Rooted in Iran

Sketches by Iranian composers associated with the Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA)

Contributions by
Anahita Abbasi, Atefeh Einali, Farzia Fallah, Nilufar Habibian, Golfam Khayam, Martyna Kosecka, Afarin Mansouri, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Farnaz Ohadi, Arezou Rezaei, Parisa Sabet, Elnaz Seyedi, Aida Shirazi, Negin Zomorodi/Sam Esfehani

Opening: Friday, 17.12.21 6 - 10 pm
Duration: 17.12.2021 - 09.01.2022

curated by Ruth Wiesenfeld

What gives the impulse for a composition? How does one work with sounds that in the beginning of the creative process exist only in the imagination? As silent witnesses of the creative process, sketchbooks, notes and drawings provide insight into the artistic practice of fourteen female composers from Iran. In short audio and video contributions, the composers tell the stories behind the sketches: of the effort to fit the meter of Persian poetry into flamenco rhythms doing justice to both cultures; of the attempt to connect the Persian with the Western tonal system through abstract formal drawings; of the mourning for a tree cut down out of greed.

The contributions of the fourteen women are as individual as their current life situations in Iran, in emigration or having returned from emigration, living back home. All of the participants are members of the Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA), whose goal is to help female composers who face profound cultural and educational obstacles in their home country make their way into the national and international contemporary music scene.

The exhibition was curated by Ruth Wiesenfeld as part of her project TOWARDS SOUND, a Berlin based network and physical, nomadic archive revealing approaches of rendering sonic imagination tangible.

www.towardssound.org/rooted-in-iran.html

www.niloufarnourbakhsh.com/ifca/

www.instagram.com/p/CNvHLixAC5A/

„Gelegenheiten schaffen“ article by Franziska Buhre in field notes magazine