street art mural by Iranian artist GhalamDAR

Street mural in Oakland, California by artist GhalamDAR & Mike "BAM" Tyau

Art, Social Space and Public Discourse Initiative

The Art, Social Space, and Public Discourse initiative on Iranian art investigated the multiple contexts that shift and define changing ideas of Iranian public space.

Led by artist and Stanford lecturer, Ala Ebtekar, the critical framework of conversations, newly issued art projects, and exploration of various cultural productions and intellectual traditions looked at recent transformations of Iranian civic life and asked what may constitute the architecture, images, and people that shape multiple notions of a “public” Iran. The initiative was supported by various Stanford departments and programs.

Studying Space and Public Discourse in Iran

 

students view historical posters in Hoover Archives
Students during a walkthrough of Iranian posters from the Hoover Archives led by visiting guest Nasser Rahmaninejad (far right).

Ala Ebtekar co-taught a new class with Jerome Reyes, “Revolutionary Practices: Space and Public Discourse in Iran.” The course examined the mediums of public art that have been voices of social change, protest and expressions of community desire in Iran. It offered a unique glimpse into Iran’s contemporary art and visual culture through the investigation of public art practices such as graffiti and street art, as well as older traditions of Naghali and Iranian Coffeehouse Painting.

 

Explore more Iran-related courses

Students in Iran hold up finished artwork

Horizon to Horizon

Artist and lecturer Ala Ebtekar curated an art project, titled “Horizon to Horizon,” between East Palo Alto high school students and students in Khorramabad, Iran. A series of workshops by artist Minoosh Zomorodinia and instructor Tara Goodarzy put students in contact with each other (via Skype and Telegram) as they produced works in parallel with one another. 

First Symposium: Art, Social Space and Public Discourse in Iran

Ala Ebtekar and student in art space at Stanford

This first series in this initiative, Art, Social Space and Public Discourse in Iran was envisioned and directed by artist Ala Ebtekar. The three-day symposium in November 2016 included talks, panels, newly issued art projects, and lecture performances. The opening ceremony took place at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco on November 3rd with a live-stream from Tomorrow, a traditional coffeehouse in Tehran, Iran. The symposium site shifted to Stanford University on November 4th and 5th continuing the momentum with a series of talks, panels, and additional performances. Simultaneously during the main symposia,  auxiliary events and commissioned public artworks took place across the Stanford campus and the Bay Area.

Read more about the first art symposium

This first series in this initiative, Art, Social Space and Public Discourse in Iran was envisioned and directed by artist Ala Ebtekar and presented a three-day symposium in November including talks, panels, newly issued art projects, and lecture performances. The opening ceremony took place at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco on November 3rd with a live-stream from Tomorrow, a traditional coffeehouse in Tehran, Iran. The symposium site shifted to Stanford University on November 4th and 5th continuing the momentum with a series of talks, panels, and additional performances. Simultaneously during the main symposia,  auxiliary events and commissioned public artworks took place across the Stanford campus and the Bay Area. 

Throughout the symposium, panels generated discussion among local and internationally based scholars, and renowned urban artists GhalamDAR, Mehdi Ghadyanloo, and art collective Slavs and Tatars on the socio-political textures of Iranian public space and the widespread history of public engagement in Iran. In addition, project artists produced new work in direct collaboration with Stanford students across several departments. One such art project is the street mural GhalamDAR painted in Oakland, California through a scholar-in-residence component of the symposium. 

In conjunction with the project, Professor Ala Ebtekar offered the course Public Space in Iran: Murals, Graffiti, Performance in the fall quarter at Stanford. The studio practicum paralleled themes of the symposia to explore the traditions of artistic engagement in Iranian public space. The course offered a detailed survey of Iran’s visual culture and contemporary art practices through the investigation of public art strategies and recent cultural expression, in addition to older traditions of performing arts.

This multi-site framework across the Stanford community, Bay Area locations, remote partners, online allies, and anchored through multidisciplinary presenters on the symposia panels facilitated discussions and questions to hopefully be explored over the next three years.

This first step in the initiative was supported by the following sponsors: 

This initiative was supported by various Stanford departments and programs notably the Hamid & Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian StudiesDepartment of Art & Art HistoryInstitute for Diversity in the ArtsStanford Global StudiesCenter for Comparative Studies in Race and EthnicityStanford Arts Office of the Associate Dean, Associate Dean of Humanities & Sciences, Bita Daryabari Endowment for Persian Letters, and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Learn more about the symposium and see a list of panelists