It is my great pleasure to curate ‘Six Weeks of Iranian Art’ exhibits in Toronto for a second time this fall, from September 21st to November 2nd,
Six Weeks of Iranian Art sets out to provide an appropriate channel for communication with the 150,000 strong and growing Canadian-Iranians in this country through art. Our aim is to preserve and promulgate the Iranian cultural and intellectual heritage in the Canadian-Iranian as well as the established Canadian community. This will aid and represent Iranian artists in this multicultural society and help their voices be heard by a larger audience.
More importantly this is the first step towards familiarizing the community with the modernism movement of the Canadian-Iranian artists that may have gone un-noticed by the mainstream society due to lack of exposure. This show is a unique step towards highlighting Canada as a country whose support of multiculturalism and understanding of art is well established through the support of its community as well as its government.
The inaugural festival “Six Weeks of Iranian Art” was held in 2007 at the Headbones Galleryin Toronto from July 14, 2007 to August 28. The event featured a unique rich and diverse blend of visual art exhibits, from photography to painting and sculpture, live music and play reading. It showcased aspects of Iranian culture and heritage through the works of nationally and internationally recognized Iranian and Iranian-origin artists. The 2007 festival was received with great enthusiasm by Toronto and the art community. It was not only an overwhelming achievement in the eyes of the critics, but it also received recognition in a large number of art related, Canadian and Iranian based magazines and newspapers. It was well received by public as well, both during the event at the gallery and through the exhibition’s official web site.
The 2012 festival features a wider selection of artists, an art competition and award ceremony and collaboration with the Iran-based ‘Image of the Year’. It promises to attract more local support from within the Canadian-Iranian community and the art community in Toronto.
Pooyan Tabatabaei
Curator of Six weeks of Iranian Art
