Persian literature convention in Sarajevo

ASPS 2013 Conference: Program

 

by Ari Siletz, Iranian



This September the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina will host the 6th biennial convention of the Association for The Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS). The association publishes research on societies significantly influenced by Persian culture wherever in the world they may be, which is why the gathering is in Sarajevo this year. Under Ottoman rule until 1878, Bosnians still carry the Ottoman high regard for Persian literature and still have institutions dedicated to the study of Persian. Over the centuries, this Eastern European city has produced several poets who wrote in Persian.

This year novelist Mahmoud Dowlatabadi will attend the convention to receive a tribute from ASPS for his lifelong contribution to Persian literature. His monumental novel Kelidar  has been widely read in Iran since the first of ten volumes was published in 1977, but one of his novels written during the early 1980s is still at the censor’s office waiting for an approval that may never come. The Colonel is available in German, English, Italian and Hebrew, but not in the original Persian. The reason is that Dowlatabadi has declined to make the revisions required by the censor’s office.

The nature of the required revisions are easy to guess. In its literary treatment of the diverse political groups in Iran’s recent history The Colonel plays no favorites when it comes to the Islamic Republic. Dowlatababdi, however, is just an accidental dissident, he has no agenda other than what his art creates naturally. A long time ago he asked his SAVAK captors why he was being detained. They said they didn’t really know but others who had good reason for being detained had all read his books!

I am curious to know how Bosnian Persophiles feel about Dowlatabadi. The Ottoman fascination with Persian art and culture was due in no small part to the influence of Rumi who has been an accidental collaborator throughout history. In a Rumi inspired society power and wealth are regarded as impediments to attaining the full human potential so that the abuse of power is viewed as a spiritually imprisoning act. In a way the aggressor loses and the victim wins. From a modern perspective this mindset leads to a docile population, but from a historical perspective obedience to the king used to be a sign of a healthy society. Today, artists confrontiing Iran’s social issues struggle in a no man’s land between the modern narrative of collective power via individual dignity and the sublimely fatalistic narrative of medieval poets whose heritage is still carried by the Iranian reader.

During the tribute to Dowlatabadi the program’s artistic director Ariana Barkeshli will touch on both perspectives by performing Aminolah Hossein’s piano piece Prelude no. 1, a tribute to Omar Khayam, and also a piano piece by Alireza Mashayekhi titled In Search of Lost Time.  If this is a reference to the Marcel Proust novel of the same name, the choice of the piece suggests a flattering statement by the artistic director. In addition to sharing with Kelidar the distinction of being one of the longest novels ever written, Proust's In Search of Lost Time is considered by some to be a work that defined modern novel. Perhaps Dowlatabadi will notice and be amused by the compliment.

More info at ASPS website.


Ari Siletz is the author of the Mullah With No Legs and Other Stories. His works have been anthologized in several collections. His latest short story appears in Tremors: New Fiction By Iranian American Writers (University of Arkansas Press 2013).

 Via Iranian

Waiting for the Sun

‘Day and night I tore myself to shreds so the sun would come – it didn’t come’

 

L-R: Alfredo Caceres, Hamed Nikpay, Hussain Jiffry & Farzin Farzad. Photo courtesy Javad Nikpour and REORIENT.

by Joobin Bekhrad, REORIENT

For three hot, sticky, and otherwise unbearable summer days in July, a motley crew of Iranians from around the globe descended on Toronto’s sleepy Harbourfront Centre to put the ‘Tehran’ back into Tehranto. For its third edition, the Tirgan festival gathered together artists, musicians, performers, scholars, and myriad other pundits from various disciplines for what has now become the world’s largest celebration of Iranian arts & culture outside Iran. Kicking off this year’s theme of ‘hope’ – which some may have regarded as a reflection of the dire state of Iranian international relations, or of a spirit of optimism regarding Iran’s political future – was Siavash Shabanpour’s operatic rendition of Arash the Archer, based on the late Siavash Kasraii’s poetic retelling of the ancient Iranian myth. To the clash of symbols and the occasional clack of a beer can cutting through the thick veil of humidity that summer’s eve, a colourful crowd of awestruck, sweat-drenched onlookers witnessed the timeless trial of one of Iran’s most noble sons against the warriors of Turan, which brought forth a renewed spirit of nationalism, pride, and, true to the festival’s adopted theme, hope; and thus, with a bang (literally), the kabab-infused festivities began.

Gutted at having missed Paris-based Shahrokh Moshkin-Ghalam’s dance interpretation of a selection of love stories from the Shahnameh (the Persian ‘Book of Kings’ epic) for the second time due to the bane of typical Toronto traffic – which the influx of Iranians did nothing to assuage whatsoever – I arrived at Harbourfront a good three hours before a concert by Hamed Nikpay, consoling myself with the fact that I’d have plenty of time to explore the communal delights the festival had to offer. After picking up a bit of Persian swag at the pop-up bazaar on the green (sans bargains, alas), and a spanking-new copy of Hamid Rahmanian’s new version of the Shahnameh, I caught a lecture on classical Iranian music by the eccentric Lloyd Miller, a somewhat familiar name in the jazz lexicon. Although captivated at first by the 70-something’s colourful anecdotes about performing in pre-Revolution Iran and his remarks about identifying as an Iranian (though he lamented not having ‘the cool hair or the cool skin’), he later lost me with some dubious remarks about the origins of Persian music and misplaced praise for various figures in Iranian history. The juvenile spirit of my university days still flowing strong within me, I slipped out as inconspicuously as possible (having only had to walk past a camera or two) back into the heat, ticket in hand, in pursuit of Agha Hamed.

