My answers to Jacek Mrowczyk's questions

Jacek Mrowczyk is editor of 2+3D magazine & i met him In Tehran during the 8th tehran Poster Biennial.He sent me some questions for an article about Iran which published recently....
1. What is inspiring for you during your design process? Who is your hero in design world?
I do lots of photography during the design process, then I work on typography, after that i mix them with each other I liked David Carson's when I was younger, Now I'm interested in MM Paris Design & uwe loecsh, among Iranian designers , I like Reza Abedini & Ghobad Shiva because I have been learning a lot from them & I still can do now

2. Is it important for you to keep Iranian character (stylistic) of your work?
Not that much because I'm living in another period of time & I hate to absorb the world's attention this way its a long story [just like our cinema] while western collectors, curators & art director are paying attention to this co called character which is recently being wasted be new Iranian designer by using the old images with lack of knowledge & concept & just for show off or for the international festivals' tastes
I have to mention these new waves of looking at the Middle East [we are in the news everyday] in west caused the world's view to searching on the surface not deep in side just as the news reporters are looking at it & promoting this to the world.

3. How deep influence has non figurative Islamic art?
I think this background caused us to imagine better than the other designers but I pushed us into abstract images & motifs, I work with photography so I can't be much non figurative designer, for me those influences could be useful in layouts & typography because of our heavy back ground in calligraphy...

4. Very often I could find Latin typography together with Arabic letters. Which typography (Latin or Persian) has bigger potential for creativity?
perhaps every good designer likes to work with his own letters the Persian typography is a little bit different because our basic unit in typography isn't letters but the words, We design [if we design?! many Iranian designers still use the ready fonts which are available & few & ugly ] each word by its connections & its own atmosphere so we have more space to change or create something out of it, its harder than working on letters like Latin typography but the result in my opinion will be brighter & deeper.

5. How looks like Iranian market for graphic designers? Is it easy in Iran to start your own company? Is it possible only in big cities?

I can't tell exactly cause we are bad surrounded by low type & low taste cheap un educated designers[?!], advertising companies & many rules & there are some permission committees in the government that we have to pass to show our creativities in our design, another problem is the clients who are not aware of the importance of the good design they are some companies in every filed which simply employ some students or some in expensive technician to do perform the manager's idea with out the normal design fee that they have to pay if they work a professional designer, as the result our advertising out put is awful the only hope is the cultural activates which are no very well paid projects , so we can not easily depend on that too. yes the only big cites can have such studios because the money is there, I've been traveling In Iran during past 4 months I visited many cities the were full of advertising companies or even print shops which are offering the design as a discount to their clients, no idea, no creativities, nothing.

About parkingallery in its 2nd anniversary!

Parkingallery is a Tehran based independent art space founded by Amirali Ghasemi in 1998 in a parking area of a residential apartment. Parkingallery started initially as design studio, to help young Iranian visual artists through their exhibitions by designing the invitation cards, making portfolios & booking galleries and later by designing web sites [iranian profile] to introduce young talent. During this period we held several exhibitions in the parking area. [the actual parkingallery] Parkingallery also started some audio visual projects such Parkingallery video tryouts & the Meera project . We are grateful for the support of these people while parkingallery was setting out: Navid Ghaemmaghami , Nariman Amiri , Nazli Ataei & Yasser Raad .

In Sep 2002 Amirali Ghasemi, Borzoo Forootan & Armin Zoghi started the Parkingallery.com project as an online gallery to present a brand new generation of graphic designers, photographer & contemporary artists. Drawing & photography sessions & web design classes were also held in this period.

In Feb 2004 parkingallery held its 1st annual exhibition around the theme of ‘deep depression' with international participants producing video & audio installations, photography, performance & typography. In March 2004 parkingallery took over the 127 project, started by Reza Haeri in 2002, documenting the progress of the Tehran band 127.

As we reach the second anniversary of parkingallery.com, we have more than 20 active artists; a new generation of Iranian contemporary artists. We seek to provide an international platform for independent, creative artists.

Parkingallery Team Sep 2004

PICCOLO band dot com | Persian Rock Band ...

PICCOLO band dot com | Persian Rock Band ...I haven't heard their music but the design of the site sounds good!!! I dont like the messy hand writing like typos but the structure is good & the colors work well together... but the site is killingly slow! Now its 3 AM & its the fastest time I ever connected but...

