[MADRID]
Shirin Neshat Exhibition in Spain
Between June 5 and July 28, PHotoEspaña 2013, the XVI edition of the international festival of photography and visual arts, presents 74 exhibitions with works by 328 artists from 42 countries and an ample selection of public and professional activities. Shirin Neshat’s ‘Written on the body’, which features intricate Farsi writing drawn onto the hands, faces and chests of her subjects, will be in the show.
Born in 1957 in the Iranian city of Qazvin, Neshat left her native Iran before the Islamic revolution in 1979.
When she returned to her homeland, she said she was shocked by the changes in women’s roles in an Islamic society, and set out to explore this change in her work.
The Madrid display, which comprises 20 photographs and two videos, also includes a photographic series inspired by the classic Persian poem the ‘Book of Kings’ and the short movie ‘Zarin’, which was part of the winning film ‘Women without Men’ at the Venice Film Festival in 2009.
The exhibition runs until September 1.
[PENNSYLVANIA]
The Works of
Mohammadreza Mirzaei
Amistad Gallery is pleased to present “What I Don’t Have”, a series 
of photographs by Mohammadreza Mirzaei created during his residency in Lugo, Italy in December 2012. Mohammadreza Mirzaei is an MFA candidate at University of Pennsylvania.
Mirzaei is a photographer and writer, whose work has been featured in multiple solo and group exhibitions, including Bienal Fotográfica Bogotá 2011. He is founder and editor of Dide Magazine, an online publication dedicated to contemporary Iranian photography.
“What I Don’t Have” will be on view until September 15.
[LOS ANGELES]
The Cyrus Cylinder
in Los Angeles
For the first time in history, the Cyrus Cylinder, one of the ancient world’s most celebrated artifacts of freedom and human rights, is being brought to the United States for exhibition.
Housed at the British Museum in London, the Cyrus Cylinder will travel to five major U.S. cities in 2013, in a tour supported by the Iran Heritage Foundation.
The Cyrus Cylinder will be accompanied in this exhibition by sixteen objects under the title “The Cyrus Cylinder in Ancient Persia.” The exhibition shows the innovations initiated by Persian rule in the Ancient Near East (550 BC-331 BC), when the Persian Empire was then the largest the world had known.
The tour debuted at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C. in March before traveling to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. It will also be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, concluding its journey with an eight week stay at the J. Paul Getty Museum at The Getty Villa in Los Angeles from October 2 – December 2, 2013.
Farhang Foundation is proud to be the financial sponsor and community organization working with the Getty Museum to ensure the success of the Cyrus Cylinder tour in its last and most anticipated stop, Los Angeles, home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran.
On display at the Getty Museum October 2- December 2, 2013.
[TEHRAN]
10th Tehran International
Cartoon Biennial picks winners
Winners of the 10th Tehran International Cartoon Biennial were announced during a ceremony held at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA) on Sunday.
Iran’s Cartoon House Masud Shojaei-Tabatabaii, Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Hamid Shahabadi and jury members Kambiz Derambakhsh and Bahram Azimi attended the award-giving ceremony.
This year the biennial focused on the themes of “Persian Cat”, “Dilemma” and “Superstition”.
Winners were: Mehdi Alibeigi (Iran), Vladim-Konoplyansky (Russia) Ahmet Aykanat (Turkey), Saeid Farhangian (Iran) , Leslie Ricciardi (Uruguay), Amir-Hossein Sazur (Iran),
Mehdi Alibeigi (Iran), Carlos Hierrezuelo (Cuba), Pablo Lopez (Uruguay),
Omar Turcios (Spain), Abolfazl Bahrami (Iran), Saeid Farhangian (Iran),
Pavel Kuczynski (Poland), Bahram Arjomandnia (Iran) and Saeid Sadeqi (Iran).
The 10th Tehran International Cartoon Biennial, displayed over 500 works by Iranian and foreign cartoonists at Tehran’s Saba Art and Cultural Institute for one month opening in mid-May.
