I don't know what else to do with myself!*

9. December. 2006
Saturday / AK28
Krukmakargatan 28, Stockholm

Program
Video Screening 20:00
Artist Talk: 21:00
After Party: 22:00

artists: david blandy (uk), selim birsel (Belgium), amirali ghasemi
(tehran), unni gjertsen (norway), tsui kuang-yu (taiwan), adnan yildiz
(turkey)

curated by esther lu and adnan yildiz

Esther Lu and Adnan Yildiz invite us to a discussion around the
role-position of artist today in reference to the changing structures
of contemporary art. Today, artists are traveling a lot due to
residencies, biennials, grandiose exhibitions and etc. And they do not
like to be involved into these processes as "tourists" but they are
also somehow tourists in this game… In relation to their research in
Stockholm, Yildiz and Lu select inspirational videos in order to
trigger a discussion around how artist
deconstruct-fictionalize-establish-reproduce him/herself in/through
their works in this given traveling context. The curators introduce
the concept of 'universal traveler' and contextualize the issue around
the hot topics like ''new-internationalism", "mobile identities", "art
market-ing" and "globalization-alism".

AK28 is the venue of this show for its identity as being an artist-run space.
Supported by Cultural Division, Taipei Mission in Sweden

• a title of a song by white stripes is transformed.
• video screening is also the premiere of S.G.F.S. (survival guide for
stockholm), a research based curatorial project by Adnan Yildiz

Deeper Depression - call for entry

Parkingallery Presents:
Deeper Depression
A Group Contemporary Art Practice
Regulations:

Categories of submission are
A - New Media (Video / Audio / Interactive / Web)
In this category we accept demos for review (on CD/DVD/VHS), videos less than 6 min will have the opportunity to be played on our large screen, otherwise if you are about to submit a video artwork which is longer than 6 min we recommend you to set up your own TV plus VCD/DVD player in the gallery. We also accept Audio Artworks if they are less than 2 MB can be sent by e-mail & the one which are bigger must be send via post.
Interactive artworks should be mailed to us on a CD or if they are web based they can be uploaded in a website & the link can be submitted by e-mail.
B - Performance
Performance Projects can be submitted on paper including synopsis / concept, plus any kind of documentation like Photo, film & any other visual material is recommended.
C - Photography
We accept photos as individual or series less than 4 as Digital files for review, the area which is reserved for each photographer is 1.5 meters of wall in width.
D - Typography
Typographers are asked to send their artwork via e-mail or by post A4 (72 DPI for Email or An A4 Print for Post) the final size for the artworks will be 70x100 or 50x70 (Width X Height).
E - Flash Fiction
Flash Fiction, texts less than 500 words are accepted, the submissions should be typed & Emailed to us. A booklet of selected stories will be published within the period of exhibition.
F - Illustration/Painting
Digital photos are accepted for the review & should be mailed or e-mailed to us. The area which is reserved for each artist is 1.5 meters of wall in width.


Note 1: We also accept documentation videos of performances, installations & happenings…
Note 2: Photographers, illustrators, typographers and writers can work as a team & submit the result to the deeper depression project for example by illustrating a flash fiction or by using typography for a short story.
Note 3: We ask the international participants to send us a high resolution files as well to help us to produce a high quality large format print for the exhibition. National participants are also able to use discount from our sponsors.

Deadline:
15 May 2006

Address: No. 11, 4th Milad alley, Milad street, Dadman (Poonak Bakhtari) Blvd. Shahrak-e-Gharb Tehran 1468644371 Iran

Please send your Digital submissions to info[at]parkingallery[dot]com If you have any questions, please feel free to let us know: amiralionly[at]gmail[dot]com or Parkingallery Studio: +98 21 8 8077343

A Random Post for guardian talk found on pc today

"Routines can cause me massive sadness... I often try to take a different routs coming home...."