‘With his heartwarming poems and beautiful music, please welcome Hamed Nikpay!’ The audience – composed mostly of ardent young fans and clueless baby boomers – clapped, hooted, and howled, as the five-piece ensemble slowly emerged from behind the stage and began to fine-tune their moisture-ridden instruments. After a rather humble introductory greeting, Nikpay set the record straight, lest there should be any misconceptions about his practice. ‘I just wanted to say I’ve never written a poem in my life’, he said softly, gazing at his red velvet loafers. ‘I’m not a poet … I’m just a musician’. Hats off to you, Hamed, I thought, as I made out the words afarin and damet garm being whispered in the rows beyond. As with his forbears and contemporaries in the Iranian avaz tradition, the overwhelming majority of Nikpay’s compositions are based around poems by renowned medieval Persian poets such as Rumi, Saadi, Hafez, Attar, Khayyam, and others. Despite his songs being firmly rooted in mystical Persian verse, Nikpay has been able to carve out a signature sound for himself, through his openness to world cultures and his seemingly effortless synthesis of styles – both instrumental and vocal – from Iran, the greater Middle East, South Asia, and beyond. While ‘purists’ such as Miller may find Nikpay’s brand of music abhorrent (the former having expressed a profound dislike for Googoosh and any form of non-spiritual Iranian music in general), he has garnered quite a following both in Iran, as well as in Europe and North America, pandering to the tastes of lovers of Persian music with a deep appreciation for the grand ostads such as Shajarian and Nazeri, yet who don’t mind a bit of a ‘shaking up’ of the status quo every now and then.

Accompanied by four master musicians – Farzin Farhadi on soprano saxophone, Hussain Jiffry on electric bass, Alfredo Caceres on Spanish guitar, and Satnam Ramgotra on tabla – Nikpay, with utmost devotion and resolve, performed an eclectic set of songs from his most recent album, Reaching You (Vasl-e To), as well as a number of older favourites from the previous Spellbound (Divaneh-tar) and All is Calm (Asoudeh). Commencing with a handful of more contemplative and jazzier numbers, the initial focus was largely on the interplay between the musicians, as well as the subtle vocal work of a reserved, yet undoubtedly enrapt Nikpay, whose impassioned wails continuously reached new sonic heights. Later, as the ensemble found their groove and became more ‘comfortable’ (as exemplified by Ramgotra’s humorous Indian-themed interjections in-between songs, and the gradually increasing taarof-ridden banter between Nikpay and Farhadi), Nikpay took his setar and tanbur in hand, and progressed through some of his more dynamic compositions. On the piquant Cordoba to Kordestan, Nikpay’s masterful cascading strumming on the tanbur (an Iranian long-necked lute used extensively in Sufi rituals, particularly in Kurdistan), accompanied by Caceres’ fluid melodies on the guitar evoked at once the rugged mountains and valleys of Kurdistan and the lush gardens of Moorish Andalusia. Hearing Nikpay alternate seamlessly between Persian, Spanish, and Indian schools of singing and instrumentation, I couldn’t help but recall the legendary Zaryab (lit. ‘one who finds gold’), the eminent Persian musician at the Abbasid court in ninth century Cordoba, and the longstanding relationship between the Persian and Spanish (and Arabic) musical traditions. History lessons have never been so visceral.

Having gone from Cordoba to Kurdistan and back, Nikpay’s performance reached a sombre tone on what was perhaps the most emotionally charged number of the afternoon. Gently laying his beaten tanbur aside, a downcast Nikpay solemnly addressed the audience to introduce the next song of his set, which would see him and Caceres trading licks on the setar and guitar. Entitled Nayamad (lit. ‘It Didn’t Come’), the song was a homage to his late uncle, who, after being stripped of his post as a university professor in Tehran twice, was reduced to selling sandwiches in the tiny town of Rudehen on the outskirts of the city. Under extreme financial pressure to provide for his wife and children, he soon succumbed to a fatal heart attack. As Nikpay related this painful anecdote, the story of another friend of mine, the Iranian artist Farbod Morshedzadeh, came to mind. As we were chatting in his Rudehen abode just a few months ago, he told me how, as a result of his honesty regarding his religious tendencies, he was fired as a university professor. In between cups of tea and drags on his cigarettes, he further went on to lament the state of a country, in which, to quote a song by the alternative Iranian rock group Kiosk, ‘everyone is out of place’.

Shetab kard ke aftab biyayad, sang a humble, yet undeniably impassioned Nikpay: He made haste, so the sun would come – nayamad; it didn’t come. Akh, daridam; shabaneh rooz daridam ke aftab biyayad – nayamad, the bitter tale continued: Oh, I tore myself to shreds; day and night I tore myself to shreds so the sun would come – it didn’t come. After his fervent laments came the pitiful and harrowing verse, which seemed to serve as a reflection of all those tired, weary, and beaten faces one so often comes across in the land of the noble: What strange, ominous days … hah … time is the master of the dog, and I, its dog.

Stepping outside the auditorium, the sun was burning ever vehemently above a white canvas of sails, seagulls, and steamers. Looking around at the throngs of children devouring hot dogs by the water’s edge and the families languidly ambling along the thoroughfare, I couldn’t hold back the pangs of melancholy within the depths of my stomach, despite the joy around me. What strange, ominous days, Nikpay’s voice continued to resound. Though the sun shines resplendent above our heads on this lazy midsummer’s eve, I thought, for some, it has yet to come. The words of the sage from Khorasan, the land where the sun ‘rises with ease’, seemed to echo from beyond the waves:

From our arrival and departure, what have we to show?
And where is the warp of our being’s weft to sew?
Many innocent souls in the firmament’s cycle
Burn and become dust – where’s the smoke?

From Joobin Bekhrad’s The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam
Via REORIENT

Love and Pomegranates: Artists and Wayfarers on Iran

by Meghan Nuttall Sayres, The Huffington Post

My last post was entitled "Media Washed Middle East," in which I wrote about my experiences traveling and writing about the Middle East. Those sojourns abroad culminated in an anthology that was just published this spring by Nortia Press entitled Love and Pomegranates: Artists and Wayfarers on Iran. It is a collection of essays, poetry, interviews and blog posts written by ordinary people who have found friendships, mentors and muses in Iran. The anthology aims to challenge stereotypes about Iran and its people currently perpetuated in the Western media. Below is the introduction to the book...

