Art & Photography Events: art exhibition Condoleezza Rice Kate Vang
by Kate Vang
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Exhibition: Wishes and Dreams
More than thirty young Iranian artists’ work went on display today in Washington, D.C., as part of “Wishes and Dreams: Iran’s New Generation Emerges”. The exhibition is a joint project between the Tehran University Art Gallery and the Meridian International Center, where it will be on display until July 29th.
The show is already receiving international attention: most major media sources covered the event, and the BBC featured the exhibition in their daily ‘In Pictures’ online feature.
Political undercurrents surfaced today as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended the opening and met with 14 of the artists who are visiting from Iran. The Guardian reports that ten of the artists turned down a chance to be photographed with Rice, and that a large throng of journalists were closely watching Rice in an effort to pickup clues on the administration’s current stance on US-Iranian ties.
Clearly, however, the exhibition itself is an attempt to look beyond US-Iranian tensions and underscore the fundamental commonality and understanding between Americans and Iranians. Meridian press release stated that:
The 30 artists in this exhibition reflect Iran’s large young population—the generation of tomorrow. Their art is an example of what galleries in Tehran are actively showing in exhibitions that open weekly. Much of their art is about dreams of their own past and their historic heritage, its symbols and beliefs; it expresses their strong desire to preserve their past, as well as their concern for the future.
Washington D.C. readers can find directions to the Meridian galleries here — and hopefully will report back what they saw on Pars Arts in the near future.
[Photo credit: J. Scott Applewhite - AP]
Iran & the World News & Media: Kate Vang May Day Wall Street Journal
by Kate Vang
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May Day in Tehran
As thousands of Iranians gathered in protest in Tehran this May Day, the usually stodgy, anti-union Wall Street Journal editorial staff was full of support.
The night before May Day, the WSJ editorial [subscription required] reported that over 80 illegal unions, bound together as the “Workers’ Organizations and Activists Coordination Council”, were organizing to protest decreasing worker’s rights in Iran. School teachers were also planning to protest, despite the beatings protesters received at a demonstration last March. The BBC reported that an increasing number of state and private employees weren’t being paid the salaries owed to them by their employers. The leader of the Tehran bus workers’ union, Mansour Osanloo, was tortured and lost part of his tongue after bus workers protested last year.
The Wall Street Journal acknowledged their atypical position, but partially justified this by alluding to an “Iranian threat”:
We do not often find ourselves on the same side as the AFL-CIO, but American unions have for decades supported people like Mr. Osanloo — and, before him, others like Lech Walesa — through the Solidarity Center, which is engaged in labor-rights issues from Zimbabwe to Iran to China. That’s a reminder that when it comes to such basic and universal issues as the freedom of association, partisanship really can end at the water’s edge. In the face of the Iranian threat — to its own people no less than to its neighbors — that’s exactly the kind of May Day solidarity we need.
While precise turn-out numbers aren’t known, it is clear that thousands of Iranians protested on Tuesday and that there were some clashes with police, though the prominent Western news sources have yet to report on the outcome.
