A chance to see Iran inside out

Following a successful run at The Chelsea Art Museum in New York City and the DePaul University Museum in Chicago, Iran Inside Out, an exhibition featuring a selection of Iranian art drawn from a private collection, will go on display in Dubai next week.

About 40 artworks, including paintings, sculptures and works in mixed media, as well as photography will be exhibited at the The Farjam Collection, Dubai International Financial Centre. Featuring 29 contemporary artists, the exhibition will run for three months with a series of programmes and events, all of which will be free and open to the public.

Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath of Art Reoriented, Iran Inside Out examines the ways in which artists working in and outside Iran today reconcile cultural and geographical distances with the search for individual artistic expression, organisers said.

Of the artists on display, some reside in Iran, including Farhad Moshiri, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Farideh Lashai and Vahid Sharifian while others such as Shiva Ahmadi, Sara Rahbar and Rokni and Ramin Haerizadeh have found themselves interspersed in the Iranian diaspora.

"These works draw upon a common Iranian heritage and identity, and also speak of universal and contemporary concerns," said Emilie Faure, the collections and exhibitions manager at The Farjam Collection.

"The responsibility of artists is the same, regardless of their country of origin: to cultivate imaginations and infuse in the viewer a sense that everything is possible. By offering tangible proof of the existence and survival of a poignant and complex Iran, this is precisely what Iran Inside Out accomplishes."

A guided tour will be held on March 17 to give greater context to the art works and the artists who produced them. A panel discussion on the topic of Iranian contemporary artistic expression and art patronage will be held on March 19.

- Iran Inside Out will run from March 16 onwards. The Farjam Collection is open from Sunday to Thursday from 10am to 8pm and from 12pm to 8pm on Saturday

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