Prior to my first trip to Iran in March 2005, when I was invited to speak at the country's First International Children's Book Festival, I had looked for a book to help relieve doubts about my decision to go. At first, I found none. Then a friend gave me a copy of Alison Wearing's Honeymoon in Purdah. Wearing's account of her travels in Iran during the summer of 2000 helped me to deconstruct the myth that Iran is a haven of sequestered women and armed masked martyrs. Her book -- infused with humor -- showed me that I, too, would be welcomed there.

Love and Pomegranates: Artists and Wayfarers on Iran came about because my friends, colleagues and I have developed a profound appreciation of Iranian culture and an abundance of stories about the friendships we made and the generosity we received in Iran. On our journeys we found another Iran, one that lies in stark contrast to the ominous picture of their culture painted by the American and other Western mainstream media, which has repeatedly tainted our collective perspective on Iran. A recent study discovered that half of Americans view Iran as a threat and opinions of that country have worsened in recent years; yet, two thirds of us have never met an Iranian. Perhaps the study suggests that the media's focus on our nation's foreign policies and on the idea of national security prevents us from considering the richness of Persian history and culture, which reflects a long-held tradition of peace and hospitality.

Perhaps the bias against Iranians is bound up in a bias against Muslims. After the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2011 polls revealed that the perceived threat from Muslims living in the United States and abroad increased significantly. While many Iranians in the U.S. and Iran are Muslim, they are also secular, Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Bahai, or follow other spiritual paths. An Iranian acquaintance of mine living in Tehran attends her father's mosque and her mother's Catholic church. Dr. Carl Ernst, a professor of Islamic Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimates that there are at least 300,000 Christians in Iran today. Historically, in Sasanian Iran, Christianity was a prominent religion and home to a number of Eastern churches that were considered heretical by the Byzantines.

Whatever the cause, the purpose of this anthology is to counter an insufficient understanding of a nation and its people. We hope this anthology of essays, interviews, poems and blogs from people who have traveled or lived in this country of golden deserts, cypress-scented mountains, and inexpressibly-beautiful tiled mosques, will help readers to better interpret the disinformation and stereotypes about Iran that might eclipse what the human heart may discover: a warm, educated and artistic people, whose dreams are much like our own. We are hopeful that this collection will help to inspire others to get to know their Iranian neighbors at home and perhaps even travel to Iran.

Indeed, I made many new friends and acquaintances in Iran. So have all the contributors to this collection. This volume is enriched by their varied backgrounds; here are voices of botanists, a Persian dafs musician, a radio show host, professors of Persian history and literature, filmmakers, grandmothers, teachers, carpet dealers, adult and children's book writers. Many are of Western ancestry and thus have little or no familial ties with Iran. Few knew each other prior to submitting their work for this anthology. I think of each of them as "missionaries in reverse," a term borrowed from musician Cameron Powers, who has traveled in the Middle East connecting with people through the love of music as founder of Musical Missions of Peace. The American contributors in this anthology did not go to Iran to promote Western culture or to preach any religion. They went to learn from our supposed foe, to enrich and enlighten their own lives through their experiences. Reading their work, I felt a rind peeling back and seeds of a new garden spilling over me -- a leafy space where a fresh breeze of conversation flows. Their testimonies bestow a pomegranate-like radiance by which others may see.

The Iranian contributors' memories and praise for Iran spoke of love: of friends and relatives missed; of a deep yearning for the sands of their homeland; of Persian cooking, art, classical literature, music and traditions.

Many of the contributors visited Iran for a few weeks, others worked and lived there for several years. Some grew up in Tehran, but now live in the United States and other Western countries. A few of them have always lived in Iran. What the non-Iranians have in common are fond memories of those they've met during their stays in Iran. As Rowan Storm writes in her blog, "These everyday meetings with vulnerable and open-hearted people are what provide the foundation for making a difference in this world." The Iranian voices of the diaspora and of those living in Iran give us a seldom-heard view of their homeland, one which defies the bleak picture painted by some expats whose voices have become hostages of yesterday's demons. The Iranian writers in this collection move beyond the past with an open mind, give us the opportunity to hear their questions and know their assessment of us, from which we may grow.

Dr. Martin Luther King said during the Vietnam War, "The world now demands of America a maturity we may not be able to achieve." He called for a worldwide fellowship "that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class and nation," and for "an all- embracing and unconditional love for all men." The writers in this anthology from both East and West, who have made an effort to find themselves in others, help show our diplomats and public officials a path toward that maturity. The synchronicity, the friend- ships, and forces that drew these writers from many different continents together in this book is--to borrow a notion from the late Cistercian monk Thomas Merton--"an epiphany of certainties we could not know in isolation." An epiphany that affirms a deep belief that there is a more sympathetic way to live and gaze upon this world. President Barack Obama's rhetoric toward Iran seems to suggest a willingness to undertake a small but crucial step toward Dr. King's dream of a mature America. One that may lead the world to a more inclusive vision of compassion.

In This Collection 

Within, you will find a communion of spirits among new voices from many countries: America, Iran, Greece, New Zealand, Britain, Turkey, and more. Original essays will take you, among many other destinations, into a bakery in Tehran to bake bread; on a journey from Tabriz to the Turkish-Iranian border in search of a lost passport; alongside a painter whose work is transformed at the foot of Hafiz's shrine in Shiraz; into the heart of an Iranian poet as she questions her new American identity; high into the Alborz Mountains to discover flowering lamb's ear (Stachys byzantina) in its native haunts; deep into the woods on a dark winter night to witness a Zoroastrian fire ritual; and beneath a bridge over the River Zayandeh to smoke hookah.

