Tehran Avenue Latest Articles Channel http://www.tehranavenue.com/ 2010-03-10T08:17:16Z The maple tree suddenly turned green in the middle of the small garden. Not that the tree wasn't there, no, it was planted last year; not that spring has come, no, there is a little left until the seasons change. When the spring comes, its leaves shoot out red. Here, though, the maple is green, without leaves. Its slim trunk and dried branches are shiny green. All this thanks to the tiny light underneath the dirt that gives hope to the tree in this dark winter night and whispers [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=965 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=965 2010-02-26 Creating a lasting piece, recording it with proper equipments, releasing it under a progressive label and performing it live on stage is the common dream of many bands and musicians. Some have been able to achieve this dream through fulfilling one or several of the above-mentioned requirements. But this dream has a further complication in Iran: before an album can be published or performed on stage, ­it has to get the moral blessing of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance (better known [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=964 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=964 2010-02-26 The one you see in the monitor is your double, occupying a parallel world to yours. He is of you and of an alien nature at once. He is guardian and your nemesis. Your tie to him is eternal. You will see this right there, on the monitor. He is your dark half that has become visible through the agency of the camera. And these days he has found the opportunity to be not only your double but also your shadow. He is you complementary half, and at exactly the same moment that he approaches you from be [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=962 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=962 2010-02-14 Axiomatic 1/ One day a person from the country enters a big city and goes to a store to buy some under-garments. The salesperson -- realizing that the guy is not from the city -- decides to have a little fun and shows him a dainty looking woman’s underwear. When the man implores that he wants the "men’s" one, the salesperson smirks and says: “Buddy! You’re way behind. These days everything is sports-casual, and there is no difference between men’s and women’s…”. The [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=961 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=961 2010-02-14 These days Tehran is polluted with all kinds of toxins. It is as if the spirit of this city, graying and noxious, is hanging heavy over our heads. I have not seen many cities, but it appears that I live in one. I know of its dimensions only through the time spent in idle commutation beholding the renewed ugliness outside. Some time ago, the red cover of a book attracted my attention on the window of a bookstore. The name of its author was {Ivan Klima}. I had read about him in [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=952 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=952 2010-02-12 Boots I am not really sure when it was last year, or even if it was the year before, that a Tehran police authority publicly said that wearing boots constituted moral turpitude (when worn by women, of course). This year, when it got just a tad cold, women appeared as if saying that it wasn't the case, that in fact they like wearing boots very much. If in the previous years you would occasionally see someone wearing a pair boots, this year you would have a hard time finding a w [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=953 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=953 2010-02-12 It was a difficult thing: buying it, carrying it, recording it, screening its movies and archiving them. It’s still difficult, only the archiving part. Of course it is so thanks to the digital revolution. When you step into the city, it’s as if it goes through you with a fine-tooth comb, rummages through your entrails. It sizes you up worse than any eye-goggling creep. It wasn’t like this before; whenever you saw a camera you approached it with excitement, you smiled, you wanted to be seen [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=955 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=955 2010-02-12 Have you ever come so close to someone that your nose touches his/her nose? What do you see? An Image of a creature that not only does not look like that person, but neither does it look like a human being. It is a weird one-eyed creature that looks a bit frightening as well. This close encounter disguises his/her facial reality but will show other truths, either good or bad. We move into his/her personal space -- his/her smell, temperature, smell on the breath then the organs tremble, the body [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=956 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=956 2010-02-12 Bita Fayyazi is a familiar name in the Iranian Contemporary Art Scene. Even before earning a name for herself, we were familiar with her work. In the 1990, she had the Demolition House collection and in the first Conceptual Art Exhibit she did environmental works. Fayyazi is undoubtedly one of the first Iranian artists to have gone beyond the conventional art media to bring something new to the Iranian art scene. The following is commentary by Ali Behshad Mohtashami on Fayyazi's recent exhibi [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=951 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=951 2010-02-12 This piece by Zahra Amirebrahimi starts our special issue on cameras. In the tumultuous summer of 2009, Behnam B. Marandi was the one who started the discussion on city cameras and how they have changed our perception of ourselves. Others joined the discussion with their take on cameras. -- Crossroad. This is Tehran, with its streets, sidewalks, trees, houses and people. Here the matte glass screen with unlimited memory and there, behind these images, our world-home amidst haze, fume, smoke a [...] http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=954 http://www.tehranavenue.com/article.php?id=954 2010-02-12