Visiting field recordist form Iran, Niloufar Em discusses Six Pillars’ current residency project at London College of Communication, and the group performance at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre on Friday 13th December, 6pm. Tutored by seminal guitar manipulator Keith Rowe, the group, consisting of six LCC Sound Art and Design graduates and the five visiting Iranian artists, had just 4.5 days to prepare. Here Niloufar also discusses the week of workshops that follow the performance, including a field recording workshop with world-renowned field-recordist Chris Watson.
Performers were Niloufar Em, Heckmat(t), Nasim Khorassani, Sepehr Haghighi, Nemo Ghasemi, Howie Lee, Yiorgis Sakellariou, Maria Popadomanolaki, Irina Zakharova, Artur Vidal, Angela Yeowell and Veryan Weston.
For more information go to www.sixpillars.org/IranUK
Tag Archives: middle east
Free Lab Radio – Iran Clubbing with Bitmarx
After having seen him play live at The Egg, building the set sound by sound in Ableton and carrying his own mixer with him, we asked Iranian house tech producer and DJ Bitmarx to make us an hour of electronic dance while he was back in Iran. He used his contacts and experience as a DJ to pull in the best tracks by both obscure and very well known producers, most of whom like himself, are also DJs. The mix features production and remixes by Iranian artists – some of them based solely in Iran while others travel globally.
Six Pillars- Audio Postcards from Iran
This Six Pillars radio programme is co-produced with musician Moslem Rasouli. We hear mainly from Iranians voicing their thoughts, not restricted to any topic, as audio postcards to the UK collated by Rasouli. We also hear Moslem’s own music (image left), as well as Six Pillars previous guest Hassan K’s latest track and an exploratory saxophone piece by SoSoLa. Moslem’s parents are originally from Gilan which is a beautiful and verdant area of Iran which produces some of the most gorgeous folk music you ever heard. This is reflected in his electronic production which is as unique as it is organic, drawing on Iran’s rich tradition and musical lineage of instruments and musical system.
Six Pillars to Persia – Ayman Yossri Daydban
What’s the art scene like in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? Artist and poet Daydban, is of Palestinian descent living in Jeddah. In this interview he tells us via translator (Adnan Manjal of Athr Gallery, representing Daydban at Art Dubai where the interview was recorded) about his work and life in the region and recites a poem in keeping with the work in show at Art Dubai. His work is poignant and at times even slightly comical, yet the core is tragic infusing the imagery, the framing and colouring with the spirit of the artist himself throughout all of his work.
Eavesdropper radio booth at Art Dubai Eavesdropper/ Falgoosh Radio was created by sound artists Chris Weaver and Fari Bradley for Art Dubai Projects 2013, sponsored by the British Council.
Six Pillars to Persia – Alinah Azadeh’s The Shape of Things
Uk-based Iranian artist Alinah Azadeh discusses her massive installation ‘The Gifts’ at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, 2010 and how the process of binding in the work helped her when after losing her mother to the Asian Tsunami of 2004. This is our second interview with Azadeh who was commissioned to fill the Royal Festival Hall ballroom, Southbank with a large installation called The Bibliomancer’s Dream. New work by Azadeh will be on show during a Six Pillars exhibition at Hundred Years Gallery, London May 31st-June 16th more info on www.sixpillars.org For culture news and signposts, follow us on our mailing list or on Facebook www.facebook.com/SixPillarsToPersia
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 – Iran’s Godfather of Psyche
Back from the Brink – An Audio Portrait
Kouroush Yaghmaie brought psyche music to Iran. He lived his music from his teens to adulthood until banned from singing, he was forced to produce children’s songs under a pseudonym for 19 years. His new album ‘Back from the Brink’ comes as a double CD and book, the extensive and detailed text by Kouroush Yaghmaie himself. In it Yaghmaie describes how he used his guitar to sound like a sitar, how his fellow musicians fell out of performing and heartbreakingly, lost the gift of music. Six Pillars has created a bespoke audio piece with a voice narrating over the songs the words of the man who for so long could not speak out. First broadcast in May 2012.
Six Pillars – Art & Patronage Summit 2012
Highlights f
rom the Art & Patronage Summit, London 2012. The A&P Summit was an invitation-only event for notable patrons, collectors, arts institution leaders, curators, academics, artists, diplomats and other influential players involved in culture of and for the greater Middle East, including Turkey, Iran and North Africa. Capitalising on the region’s current cultural vitality and socio-political momentum, the Summit aimed to enable both individuals and institutions to collaborate creatively in support of an emerging art scene.
The summit was held on January 12th at the British Museum and on the 13th at the Royal College of Art.
Six Pillars – Women and Sex in Iran
Fari Bradley talks to Dr Pari Esfandiari PHD about her website Irandokht, one of the 34 websites showcased by UNESCO. The website creates dialogue and space for expression for Iranian women all over the world and is a resounding success.
Dr Esfandiari also co-wrote a 7 page article in Playboy Magazine in 2007 about an erotic tape that made millions on the blackmarket, highlighting what it tells us about attitudes to women and sex in Iran today.
Six Pillars – A Lebanese State of Mind
Curator of the 2010 Lebanon Pavilion at Venice Biennial, writer and curator Georges Rabbath lays out ‘A Plot for A Biennial’, an interactive happening following Lebanon’s official retraction from the Venice Biennial, 11.
At the Sharjah Art Foundation, Georges explains how T H E S T A T E O F M I N D project at this year’s biennial will make a transferable collection of artworks for any place where the world of art has become, he quotes ‘a zoo’.