Love and Pomegranates opens with the section First Impressions and Persian Hospitality which captures immediate reactions to Iran as written in blogs as well as reflective essays on returning to Iran after a prolonged absence. It also holds stories of Iranians of the diaspora stepping foot on the soil of their ancestors for the first time and tales of random acts of kindness experienced by Westerners, such as a spontaneous all-day tour with a stranger. Natives talk about tourists they've hosted or welcomed to their country. In the section Finding Ourselves in the Other Westerners talk about Iranians they've known and loved, and about finding common ground with others they've just met. Iranians living outside of Iran write about their adjustment to their adopted coun- tries, their nostalgia for the traditions of their homeland and what it means to be part of the diaspora. The sections Arts and Culture and Islam and Other Faiths share stories by artists and scholars who traveled to Iran in pursuit of their muse or work. They express their admiration for Iranian musicians, painters, writers, Islamic saints, Sufis, nature, art and architecture. A New Path Forward touches upon the United States' past and cur- rent relationship with Iran. It includes thoughts on how the West might move toward a better understanding of Iranians at home and abroad through cultural, academic and medical exchanges, as well as other creative avenues.

A theme running through many of these essays by contributors from both East and West, involves having experienced in Iran a sense of ecstasy -- a communion with a larger reality, a universal light. It seemed fitting to include in this collection poems by the classical Persian Sufi poets Hafiz, Sa'di, Khayyam, Ferdowsi, 'Attar, Rumi and others, writers who call us to a deeper consciousness and who remind us that only love will help us evolve. No book celebrating the richness of Iranian culture could be without them. In keeping with Persian tradition, some of the selections of these poems were made by the contributors opening books by their favorite poets to a random page. This age-old practice has proven that the words found in the poetry offer wisdom or even an anecdote for whatever question or problem the reader or seeker might be experiencing at the time. We encourage you to read this collection in a similar spirit of openness.

It is my hope that the depiction of life in Iran in this anthology will lift you out of this period in history in which we sometimes reduce people and nations to simplistic groupings of good and evil. Love and Pomegranates is a gesture of peace.

I invite you to read the first story in this collection, "The Frangrance of Naan," by Shahrokh Nikfar on loveandpomegranates.com. Shahrokh is a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in Tehran and who returned to his homeland in 2000 for the first time in twenty-one years. I've included an image of him in this post reading from his piece at a recent gathering of intrepid readers and travelers from Spokane, Washington.

Shahrokh hosts a weekly radio program The Persian Hour, KYRS Radio, Spokane, WA. Coming soon on loveandpomegranates.com is a podcast of recent discussion between Shahrokh and myself about the story of how this anthology came to be, its 67 or so contributors and their work.

Meghan Nuttall Sayres is author of a new young adult novel set in 20th century Persia Night Letter published this month by Nortia Press along with a re-issue of Anahita’s Woven Riddle (Abrams, 2006) an ALA Top Ten Best Books YA and a Book Sense/Indie Pick. Her anthology Love and Pomegranates: Artists and Wayfarers on Iran will be released spring 2013. She’d like to thank Rumi and Kabir Helminski for sharing similar thoughts about rubies, as well as PEN American who first published this essay.

Via  The Huffington Post

Art exhibition highlights Molla Nasreddin heritage

by Aynur Jafarova,  AzerNews

Azerbaijan's capital Baku will host the opening of an art exhibition devoted to the heritage of the Molla Nasreddin literary character inspired by 13th century Muslim cleric who was remembered for his funny stories and anecdotes, on June 21.

The exhibition, titled "The value of Molla Nasreddin heritage in the modern world", is being organized by Miras Social Organization in Support of Studying Cultural Heritage and takes place in Baku Art Gallery.

The exhibits at the show, which aims to show the value of Molla Nasreddin heritage in the present-day world, are devoted to the topics of the Molla Nasreddin satirical magazine, which was one of the most remarkable projects in the history of the Azerbaijani press.

The Baku exhibition features works by young painters such as Yaylagul Ramazanova, Emin Elishov, Shahin Guliyev, Matanat Aghazade, Aydan Aghazade, Kanan Mammadov, Anar Shamsiyev, Gurban Orujly, Vugar Gurbanov, Konul Mammadova, Vusala Talibova and others.

The eight-page Molla Nasreddin magazine, which was published in Azerbaijani and occasionally in the Russian language, represented a new stage in the development of national satire and cartoon art. The features and columns of the magazine were discussions, short witty pieces of writing, humorous poems, advertisement and telegrams, satirical stories, anecdotes, cartoons, caricatures, illustrations, etc.

The magazine gathered the most advanced team of Azerbaijani intelligentsia, who published their stories on the magazine's pages under various pen-names. Pictures and caricatures were supplied by artists Oskar Schmerling, Azim Azimzade and Josif Rotter.

The first issue of the magazine was published in Tiflis on April 7, 1906. The picture on the cover of the first publication was a group of Muslims in deep sleep with Molla Nasreddin trying to awake them. "I came for you" is the most popular article of the first publication of the magazine.

The main purpose of the magazine was the struggle with the old world and the fight against colonialism of the imperialist countries, tsarist autocracy and in the East with the despotic regimes in Iran and Turkey as well as satirical depiction of inequality, cultural assimilation, corruption, backward lifestyles and values of the clergy and religious fanatics.

The magazine achieved great popularity not only in the South Caucasus and Russia but across countries of the Near and Middle East as well. It was distributed widely in Iran and Turkey. Molla Nasreddin continued to appear under the Soviet regime. It was published regularly in Baku from late 1922 until early 1931.

The magazine had 748 publications over the period of 25 years.

