Longplayer In Iran

A Longplayer listening post and Longplayer exhibition began touring various galleries and arts centres in Iran in autumn 2014. In July 2015 the tour will arrive in Isfahan – one of Iran’s cultural capitals – we will be updating these pages with videos and audience reactions to the tour.

Photographs from the tour can be viewed here.

Iranian producer Ruyin Nabizadeh:
‘”Longplayer in Iran” is a yearlong tour of Longplayer to nine cities across Iran including Rasht, Tabriz, Sanandaj, Zanjan, Amol, Sari, Mashhad, Isfahan and Tehran, this way Longplayer would go beyond Tehran-centrality of the artworld in Iran and establishes artistic links with diverse audiences around Iran. The multi-disciplinary nature of the project and its presentation mode has attracted audiences that are not common for art galleries in Iran. In each ciy Longplayer has encouraged discussions and interaction in relation to notions of time, sound, and local dialects. The Project started with an archive exhibition of Longplayer (since 2000) at Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, to trace how Longplayer, both in the process of its creation and its life, has sought to address Finer’s interest in problems of representing and understanding the fluidity of time, inviting the visitors to explore and investigate questions and fantasies that Longplayer inspires.
British experimental music has played a major part in inspiring the electronic music scene and sound art in Iran . This shared fascination with exploring new possibilities of understanding and producing sound through new media has sparked the idea of hosting Finer’s conceptual piece in Iran. In partnership with Longplayer Trust, this tour aims to share and reinterpret an example of UK cutting edge and creative art and its aspirations with wide range of Iranians.
The very participatory notion of Longplayer and the ways in which it has been dealing with concept of time during its 14-year life time has been amongst the many exhilarating and inspiring motifs of gathering this tour in Iran which so far has received enthusiastic responses and exiting reactions from its audiences.’

Below are details of the venues that have been a part of the tour to date:

Tehran – Azad Art Gallery: 12 September – 12 October 2014
Azadartgallery.com
Direct audience reach: 650

Mashhad – Artin Gallery: 17 October – 12 November 2014
Founded in 2012, Artin gallery encompasses a bookshop, cafe, children’s painting section and an art school proposing an alternative space as oppose to the traditional institutions, responding to the needs of younger generations.
Direct audience reach: 970

Sari – Honar Gallery: 14 November – 14 December 2014
Direct audience reach: 400

Zanjan – Dideh Gallery: 18 December – 18 January 2014
Founded in 2012, Dideh gallery is one of the only three art spaces in Zanjan, its is also the only independent art space in Zanjan – Dideh gallery was founded with the collective funding of Zanjan artist in order to create a platform for the locals to be exposed to modern and contemporary art practices and discourses.
http://www.didehart.ir
Direct audience reach: 400

Ahvaz – Ahvaz Museum of Contemporary Art: 22 January – 22 February 2014
The Contemporary Arts Museum of Ahvaz opened in 2010 in the city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan, Iran and is a two-story structure with five galleries. The museum includes 70 works, 60 of which belong to Khuzestan Province artists and 10 to artists from other Iranian provinces. The museum hosts art summits, workshops, courses and seminars as well as solo exhibitions of various artists.
Direct audience reach: 1050

Hormoz – Museum of Dr Ahmad Nadalian: 28 February – 20 May 2014
The Museum and Gallery of Dr. Ahmad Nadalian in Hormoz Island shows the works of this artists who is internationally known as one of the most active environmental artists. Now most of Nadalian works are scattered across the earth. His environmental art projects include the carving of rocks that can be found in many countries. The museum was a part of an urban regeneration as it used to be mostly visited by drug and alcohol addicts. In March of 2009, the Paradise Art Centre on Hormoz Island in the Persian Gulf was established here.
Direct audience reach: 700