The latest cultural headlines in the media.

Book on contemporary Iranian art introduced in Tehran

Tehran Times: A pictorial book on contemporary Iranian art and artists entitled “Amidst Shadow and Light” was introduced during a ceremony held at Tehran’s Mohsen Gallery here on Saturday.

Compiled by the Iranian Art Tomorrow Quarterly chief editor Hamid Keshmirshekan, the book contains 15 articles delivered at the 2005 Oxford conference along with 350 images of artworks by Iranian artists, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Sunday.

In October 2005, St. Antony's College of Oxford hosted a panel of experts in the art world to discuss the lines of continuity between modern and contemporary art in the last half a century in Iran.

At the conference, Keshmirshekan delivered a speech on Iranian contemporary art; many other Iranian and foreign artists also talked about Iranian art.

Keshmirshekan had observed new traditionalism in the art of the 1960s and 70s and in the saqqakhaneh movement of the period, an artistic movement that began in Iran during the 1960s. This movement sought to integrate popular symbols of Shia Muslim culture in art.

The book developed out of the conference held at Oxford but most of the material in this volume has been thoroughly updated and in some cases rewritten.

Prominent sculptor Parviz Tanavoli who was among the participating guests regarded Keshmirshekan a critic who seriously follows criticism in art.

He added that many reviewed and discussed Iranian art in the conference including Aidin Aghdashlu who talked about the murals after the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

"But I believe this can be the first book published on Iranian contemporary art," Tanavoli said, hoping that the book will be translated into Persian soon.

Keshmirshekan also said, "Since these articles were only offered at the conference, I decided to compile them in a book to make it more accessible to interested readers."
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Iranian Antique Books Exhibition

Iran Daily: Iranian Cultural Office in Ankara on Saturday displayed Iranian antique books in cooperation with their publishers such as ‘Franger Pars’ publishing organization.

Three hundred antique books are being displayed for the first time in order to introduce Iranian cultural heritage, history and literature to the world, IRNA reported.

The exhibition is being held from November 12-16 at the Ankara National Library and will continue in Istanbul as well.
A Persian calligraphy exhibit depicting the works of best Iranian calligraphers are also held on the sidelines of the exhibition.

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Ferdowsi Statue Restored

Iran Daily: Restoration of a statue of Abolqasem Ferdowsi located in one of Rome’s squares, which is named after the Persian poet, has been completed.

A team of Italian experts spent two months refurbishing the artifact, Iranian cultural attaché in Rome, Akbar Qowli told IRNA.
“The specific climate of the area had caused damage to the statue over the years and the inscriptions engraved at the foot of the statue had been entirely erased,” Qowli stated.

He said that his office pursued the subject and consequently, the Municipality of Rome was tasked with restoring the statue.
The municipality also will undertake examining the statue annually for possible need for restoration, he added.

The statue was created in 1958 by Abolhassan Seddiqi, who had previously made the statues of Ferdowsi at Tehran’s Ferdowsi Square and the mausoleum of Ferdowsi in Tous, Khorasan Razavi province.
Many Iranian experts have warned about the damage caused by rainfall upon the statue at Tehran’s Ferdowsi Square.

Some of the experts have asked cultural officials to replace the statue with a replica and transfer the original to a museum.

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Iran holds intl. Islamic publishers confab

Presstv: More than a hundred publishers and researchers from forty one countries have participated in Iran's second International Conference of Islamic World Publishers.

Participants discuss the problems that Islamic publishers face all over the world including economics of publishing, distribution system and the copyright issue, Press TV reports.

“Islamic countries have many things in common and the West is so hostile that leaves us no time to think about our possible differences” Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini told Press TV on Sunday.

“We should focus on major problems of the Islamic world and support each other in order to reach our goals,” he added.

Promoting the Qur'an and its concepts, finding intellectual and cultural needs of the world and e-publishing are also among the topics discussed at the conference.

The second Conference of Islamic World Publishers, which kicked off on November 13, 2011 will end on November 14. 

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