The significance of the Molla Nasreddin magazine is its role in the development of the critical realist genre in Azerbaijani literature. It influenced similar processes in other literary traditions, primarily in Iran. Iranian cartoon art emerged as a result of publishing Molla Nasreddin in Tabriz in 1921.

Via AzerNews

Persian Influences and Women in Architecture

Gisue Hariri (R) and Mojgan Hariri (L), sisters and co-founders of Hariri & Hariri. Photo Courtesy Asia Society (Karin Kohlberg). 

Interview by Clara Lambert, Asia Society

In the male-dominated field of architecture, Gisue Hariri and Mojgan Hariri have been a complementary force for over 20 years, pushing the boundaries of modern and technically inspired design. The Iran-born sisters came to America and studied architecture at Cornell University in the 1970's. Together they established their New York firm Hariri & Hariri in 1986. They have expanded and redefined the standard definition of architecture by a holistic approach in designing, masterplans, buildings, interiors, furniture, products and, more recently, jewelry and accessories.

The Hariris are often cited as innovators of cutting-edge materials and digital technology that are integrated into futuristic yet organic designs, from luxury residences like the iconic Sagaponac House in Long Island, New York to large-scale multi-use projects like the Sternbrauerei in Salzburg, Austria, which is currently in construction. Their work has been shown at the MOMA, National Building Museum, and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, among other institutions. 

Here, Gisue shares with Asia Society their family experiences, Persian influences, meaningful inspirations and insight.

Before coming to the U.S. for college, you were born and raised in Iran. How did your family and upbringing affect who or where you are today? Was there a cumulative or specific turning point when you realized you wanted to pursue architecture and come to America?

My sister and I are one and a half years apart and grew up in a small Iranian town in the south, attending public schools early on as my father's profession required that we live far in the desert near the oil fields. The desert became both deeply isolating and nurturing. Isolation encouraged our imagination to run wild and develop ideas that a more conventional childhood would have found odd, and we often had to invent our own world, toys and games.

My earliest recollection is when, at the age of 12, I announced to my family that I was going to be an architect. While I was determined to pursue this path, I had only a youthful understanding of what that meant and no realization that one day it would be a way of life, a way of seeing the world, a way of harnessing my past and constructing the future.

We were raised in a family that valued education as a tool necessary for living in the modern world and believed in higher education specially for women. Pursuing college education was encouraged from early on as a means to contribute to the construction of the modern Iran.

How strongly does your cultural heritage inform your approach to architecture, interior and product design? In what ways? 

Growing up in the desert, the environment tends to strip everything down to the essential without diminishing its extraordinary presence and beauty. While outwardly harsh, one intimate with its nature finds sensual lines and magnificent vistas that embolden the senses and a void that is constantly being tested and carved by the fierce winds. We always try to understand the essence of each project and begin our work with original concepts. Sensitive to each environment we build upon, we make sure that each project is simple, efficient and environmentally sustainable.

Iran's rich cultural heritage in arts, music, literature, poetry and sciences — all brought together in its extraordinary architecture — was certainly influential, and it is a long shadow under which I find myself. Every summer we would visit my grandparents in Isfahan. My father's hometown is one of the few places in the world that leaves one with astonishment and awe. It is a city of amazing Persian gardens and magnificent blue-domed mosques and palaces mostly built by Shah Abbas the Great in the 17th century. There are pedestrian bridges like no other in the world and picturesque, organic bazaars, and a host of smaller but exquisite mosques and pleasure pavilions. Isfahan is truly the museum of Persian architecture. The tactility, materiality and use of art and craft throughout our projects, regardless of scale and program, are what we carry within us from the visits to Isfahan.

The use of geometry, craft, technology is apparent in all our projects. Inspired by the renowned Persian polymath figures like Omar Khayyam — a philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and poet who wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, and music — we developed our holistic approach to design and architecture.

Sternbrauerei, a luxury residential and multi-use complex in Austria, is currently one of the largest all-encompassing projects Hariri & Hariri has taken on. Would you consider this to be one of your most successful and/or challenging endeavors? 

This project, which we won in an international competition, is important to us not only because we were the winners among the world's best-known architects, such as Souto Moura (Portugal), Snøhetta (Oslo), Kengo Kuma (Tokyo), Yamaguchi (Osaka), Toshiko Mori (NY), Delugan-Meissl (Vienna), Langhof (Berlin), to name a few. This 80-million-dollar mixed-use development also demonstrates our "holistic" philosophy, where we have designed the master plan, the architecture of the six new buildings, renovation of an existing vault, some of the interiors, and the main landscape elements as well.

This project includes 80 luxury apartments, exhibition space, a gallery and lecture hall in the old brewery's underground vaults, a spa and wellness center, a café and restaurant facilities and an underground parking garage. It is neither the scale nor the challenges we confronted that makes our Salzburg project significant. It is this relationship between architecture and nature that we have created, a dialogue and meditative experience we have carved at the edge of the rock wall, which guides and invites the public through the site. For us architecture is more than construction of buildings, it is where our dreams transcend realities of life. It is a commitment that will carry you to places you had never dreamed of and know could exist before you began.

Finally, this project is one of the very few new constructions permitted in the historic city of Salzburg, offering Mozart's birthplace as a destination for the architecture of the 21st century.

What is the inspiration or reasoning behind the faceted crystal-like forms that are incorporated into a lot of your work? 

We have been fascinated by the articulation of abstract and geometric forms and patterns derived from nature, which is also apparent in both Persian architecture and modern architecture in the West. Somehow, as you can imagine, from very early on we have been collecting rocks, studying geological formations and recently crystals.

We have always been interested in the organic relationship among man, nature and architecture. What is interesting to us is not soft, curvilinear nature, but the faceted, edgy, asymmetrical rocks and crystals in nature.

Women and Asian Americans are still a minority in the architecture field. Hariri & Hariri is one of the few successful established firms founded by women. Even if your gender or ethnicity do not define you as architects, do you encounter any inherent challenges being in this profession? Any advice for other women who aspire to careers in your industry? 

