091109: Brot Kunsthalle: The Promise of Loss – A Contemporary Index of Iran

Brot Kunsthalle: The Promise of Loss – A Contemporary Index of Iran Not time to fool around Since the beginning of this millennium, the European and US art industry increasingly focused on global events. A pleasing side effect is that institutions and galleries gather experience in shaping respective exhibitions. While the “Art from…” projects of the 1990’s seemed to be organized in a rather helpless and arbitrary way, it is clear today that a reasonably plausible exhibition needs, beyond its national affinity, an additional curatorial perception. Gallery owner Ernst Hilger was successful in doing so at the first exhibition of the newly opened Brot Kunsthalle: “The Promise of Loss”, curated by Shaheen Merali, combines Iranian art with an obvious society critical relevance. A large part of the works target the essentialities: women in chadors stand at a gloomy burial site (Amin Nourani), blood-red water bubbles out of a fountain (Mandana Moghaddam), women, stoned and shackled, are transformed into ornaments (Parastou Forouhar), stories narrating political murders are depicted on stamps (Jinoos Taghizadeh), hand grenades are lined up in a refrigerator or on a breakfast table (Shadi Ghadirian). Many of the works are bold, many are short of being kitschy or go beyond being kitschy – drawings of women wearing scarves exercising sports associated to males (Behrang Samadzadegan) are a rarity. The directness with which criticism is articulated can easily shift into too much simplicity, but this phenomenon is an exception. What remains, is an unmistakably articulate, committed and in many parts even artistically interesting, statement on the situation in Iran. There is no time to fool around here. By Nina Schedlmayer Brot Kunsthalle 1100 Vienna, Absbergg. 27, until 30.11.09 http://www.brotkunsthalle.com

Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville

091109

HilgerBROTKunsthalle
1100 Wien, Absberggasse 27
Tel: +43 1 512 5315 220, Fax: +43 1 603 0639
Email: brot@brotkunsthalle.com
http://www.brotkunsthalle.com
Öffnungszeiten: Di-Sa: 12-18h

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