Parkingallery NEWS...Arash Hanaei's Photos in Silkroad Art Gallery

Parkingallery NEWS...

Arash Hanaei's Photos in Silkroad Art Gallery Oct. 6-24, 2004. Opening -5:00 to 8:30 PM. Sat. to Wed. from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM Thur. from 4:00 to 7:00 PM
Click here to see his photos on parkingallery
Arash Hanei

Add: No 112, Lavasani Ave. (Farmanieh)
Tehran 19368-39631, Iran Tel: +9821 272 7010 Fax: +9821 272 7011

our poster exhibition in Iranian.com

THE IRANIAN: Here and there our poster exhibition in Iranian.com
All of us with Reza Abedini in Mehrin art Gallery.

parkingallery version2 is ready

Tehran art expo

no commentIs this realy a web site related to ART?what do you think?I will write more as I visit this messy so called art gig!!!

Live from the IRIS

my post for the I-gizmo contest : SOLITUDE
I missed one contest Music but you can check that as well, as far as i know I'm writing these for no one, as no one is cheking my blog, so please if you read these lines drop me a comment!!

Group Graphic design Exhibition in Mehrin art gallery

{{{{Welcome to Amirali Ghasemi's website}}}}}Group Graphic design Exhibition in Mehrin art gallery by Amir Ali Ghasemi, Maryam Enayati , Soha Shirvani & Reyhaneh sheikh bahaei , curated by Reza Abedini Sep 27- Oct 2, 2004,Visiting hours 4-8 Pm Opening 5-9 Pm

clouds cut by wires

Live from the IRIS on the day Setareh My friend left Iran & went to Rome to study art, I had a peotic exploration in our neighborhood & as she flew over the Tehran's Cloudy sky in early morning I found this: clouds cut by wires....

A PERSIAN CRY [Graphic designers in Iran]

Centre de la Gravure et de l'Image imprim?A PERSIAN CRY [Graphic designers in Iran]
from 25 september to 12 december 2004 two posters of mine is in the exhibition i will put a link of them very soon

FILTERing the I-gizmo & my Photoblog

my photoblog is FILTERed By another ISP: Datak
what's happening? what are you escaping from? How a photography website & photoblog should seem political to you?aren't you carzy?what should we do? demonstartion in the street?signing some useless papers? sending letters?
For god's sake stop this or....!!!

FILTERing the I-gizmo & my Photoblog

my photoblog is FILTERed By another ISP: Datak
what's happening? what are you escaping from? How a photography website & photoblog should seem political to you?aren't you carzy?what should we do? demonstartion in the street?signing some useless papers? sending letters?
For god's sake stop this or....!!!

working on parkingallery.com

hi there parkingallery is under construction & we are working on it hardly,i wish this can be finished in one week ,1st we will publish a static version then the programmized version will be avaliable in one month... so pary for us couse we will be one of the gateways of Iranian contemporary art [the new generation]

a part of our Sappi proposal

"...We aim to take graphics out of books & galleries & studios where handful of people get to see them & put it out thereon the streets of our city where it belongs, where millions be exposed to the possibilities it offers.

There are hundreds of billboards in every corner of Tehran but what gets posted on them begs to be injected with the pure energy & vitality of great artists working in this field.

We plan to have a giant exhibit of these artists whose work would be displayed on carefully selected & strategically located boards around the town (along with our own work) for a definite period of time...."

winds of changes

Neda ISP has filtered the I-gizmo.com so many Iranian user who use their services can't visit my photo blog, and there are many other small IPSs who use neda's services as big provider has the same problem,I sent an Email to Neda support the said they did it acourding to Smart Filter's database!!! and they promised to fix it very soon but the problem is still remianed. as 57% of my visitors are from Iran ... so you can guess....

I turned it on I mean the comments this is a test is there any body out there?

Sappi Ideas that Matter - Europe 2004 Grant recipients Parkingallery did not recieved the this year's grant I will post the details of our proposal very soon....

Koozeh in Photo This is Kabeh's photoblog my new friend

my latest photo in I-gizmo: Light explored in a cup
the god damn smart filter's database categorized I-gizmo as site to be filtered so some of my iranian visitors [who use Neda network ISP]may not be able to see this page !!!! I told them once but they did fix it but i think every time they update thier filter list the problem repeats....
????

The Lonely Rave Shervin's weblog my old pal, he writes in english...