Conference fee and no prior registration is required. However, we would be delighted to know if you are planning to attend.
For further information regarding the conference please contact the organizer:
Elahe Helbig M.A.
E-Mail: ehelbiguni-bonn.de