I believe women are still minorities in the field of architecture in general, regardless of their ethnicity. When my sister and I were studying at Cornell Architecture School in the late '70s, early '80s, there were very few women studying with us and no women teaching us. There were a very few women practitioners that no one knew. So, my first commitment was to teach and be present in the studios while working simultaneously to get some projects built. We have to nurture and create opportunities for women in architecture, as I truly believe that women have a lot to offer the field of architecture. We need to be mentors and sponsors to younger women architects. According to the Architectural Record essay by Sarah Williams, "men still largely control architecture's higher reaches. And they're more likely to lavish attention on younger men."

My advice to both men and women in positions of influence and awarding projects is to recognize that it is their responsibility to find and recognize women in architecture. The media has a responsibility to publish and introduce the work of women architects to the larger public. The society as whole has a responsibility to create equal opportunities for women architects. Finally, women have a responsibility to support one another rather than competing with one another. Until we respect, recognize, and appreciate women's contribution to the field of architecture we cannot change the boys' club culture that exists globally in architecture.

Asia Society has an upcoming landmark exhibition, Iran Modern, featuring 20th century works by Iranian artists. Today, there's a solid presence of notable Iranian American figures (Shirin Neshat, Christiane Amanpour, Elie Tahari) including yourself. How does the positive exposure of Iranian history, culture and representation in America make you feel? 

We look forward to Iran Modern this fall at the Asia Society. This exhibit will be extremely important as it will exhibit not only the history and wealth of Persian art and culture and modern art in Iran, but it will also bring a positive cultural exposure and juxtaposition against the daily political media coverage showing Iranians as a backward, fanatic, religious people dwelling in the past. It will show the rich culture of Iran, its modern art of the 20th century, and its internationally awarded and respected artists.

As Iranian/American, we both take pride in being part of two amazing cultures simultaneously. We admire figures like Shirin Neshat, Christiane Amanpour, Elie Tahari, among others, for their contribution and solid presence. Art and architecture to us is a global language that connects humanity and brings us all together as one community.


Via Asia Society

The Rumi Festival

This summer the Beshara School at Chisholme is hosting the Rumi Festival, 2–4 August, a celebration of the incomparable life and legacy of Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi, whose poetry of universal love and service has had a transformative effect throughout the Muslim world and beyond over the past 700 years.

The Rumi Festival is a unique gathering of artists, scholars, and lovers of truth, celebrating the life work and contemporary relevance of a giant of world spirituality and literature. Its programme is intended to reflect the wholeness and diversity of Rumi’s vision, at once challenging and generous, serious and playful, spiritually aspiring while being firmly planted on this earth.

The Festival Programme contains a rich mix of talks, participatory events, poetry, art and dance, kicking off with a solo concert from Kudsi Erguner, master of the Turkish Ney, on the Friday evening. The programme goes on to encompass talks and discussions about Rumi and his influence today with Roderick Grierson, Alan Williams, Emily Young and others; a Whirling Dervish Sema from Istanbul; installation art from Ismail Acar; theatre, dance and art inspired by Rumi's work and much more.


Details of speakers, performers and programming is still coming in – the below is just an initial taster of some things you can look forward to, more details will be posted soon.

The Beshara School has been providing an education in self knowledge and the unity of being for forty years. Throughout this period, Rumi has been a major influence on this unique educational establishment, both as an inspiration and a trusted guide. An advocate of love as the prime mover in all things not least our own evolution as people, no school of self knowledge could afford to ignore wisdom of his quality and scope. Rumi speaks to the essence and the best in each of us. The Beshara School is for the education of this very same essence, the uncovering and nurturing of the noblest, most humble centre of our humanity. Rumi is a voice unbound by the era in which he was born. He speaks with an urgency that is utterly of the present and with a generosity that heralds a hopeful future. The Beshara School too is for the here and now and for what will be.

The Chisholme Estate is set in some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK. At around 800 feet above sea level and 8 miles from the nearest town there are wonderful views of the rolling hills and the added benefit of little or no mobile phone reception, no ATM’s, no shops and no petrol stations… With its strikingly beautiful and often dramatic skies – this part of Scotland is subject to particularly changeable weather. It can be brilliantly sunny one moment and as you like the next so sun-screen,wellingtons and other appropriate clothing are advised… As Chisholme is part of a rural community we’re sure you will share in our respect for the environment, wildlife and livestock and ask you to please be aware of recycling your rubbish responsibly in the bins provided, especially glass onsite as we wouldn’t want any accidents to you or to the animals when they return home! There will be designated fire pits around the camping areas, please do not start any other fires around the Estate. You are very welcome to walk around the Chisholme Estate but we ask that you do not swim in any of the ponds or lake. The performance spaces will remain alcohol free for the duration of the Festival due to the explicitly sacred nature of some of the events taking place in them. You are welcome to partake in convivial drinking outside of these spaces and around the campsites but we ask that any alcohol brought in be consumed in moderation, in respect of the above.


This festival is open to all - whether familiar with Rumi's immense presence or completely new to his generosity. The programme is evolving daily; please check the website Rumi Festival regularly or sign up to the twitter feed (https://twitter.com/@rumifest) for news as it comes in.


Via Rumi Festival

Inspired by Islam

“22500 Pages” by Hadieh Shafie, which is made of tightly wound scrolls, resembles op art. Photo Courtesy San Antonio Express-News

by Elda Silva, San Antonio Express-News

Past and present come together seamlessly in Soody Sharifi's collages. Still, something seems off.

In “Fashion Week,” contemporary women who have been digitally dropped into an ancient Persian court scene strut a catwalk that leads to an empty throne. Modestly dressed in street clothes, the ersatz models' heads are covered by hijabs of varying lengths. Meanwhile, their precursors enjoy the show free of head scarves.

