Different Sames: New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art is a relevant new book that seeks to explore Iranian culture and the contemporary art movement starting in the late 19th century. It explores both an artistic and socio-political timeline of events in Iran’s history - from the 1960’s at the heyday of the modern art movement, when art was only accessible to the most privileged classes, to the rejection of all modern art and forward thinking artists in 1979 as the Islamic Republic took power. 

Different Sames follows the path of contemporary art in Iran all the way up to present day where we see young artists recording biographies of themselves and their country through artistic means and using art as a drawing board and discussion forum for the creation of the future they aim for. The book also serves, it seems, as something of an analysis of the motivations, desires and culture of the young generation in Iran as well as an A-Z of the works of over 100 contemporary Iranian artists.

Not only is this book taking a unique and relatable approach to Iranian history, it seems to be a great reference tool. I think that understanding the art and art history of a culture gives a truly honest glimpse into the lives and minds of its citizens. For example, when we view art or listen to music of our parents generation, we certainly feel a closeness and deeper understanding of what their lives were like at that time. Art is often the only thing with the ability to successfully breach cultural, language and generational boundaries. In this way, Different Sames could not be more relevant at a time where we need to understand all we can about Iran’s history, present and future. 

For a full book review and more information about the book, visit Wallpaper.

Everyone’s favorite group of political pranksters are coming to the big screen. The Yes Men Fix the World premiered at the Sundance film festival to sold out crowds and standing ovations. The film follows a couple of activists as they break into the world of big business and pull outrageous pranks that “highlight the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet.”

The Yes Men investigate why and how our society has created a market that makes doing the right thing nearly impossible. They take on some of the worlds biggest and baddest corporations, and relentlessly fight to break the cycle of ignorance. This funny, and hope-filled documentary will empower audiences and is another victory in the war against corporate greed.

Be sure to check out the trailer!

Previous Post: Yes Men Strike Again

In the vein of Slumdog Millionaire, the 2009 documentary Afghan Star focuses again on a popular Western gameshow taking place in a third world country during a time of major political and social unrest. The doc was a success at Sundance, and is currently being shown in select theatres in the United States (the website has details). 

The documentary follows the three month process from the regional auditions to the final show in Kabul and closely shadows four contestants throughout their journey. It touches on the multitude of ways that the television program was important in Afghanistan - ways we as Americans might easily overlook. For instance, “this is the first time [many Afghans] have encountered democracy: one man or one women equals one vote. All  - the different genders, ethnic groups, age sectors - are equal.”

The clear star of the film is a young woman named Setara who literally risks her life for the chance to do what she loves. The fact that women were even allowed to participate is remarkable, but with Setara’s modern style, makeup and progressive ideas, she faces some incredibly large and frightening obstacles. One scene shows her riding in a car on her way to the final show receiving a call from a family member asking if she was okay because they heard she was dead. 

The film touches on many important issues - democracy, gender equality, freedom and of course, the ability of music to bring people together.

If you’re looking to brush up on your knowledge of  Iran, New Internationalist has an amazing archive of articles to help put the current protests into context. They also recently ran a story  about seven inspirational Iranian football players who stood in solidarity with protesters at the World Cup qualifier. Even after instructed to take off their green armbands, the players refused. A bold move considering they will have to face a fury of authorities upon their return to Iran. 

Obviously, this created a flood of support for the players and added some needed fuel to the fire that some worried might be burning out. Several beautiful and inspirational messages of support appeared online during the game. “We won. We don’t want the World Cup, we want the honour and dignity that you proved we had”. 

The Boston Globe also has some amazing images of riot and protest in the streets of Iran, which many are calling one of the largest demonstrations in history. Against all the danger, Iranians are standing up to voice their rights. Obviously, this is something that none of us can ignore and that everyone should express solidarity with.

A couple weeks ago I posted about the sentencing of the two American journalists detained in North Korea. Unsurprisingly, among several recent arrests in Iran was Canadian Newsweek reporter and talented  filmmaker Maziar Bahari, who had been covering Iran for the magazine for over a decade. According to Newsweek, Bahari was sleeping in his Tehran apartment when several unidentified security officers seized him, along with his computer and several videotapes. Apparently, he is one of a growing number of 20+ bloggers and journalists that have been arrested in the past week. Of course, the magazine has called upon the Iranian government to release him immediately, but at this that seems unlikely. Colleague Peter Svatek says the situation speaks to the overall climate of the region right now. “He’s super aware of the dangers. It just goes to show how terribly volatile the situation is in Iran right now.”

Again, I can’t express how sad it is to think that many people risk their freedom everyday in the name of journalism and the necessity of reliable information. No one should have to make that choice.

Last week, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz allowed some of Israel’s best writers and poets to take over the paper and report the news their way. Everything from front page news to weather was covered in beautiful prose and poetry - a great idea I think. With all the depressing stories in the news today, I appreciate the idea of presenting it in a new and perhaps more stomachable way. 

An example from the weather page: “Summer is the pencil / that is least sharp / in the seasons’ pencil case” - Roni Somek

Aside from spicing up the daly paper and making the news that day a bit easier to read, editor Don Alfon calls it “a bit of a humility lesson for journalists…thirty-one writers decided, what are the real events of the day?”  I would love to see a paper in the US get this creative with their reporting.

