Festival Accès Asie, is pleased to present a conference animated by Hanieh Ziaei as part of the Noeud Exhibition to discuss and reflect on the place of women artists in the world of Iranian contemporary art.
In the exhibition Noeud by Parisa Rajabian, various dimensions of Iranian contemporary art establish a socio-political and artistic context from which to reflect on the place of women artists in the world of Iranian contemporary art. The reappropriation of corporal expression and the rejection of the mystification of the feminine body by the artist encourage a multidimensional perspective on both social and esthetic issues to highlight underlying existential and identity questions.
From the Gordian knot to the effortless unwinding of the simplest of knots, through what ties us together and is a vital node, the works in this exhibition allow a meditation on the ambivalence and symbolic power of the knot whose signification varies across cultures and traditions and the time/space dimension.
Born in Iran, Parisa graduated from the Kerman Art University and holds a degree in Painting and New Media. Parisa moved to Montreal in 2015. Inspired by her cultural background, she presents her pieces with a new language using new artistic media, she tries to reduce the boundaries between cultures and cultivates a certain immediacy with her audience. Between 2006 and 2017, Parisa has shown her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Germany, South Korea, Iran, Hungary, and Romania. Her illustrations are featured in the 9th edition (October 2017) of TicArtToc magazine. Parisa has recently started expanding her artistic practice to contemporary dance. (www.parisarajabian.com)
Originally from Tehran, Hanieh Ziaei has studied in Brussels (B.A.) and Montreal (M.A. and Ph.D) where she currently resides and works. In her research in art sociology and culture, Hanieh Ziaei looks at the place of artists in Iran’s contemporary society as well as the role of Iranian art in exile. She is interested in the counterbalance of the power of artists and the political and social dimensions of contemporary Iranian art. She writes for many art magazines including Vie des Arts, Séquences and TicArtToc (DAM). She is also a resident researcher at the Observatoire sur le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique du Nord (OMAN) de la Chaire Raoul-Dandurand at UQÀM and a member of the Cercle des Chercheurs sur le Moyen-Orient (CCMO) in Paris and the Centre d’Études de la Coopération Internationale et de Développement (CECID) of ULB in Brussels.
Parisa Rajabian – Visual Artist
Hanieh Ziaei – Art Critic