Wow! This is just like the way I lived my life since 9 years now just after I finished the high school! Every day I'm trying to do something new some thing that I've never done before! Or other wise I feel I'm trapped inside a useless circle … by living this way it was always hard for me to remain in a position/job for any period of time longer that 3 months! I only can accept short term projects & that's why I can't make sure to earn a fixed income in a month. It's like an adventure to be able to stay unstable but reliable!

Oh, My bad English again , of course the show did happened in Feb. 2004 in 2 galleries in 2 different locations one for the typography & photos (Atbin gallery) The other one Azad gallery was for the video & audio installation plus 5 performances ...
I was not satisfied with the result totally because I didn't let myself to select the people's submission, they are were accepted but a few pieces that the gallery owners deicide not to show for their own reasons, It was my first big curatorial project & my idea was to present an slice of what we -a new generation of Iranian contemporary artist, (what an ambitious title & what an ambitious goal!!!) - have to show to our audience!

But about "How do we represent pain killers?"
I think it not nessesrily meant to be a kind of pain killer
But some time the creation just make us feel better (for a weak example! don't you think it's pretty hard to tell if your neighbor didn't give birth to his sons, the life was much harder for her?) I know that its not fair to cause problems for others for the sake of solving one self's problem (here problem of being or living in this miserable world) , but when we are trying to change/create something to get rid of our current situation, (here some may create artworks or at least some artwork like stuff) I think It's an act for survival & in this hard attempt, it makes sense to me to have some thing like pain killer "that calms you down and/or let you continue" I believe we are surrounded by many type of Pain killer ranging from your favorite TV channel to cherry Ice cream & a from your newspaper to drugs! You add any sport, holidays, hobbies & etc to the list! They all work well; you only need to find the ones that really fit! They meant to set our mind on something else instead what is really going on (at least for short period of time!)
I might have sound a bit crazy in the previous paragraph but I've been thinking of this for a long time what do you think?

By any chance are you online? Reza!
It's depressing Friday evening in Tehran! I don't remember that it was sunny or cloudy...
I remembered to refer a short story about that clown who went to a psychologist, because he couldn't laugh any more, The psychologist offer him a ticket & said: There is a big circus in town take this ticket & I'm sure that you be laughing on the floor only if you see their clown!
He answered: I can't accept this sir! I can't watch the show while I'm performing it!

I don't mean that we are in entertainment business! but sometimes the sweetness of creating something may last very shortly ...

About my new collection Coffee shop Ladies

Follow the link & you can see the whole collection here!
Here is my statment for the
Coffee shop Ladies

Documentary photos taken by the artist from Tehran’s most popular cafes (or coffee shops as we call them here in Iran). Coffee shops in Iran are the symbol of social freedom to some degrees due to the absence of a proper public space. It’s a place where both splendidly motivated youngsters & intellectual brains gather, it’s also a meeting place for the journalists as well. The faces of young ladies in these photos are hidden by blank spaces (stickers). By reducing the level of information that each photo can offer to the visitors, the artist has tried to prevent the Media from easily misusing, manipulating or interrupting the image in a mass global scale.
But the connection isn’t lost completely as visitors (users) are let to explore an interactive program based on the photos to know more about these ladies by clicking & listening …

BIDOUN -- Current Issue

BIDOUN -- Current Issue
Recieved today from Antonia Carver
In its sixth issue, BIDOUN – the arts and culture magazine from the
Middle
East – turns its attention to the thorny subject of envy. Taking on
everything from the evil eye in Cairo to class structures in the
international art world, via American universities in the Gulf and fast
food
in Tehran, the issue is in turns witty, light, serious and polemical,
and
always highly original.

Artists commissioned for this issue of the magazine include Shirana
Shahbazi, a winner of the Citibank Photography Prize, and Istanbul
hotshots
Ahmet ?güt and Sener ?zmen, who have designed an unusual colouring book
for
readers. Our regular travel column peruses the international hotel
scene in
Baghdad; the architecture section looks at the legacy of XL Modernism
in the
Middle East; while the art, film, design, products, fashion and books
sections take in the latest developments in the diverse cultural life
of the
Middle East.

See http://www.bidoun.com/current/ for a contents list and some
articles