The Fundred Dollar Bill Project is a part of  Operation Paydirt, an art, science and education collaborative directed by artist Mel Chin to help expose the amount of lead in dirt in New Orleans and help prevent childhood lead poisoning. The Fundred Dollar Bill project seeks to involve 3 million students each creating their own creative drawing of a hundred dollar bill. Once 3 million of these bills are created, they will be picked up by a truck running on vegetable oil and driven straight to the capitol to hopefully persuade legislators that cleaning up New Orleans is worthy of some real bills.

Fundred is looking for motivated students, recent grads and other involved community members to apply for internships, which will involve recruiting schools and extracurricular programs to create Fundred artworks, as well as working with local Fundred collection centers and taking the lead in other projects along the way. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone interested in art, social justice, education, public relations and activism. To apply, take a look at the link for more information and email a resume and one page statement to news@fundred.org. Mel Chin Studios has also asked that the message continue to be passed along to good candidates, so let those in your networks know!

Read more about Fundred/Paydirt here.

Niels Van Tomme writes in Foreign Policy in Focus:

Hungarian-born Ferenc Gróf and Jean-Baptiste Naudy of France established Société Réaliste (Realist Society) in 2004. Their organization has spawned 10 distinct entities, from a political consulting firm to an almanac publisher, that all mix art and politics in innovative ways.

With EU Green Card Lottery, for instance, they launched a campaign that drove potential migrants to a website to apply for an imaginary “EU Green Card” — a sharp commentary on global immigration management. Their design agency Transitioners specializes in political transitions, and questions the centrality of revolution and transition in Western society.

Balancing art, politics, design, and research, the Paris-based mavericks produce artworks, exhibitions, publications, and conferences that generate a great deal of debate. Consistently taking the side of the excluded and exploited — what the French call tiers-état (the third estate) — Société Réaliste is conquering the art establishment through its radical political agenda.

NIELS VAN TOMME: What is Société Réaliste exactly? Who are you? What do you do?

SOCIÉTÉ RÉALISTE: Société Réaliste is a cooperative, created in Paris in December 2004 by Ferenc Gróf and Jean-Baptiste Naudy. As early as June 2004, we decided to curate an exhibition dealing with the aesthetic relationship between socialist realism and social forms in contemporary art. Socialist Realism being “Réalisme Socialiste” in French, we inverted the term and coined “Société Réaliste” as the title of this curatorial project. After six months of research, we decided to convert our first critical intentions into a positive device. So we created a structure, a cooperative, which produces objects, such as artworks, exhibitions, texts, lectures, etc.

Transitioners: Le Producteur, exhibition view, Synagogue de Delme, France, 2007.

During the last four years, Société Réaliste has created 10 different enterprises, some already bankrupt, through which it designs lines of production. We are running a political trend bureau (Transitioners), an immigration agency (EU Green Card Lottery), a ministry dealing with the politics of the space (Ministère de l’Architecture), a legislative consulting firm (Cabinet Société Réaliste Conseil), a geopolitical numismatics unit (Marka), an almanac-publishing office working on a Rabelaisian utopia (Almanach de Thélème), and a museum dedicated to the study of urban signs (IGM). Three enterprises have collapsed: our public bank account structure (Over The Counter), our company designing marketing models for the field of contemporary art (Ponzi’s), and our counter-biennial (Manifesta 6.1).

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John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-In to stop the war in Vietnam celebrated its 40th Anniversary in late May. The new Summer 2009 issue of Artforum includes an interview with Ono, discussing the Bed-In, among other topics.

Ono expresses a degree of surprise at the amount of celebration surrounding the anniversary of her act of artistic protest, due to some of the cynicism and even ridicule it was originally met with. “I certainly did not know,” she says, “that the world would remember what we did.”

Aside from the obvious parallels between the war John and Yoko fought to end 40 years ago and the all too familiar situation we face now, I think it also has to do with the degree of fascination the youth of today has with the 1960s. The stories we hear from our parents about their actions of protest create an image that I think we often attempt to follow while modifying to fit the world we see today and the changes we hope to influence.

The celebration that the anniversary of Bed-In has met is evocative of this and helps remind us that peace in our country has not yet been met. All of us, but especially the youth that yearn for peace for their future children, must continue to forge this path.

For more information about Ono’s current works and solo exhibition which recently opened in Venice, follow the link. The exhibition includes new works, but maintains a retrospective feel, including two filmed versions of her famous Cut Piece, one from 1964 and one from 2003.

Ono, who was also the recipient of the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion seems naturally reflective on both time as an entity and the ongoing quest for peace, sending a message with her exhibit similar to the one that the anniversary of Bed-In has created.  “Welcome to time,” she says, “the great equalizer of all things.”

Two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of the American news source Current TV were arrested in March while working on a story near the border between North Korea and China. Today, both women were found guilty and sentenced to twelve years of hard labor for illegal entry and “hostile actions”.

Al Gore, who happens to be the chairman of Current TV is  hoping to go to Pyongyang in order to attempt to negotiate for the release of the two journalists.

Situations like this make me sad obvious reasons - how terrible to know that two women who were just trying to do their job and provide information to the public are now suffering. But it also concerns me for the future of our news. We are lucky to have men and women who are still willing to risk their lives and liberty for the sake of knowledge and information, but when will this change? When will we no longer be able to obtain reliable news stories from certain parts of the world due to fear?

For the sake of these women and the protection of our news sources, I hope negotiations can be reached. If you want to help, sign the Free Euna and Laura Petition or, because what doesn’t have a Facebook group these days, join the group.