The exhibition "Sign from Iran: Contemporary Iranian Posters" showcases a wonderful burst of creativity in the years 1973 to 2013, both before the revolution in Iran and after it.
This display of posters is designed to open a window to Iranian society, and expose the visitor to a glorious, innovative and creative artistry, alongside a culture that has never received its due recognition in Israel. The posters make a statement, some subtle, some explicit, on political, social and other issues, and excel in graphic designs that blend old traditions with fresh ideas. The synthesis of old and new, of the traditional and the contemporary, especially resonates for our museum, where the permanent exhibit charts, among others, the development of Islamic Art in Iran from the 7th century to modern times.
The decision to mount the exhibition was prompted by the initiative of graphic artist Yossi Lemel, who knew these masterworks and their creators, and wanted to bring them to the notice of the general public. The selection of works was done in collaboration with our guest curator, Dr. Marta Sylvestrová, from the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the Czech Republic, and with the help of Ben Wittner and Sasha Thoma of Eps51 studio in Berlin, and of Robert Paršo and Zuzana Dohnalov, curators of the Jan Koniarek Gallery in Trnava, Slovakia. We extend our warmest thanks to them, and to the dedicated team that assisted in mounting the exhibition.
Foreword
More than thirty years ago, when I was a graphic design student at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, I traveled to Eastern Turkey, south of Ararat. Looking across the Iranian border, I dreamed of the day when the border would open, and I would be able to enter that forbidden land and enjoy its wondrous cultural treasures. Twenty years later, in the early 2000s, I discovered the enormous outburst of creativity taking place just then across that same border. At the International Biennial of Graphic Design in Brno, in the Czech Republic, I met two delegates from Tehran who heralded an exciting revolution in graphic design. Their artistic language and the clear tone of their graphics were remarkably distinctive, and aroused my curiosity to get to know a rich culture that had, until then, been unknown and inaccessible. That was my first encounter with the work of Morteza Momayez, one of the founders of contemporary Iranian design, and especially his poster for the 1975 International Film Festival in Tehran. It contained thirteen hanging strips of celluloid film, the tail-ends of which formed a pattern that recalled Persian typography. The moving meeting with him and other Iranian designers planted a seed within me: to forge collaboration between us, although it seemed impossible then – as it still does today.
Another ten years went by. A mass protest movement swept Tehran in the wake of the Iranian presidential elections. By that time I had connected to hundreds of Iranian designers through Facebook and Tweeter, and I watched the riots in the city streets and the attempted revolution on-line. I thought then that the time had come to bring those magical Iranian design voices to Israel, and I searched for a way to make it happen. I realized, to my disappointment, that the Iranian designers were fearful of any direct connection, and they declined any collaboration. The initiative failed to bear fruit, but I did not despair.
I decided to renew my connection with the Moravian Gallery in Brno, and its curator Marta Sylvestrová, who had introduced me to Iranian posters all those many years earlier. She was glad to cooperate, and gave me access to the gallery's collection of Iranian posters, including works from the 1990s and the 2000s. Together we selected the main body of work for the exhibition. We were privileged to receive assistance and professional direction from the Eps51 graphic design studio in Berlin, and its two curators, Ben Wittner and Sasha Thoma. To complete the collection, however, we needed works from the most recent period. That brought us to the Poster Triennial in the Slovak city of Trnava. Its curator, Robert Paršo, and the director of the Jan Koniarek Gallery, Róbert Nemecek with curator Zuzana Dohnalová, loaned us the works we lacked, and the selection displayed here is the result.
The "Sign from Iran" exhibition at the Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem, is, for me, an old dream come true. The goal of the exhibition is to examine the design world, the culture and the society of Iran, using objective criteria; and to recognize the contribution of Iranian designers to the modern Muslim visual world and it's encounter with Western culture. The high standard of design in their works carries a message that has burst local boundaries; and the creativity that vibrates in Tehran, despite the prohibitions and restrictions imposed by the regime, has yielded surprising innovations in the realm of traditional calligraphy and contemporary typography.
The exhibition offers visitors a small window for a first-time view of posters that were mostly designed in Iran in the last twenty years. Their subjects are design, culture, music, film and art; and they were part of a great wave of creativity that peaked in the last decade and has since dissipated, partly because some of the designers have left Iran. It is our hope that this exhibition will be a good omen, and the beginning of direct collaboration with these artist-designers.
Preface | Yossi Lemel, initiator and co-curator