Artist Koushna Navabi speaks at the opening of her solo show for Xerxes art gallery, London. Mediums and materials used ranged from cloth, to embroidery to paint to even a glove and topics range from Iranian past leaders to the chemical components of oil.
Recorded March 09 with Fari Bradley for Six Pillars to Persia, a weekly radio Middle East Arts and Culture show on UK’s art-music radio station Resonance104.4FM.
Navabi is taking part in a group show with Six Pillars in London, June 2013, for more details see the links below.
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Category Archives: Six Pillars to Persia
Six Pillars to Persia Xtra – Palestinian Art “Resilience and Light”
Canterbury’s University of Kent hosts a group show of both Palestinian renowned and younger artists “RESILIENCE OF LIGHT”. Featured are Leila Shawa, Abraaj Prize winner Taysir Batniji and our guest here contributing artist Hani Zurob. Along with Zurob co-curator Aser El Saqqa of Arts Canteen joins us in the studio to explain the show and extend the discussion around Palestinian art in general.
Six Pillars is a focus on Middle Eastern Arts and Culture. Weekly on Friday evenings at 7.30-8pm, repeated Wednesdays 1.30-2pm GMT
www.sixpillars.org
The 2nd series of Six Pillars to Persia has run weekly since 2007, the first in 2005-6.
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Six Pillars – I Call My Brothers, Terror in Sweden
Broadcast April 26th 2013, an interview with play-write Jonas Hassen Khemiri and actors Davood Tafvizian who plays the lead character Amour, Pablo Leiva Wenger who plays his best friend Shavi, and Angelica Radvoldt who plays Amour’s friend and love interest. We discuss cultural tension in Sweden, the content and creation of the play.
Middle Eastern Arts and Culture. Weekly on Friday evenings at 7.30-8pm, repeated Wednesdays 1.30-2pm GMT
www.sixpillars.org
Six Pillars – Saad Qureshi
You may have seen Saad Qureshi on British television challenging Tracy Emin over her opinions about art, in Saatchi Art School. His works range from sculpture to canvas edge paintings. Here Qureshi, represented at Art Dubai by Aicon Gallery, discusses the complexities and processes of his work
Borrowed From The Shadows, 2010
at the Eavesdropper radio booth at Art Dubai 2013. Eavesdropper/ Falgoosh Radio was created by sound artists Chris Weaver and Fari Bradley for Art Dubai Projects, sponsored by the British Council.
Six Pillars to Persia – Playright/ Director Nassim Soleimanpour
Tehran-based Soleimnapour’s latest production White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is an experiment with roots in improv theatre; a new actor each night, reads the script who delivers the piece cold, in front of a live audience and renders each delivery in itself, unique. Running in the LIFT 2012 festival, at Notting Hill’s Gate Theatre, the play looks at issues of obedience and manipulation. The play requires the performers to know next to nothing about the content and has attracted performers as renowned as Juliet Stevenson, among others. So how does it work?
The actor is handed a sealed envelope in front of the audience, inside which will be the script. There has been no rehearsal, no direction and in fact there is no set just an actor and an audience without costume and without other characters on whom to rely. Reading cold is never easy, the play stretches the actor to his limit in front of an audience who knew more about the play than its actor before the start.
Imagine being 29 and unable to leave your country. ‘White Rabbit, Red Rabbit’ dissects the experience of a whole generation in a wild, utterly original play. Soleimanpour turns his isolation to his advantage with a play that requires no director, no set, and a different actor for each performance. Volcano Theatre & Necessary Angel co-produced the world premiere of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit in 2011, shown simultaneously at SummerWorks and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It is now playing around the world.
Six Pillars to Persia – Satellite Jamming in Iran
Mahmood Enayat from Small Media speaks to Six Pillars to Persia about the new Small Media report “Satellite Jamming in Iran – A War Over Airwaves.” After presenting the report to parliament, Small Media are pushing for new regulations, where none currently exist, on global satellite jamming. Here Mr. Enayat explains how figures clearly show that satellite jamming is a form of censorship that effects far more people in Iran than internet censorship currently does.
Six Pillars – Norouz at the National Portrait Gallery
March 2012 Six Pillars organised an event at the National Portrait Gallery London.
Audio here from the discussion on the origins of Persian New Year, which always falls at the Spring Equinox by Dr. Khodadad Rezakani, recorded at the NPG, plus an intro from rappers Reveal and Hitchkas at the Norooz No War event.
Six Pillars – Munira Mirza
The Cultural Advisor to the Mayor explains her reasons for travelling out to the Middle East and promoting a London festival. This interview was recorded at the March Meeting, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Six Pillars – SHARE, Belgrade
In this Six Pillars show we tap into the fine array of people at Share Conference, Belgrade for a short journey of discovery.
We discuss Iran’s move towards a closed, national intranet which they can then fully censor, with a leader in the global free-internet culture movement: Elizabeth Stark. Elizabeth presented a talk at Share and has previously worked with the Harvard Advocates for Human Rights to make better use of new media to promote human rights. Stark spent years researching for the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, and has taught courses ranging from Cyberlaw to Intellectual Property to Technology & Politics to Electronic Music.
We also discuss art, Lebanon and the fascinating story of the Lebanese community in Australia with Kamal Ackerie, himself a Lebanese Australian. At the time of interview Ackerie was Associate Director of the prolific arts and music production agency Forma Arts, UK.
Six Pillars – Cosmic Geometry
Monir with a relief piece, 1970s. Photo courtesy of artist
John Cage called her ‘that beautiful Persian girl‘, Jackson Pollock, though unfriendly, openly declared an admiration for her art. Born 1924 in Iran, Monir Farmanfarmaian later brought a flavour of Iran to New York’s avant garde, amongst whom she was circulating. It was often reported that one of her pieces had its place on Andy Warhol’s desk for example.
Her signature work has been since that time, fractal mirror sculpture, mirror mosaic and reverse-painted glass which overall embodies her lifelong fascination for natural beauty and light. And as any sprightly octogenarian still producing work should, Farmanfarmaian has just released a book: Cosmic Geometry ((Damiani Editore & The Third Line, Edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist) with passages written by such artist friends as Frank Stella and Shirin Neshat.
In this frank interview the artist discusses her first moment’s of inspiration with mirrors, kills a money spider, reflects on her life and personal art collection and bemoans the proliferation of cheap Chinese products in Iran.