The piece by the Iranian-born, Houston-based Sharifi is one of 20 works featured in “The Jameel Prize: Art Inspired by Islamic Tradition.” The traveling exhibit organized by London's Victoria and Albert Museum is currently at the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Inaugurated in 2009, the international biennial prize recognizes contemporary artists and designers who draw on Islamic traditions of art and craft. Some of the pieces in the exhibit, such as Sharifi's, touch on social and cultural issues.

The works in the exhibit are not, strictly speaking, “Islamic art,” says Tim Stanley, senior curator at the V&A.

“Visually, you sense things pulled from Islamic culture and reworked in a way that's relevant to the contemporary world,” Stanley says. “So I think it's really good because it allows you that very quick understanding that there is actually a relevance of Islamic tradition to contemporary art.”

 

“Frolicking Women in the Pool” is part of “The Jameel Prize 2011” exhibit. Photo Courtesy San Antonio Express-News

 
SAMA is the fourth venue for the exhibit, previously on view at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Casa Árabe in Madrid and the Cantor Center for the Arts at Stanford University. Executive director Katie Luber says the exhibit is a good fit for SAMA “because it really gives an added emphasis to our goal of really exploring world cultures through art.”

“The museum has a wonderful collection of ancient Islamic glass, so to have a chance to bring contemporary Islamic art to San Antonio was very exciting to me personally,” she says.

Luber understands that hosting an exhibit of work that references Islamic tradition and culture might be considered a cause for concern to some — and the museum has already fielded a handful of calls to that effect — but she sees it as an opportunity to explore what she calls “touch points.”

“What's really interesting about this is that it's not Islamic art in the sense that it's art for the mullahs. These are contemporary artists who are working outside those bonds or bindings of government sanctioned art,” she says. “And I love the fact that we had a chance to use the museum as a safe place to look at those somewhat difficult ideas or touch points in our society right now.

“Artists are able to often illuminate things for us that maybe our daily lives won't see otherwise. So the chance to look at art that's inflected by the Islamic tradition gives us tremendous access to a culture and a world and a thinking that we might not otherwise see.”

The exhibit features work by 10 artists in all — nine finalists and winner Rachid Koraichi. Almost all of them either live or have lived abroad.

The Algerian-born Koraichi, who divides his time between Tunisia and France, won the award for embroidered cotton banners from a series titled “The Invisible Masters.” The large-scale textile works, which celebrate the lives of Sufi masters such as the poet Rumi, feature elaborate Arabic calligraphy and symbols from other cultures in black appliqué on a white background.

Born into a family of Sufi mystics, Koraichi was inspired by banners carried in ritual processions. Although the series is “enormous,” the exhibit could only accommodate seven banners, Stanley says.

Wall works by Hadieh Shafie in the exhibit are likewise inspired by Sufi mysticism. The pieces are comprised of multicolored paper scrolls tightly wound into concentric circles of varying size and packed into frames. From a distance, the large-scale works resemble giant millefiori pendants, but as the viewer approaches, the impression gives way to an op-art-like illusion of spinning dials.

The Iranian-born artist who lives in Baltimore has handwritten or printed the Farsi word 'eshghe' — “love” or “passion” in English — on each strip, a reference to the way Sufis describe humanity's relationship with God. The motion suggested by the colored circles also references the Sufis' whirling ritual dances. Additionally, the artist's process can be linked to the mystic practice, Stanley says. Sufis use meditative repetition as a means of escaping worldly cares.

Other artists take inspiration from a more concrete source, namely architecture. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, an Iranian artist who lives in Tehran, uses mirror mosaic in “Birds of Paradise,” a technique employed in architectural decoration since the 1600s. The wall work consists of two panels. At the center of each, an arched, window-like form is made up of small pieces of cut mirror that suggest wings. The play of light on the silvery surface animates the piece. Meanwhile, Noor Ali Chagani's architectural reference is decidedly earthier. The Pakistani artist uses miniature terracotta bricks to create sculpture, a three-dimensional take on the art of Mughal miniature painting. Both works in the exhibit deal with the human need for shelter. In “Life Line,” the bricks are linked with nylon string and arranged to evoke the graceful sweep of cloth.

Like Sharifi, other artists explore political issues in their work. In “Kashmiri Shawl,” Pakistani artist Aisha Khalid alludes to the strife in India-occupied Kashmir in what Stanley describes as “a very evocative, subtle way.” With the help of assistants, the artist created an elaborate paisley design on a black pashmina scarf using 300,000 gold-plated steel pins that jut from the back like rows of bristles. Hayv Kahraman, an Iraqi-born artist who lives in Oakland, explores the difficulties exiles like herself face in large-scale paintings of playing cards. The works reference the “archaeology awareness” decks issued to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In “Migrant 1” from Kahraman's “Waraq” series, the twinned figure of a woman hangs from a noose.

Along with demonstrating the influence of Islamic tradition on contemporary art, the work in the exhibit shows how the culture continues to evolve, Stanley says.

There is a tendency to lump in Islamic culture with the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome “as something in the past,” Stanley says. “And actually, that's not true, because there's a continuous tradition that's very much alive today.”


“The Jameel Prize: Art Inspired by Islamic Tradition” continues through Aug. 11 at the San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones. Call 210-978-8100 or go to www.samuseum.org.

Via San Antonio Express-News

Shahnameh, Re-Imagined: A Colorful New Vision of Old Iranian Folklore

Filmmaker Hamid Rahmanian's forthcoming illustrated tome will bring new, vivid life to the epic tales of the ancient Persian kings.

Courtesy Quantuck Lane Press and The Atlantic

by Steven Heller, The Atlantic

The ancient mythology of Iran is laden with heroic adventures of superhuman champions, magical creatures, heart-wrenching love stories, and centuries-long battles. Ferdowsi's 10th-century text Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), which at 60,000 verses weighs in as the longest epic poems ever written, is a foundation for this mythology, comparable to The Odyssey, Nibelungenlied, and Ramayana.

There has been a long tradition of depicting the stories of Shahnameh, even before Ferdowsi put them into verse. But that tradition reached its zenith in the 17th century and died out in the middle of the 19th. So, for more than 100 years, there has not been an illustrated Shahnameh, except for an occasional drawing of a story here and there.

That will change in May, though, with Quantuck Lane Press's publication of Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings, which was produced, designed, and obsessively illustrated over the course of three years by the filmmaker Hamid Rahmanian. The colorful and painstakingly produced tome aims in part to make Persian culture's oldest stories accessible to the Western world—especially to the children of immigrants, for whom these stories may be new.

 

 Courtesy Quantuck Lane Press and The Atlantic

"If you walk through a bookstore here in the US, you can find scores of books on Greek, Egyptian, Northern European, Native American, Chinese, even Pacific Island mythology," Rahmanian tells me in an email. "But there is nothing about Persian mythology. It just doesn't exist. Yet, it's a sophisticated, entertaining, relatable mythology. I wanted to create a book that [my daughter] and other second or third generation Iranian kids growing up outside of Iran could read and enjoy and be proud of to call their own and most importantly, share with the broader world."

To that effect, he says, "this new edition has been trimmed down to make it accessible to the lay reader." Working with editorial director Melissa Hibbard and translator Ahmad Sadri, Rahmanian focused on only two-thirds of Shahnameh, which starts with the beginning of civilization and ends with the death of the main hero, Rostam. He illustrated several plots and themes, including nightmares, dreams, and inner dialogue of the main characters that have not been illustrated before. "I have no idea why, but during the last 1,000 years of illustrating the stories of Shahnameh, no one has ever depicted these themes," he says.

Shahnameh continues to enthrall readers around the globe with its depictions of superhuman heroes, magical birds, heart-wrenching love stories, and fierce battles. Courtesy Hamid Rahmanian and Asia Society

Most of the book's images in its 500 pages are collages or composites of other artworks. Rahmanian created the "panels" in this edition, much like a movie editor or a DJ weaves together different components to create a new work of art. Instead of sampling sounds or frames, he used bits from miniatures and lithographs from different eras, schools, and stories. Every panel contains upwards of 120 elements that were digitally collaged into new illustrations. Little was drawn from scratch.

"Since I didn't have a budget to travel to where the original works were, I had to rely on art books," he says. "I think I bought every book that has been published on the subject of miniatures, lithographs and illuminations from the region." In the end, Rahmanian's library had more than 8,000 pieces of lithographs, miniatures, and illuminations that he would later cut out and recompose.

Inspired by the wealth of imagery he found in different editions of Shahnameh, artist Hamid Rahmanian experimented with bringing together images from different styles and periods. Courtesy Hamid Rahmanian and Asia Society

Amazingly, except for natural elements such as clouds, rocks, flowers, and cliffs, there are very few elements that repeat. "I wanted every page to be a surprise," he says. "I wanted the reader to explore each illustration with a sense of newness. I felt that if I used the same detail more than once, the element of surprise would be less, and that the reader might get bored."

As a child in Iran, Rahmanian grew up with Shahnameh and knew a few of the main stories but was not familiar with most of the book. He recalls being intimidated by the mass of the book. What's more, the stories are a bit mature for younger kids, but it's a book full of fairy tales, magical creatures and epic battles and the images are a feast for the eyes at any age.

"I definitely made this with my own daughter in mind," he says. "She's only one year old now but I plan to read this to her as she gets a little older."

 Courtesy Quantuck Lane Press and The Atlantic

Rahmanian admits the past three years working on the book was a combination of hard struggle and a lot of tedious labor: "I developed a mantra about halfway through the work and it was: 'Hamid, shut up and work!' You might laugh at this but the weight of the project was so heavy that there were moments when I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel."

But he adds it was nonetheless important that "this project highlight a different dimension of the Iranian culture to counter the popular images that prevail these days. Iran is misunderstood and vilified in those images. I wanted to underline the depth, the diversity and the universally of my culture. So, now that I look back I feel the project was well worth all those hardships."

Composed by the poet Ferdowsi between 980 and 1010, the work tells the story of pre-Islamic Iran, beginning at the time of the mythic creation through the Arab invasion of the seventh century. Courtesy Hamid Rahmanian and Asia Society

Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings is the great epic of Persia, composed by the poet Ferdowsi between 980 and 1010. It tells the story of pre-Islamic Iran, beginning at the time of the mythic creation through the Arab invasion of the seventh century. Grieved by the fall of the Persian empire, Ferdowsi sought to create a work that would capture the memory, culture and nostalgia of the golden days of Persia. A mix of mythology and history, packed with stories of triumph and courage, failure and cruelty, love and war, Shahnameh can only be compared to works such as Gilgamesh, the Mahabharata, Homer’s Odyssey or Dante's Divine Comedy.

 Courtesy Hamid Rahmanian and Asia Society

Hamid Rahmanian is an award-winning filmmaker and graphic artist based in New York City. Inspired by the wealth of imagery he found in different editions of Shahnameh, Rahmanian experimented with bringing together images from different styles and periods. The work grew and grew, different characters came to life, and 100,000 hours of work later, he had created an entirely new illustrated edition of the classic text. Culled from thousands of illustrated manuscripts, lithographs and miniatures dating from the 14th to 19th centuries, each page is a collage of traditional forms transformed into a wholly new work that Sheila Canby, Curator of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has dubbed "a Shahnameh for the digital age." Rahmanian's artwork is complemented, meanwhile, by a new English prose translation of Ferdowsi's verse by Ahmad Sadri, James P. Gorter Chair of Islamic World Studies at Lake Forest College.


Via The Atlantic and Asia Society