The truth about Tehran, by artist Nazgol Ansarinia | The artist and their city

Summary

The speaker, originally from Tehran, discusses the rapid urban transformation of the city, marked by the loss of open spaces and the demolition of old buildings. They describe their artistic response to this change, creating miniature monuments from murals and buildings to capture the ephemeral nature of the city's landscape. The artist reflects on the impact of this construction on collective and individual memory, expressing a sense of loss and displacement as neighborhoods become unrecognizable.

Takeaways

• 🌳 The speaker grew up in Tehran and has witnessed significant changes in the city's landscape.
• 🎨 Tehran is losing open spaces, and artists are painting gardens and blue skies on existing buildings to create an illusion of openness.
• 🏗 The speaker's art involves turning murals and painted buildings into miniature monuments to capture the ephemeral nature of these images.
• 🏙️ The transformation of two-dimensional murals into three-dimensional monuments merges the actual building with the illusion, reflecting Tehran's current state.
• 🏠 Rapid urban development, including the demolition of houses, is changing Tehran's neighborhoods at a fast pace.
• 🏗️ The demolition is often driven by the desire to build taller structures, which is altering the city's character.
• 🗺️ The speaker feels that the rapid construction is destructive as it erases collective and individual memories associated with the city.
• 🏡 Neighborhoods are changing so quickly that they become unrecognizable, leading to a sense of loss and disconnection from one's surroundings.
• 🏙️ The speaker has observed a total transformation of Tehran over the past 30 years, which has been particularly impactful.

Q & A

Where did the speaker grow up?

The speaker grew up in Tehran.

Why did the speaker move to London and the States?

The speaker moved to London and later to the States to study.

How long did the speaker live abroad before moving back to Tehran?

The speaker was away for about seven years before moving back to Tehran.

What is the speaker's current relationship with Tehran?

The speaker has been living and working in Tehran for about ten years.

What is the significance of the murals and paintings on existing buildings in Tehran?

The murals and paintings on existing buildings in Tehran create an illusion of perspective and openness, projecting a supposedly desired life onto the undesired.

How does the speaker's artwork capture the nature of the murals?

The speaker turns the murals and the buildings they are painted on into miniature monuments, attempting to capture the ephemeral nature of the murals and freeze them as representatives of the era.

What does the speaker's artwork reveal about the current state of Tehran?

The speaker's artwork reveals that Tehran is a city longing for the illusion of its past while restlessly bulldozing over itself to build a fantasy of its future.

What does the speaker focus on in their artwork?

The speaker's artwork focuses on everyday events, experiences, objects, and their relationship to the larger social context.

Why is the rapid construction and demolition in Tehran considered destructive?

The rapid construction and demolition in Tehran is considered destructive because it is taking away collective and individual memories, changing neighborhoods so fast that they become unrecognizable.

How does the speaker feel about the transformation of Tehran over the last 30 years?

The speaker feels strongly about the total transformation of Tehran over the last 30 years, expressing a sense of loss and disconnection due to the rapid changes.

What is the impact of the demolition on the speaker's personal connection to Tehran?

The demolition impacts the speaker's personal connection to Tehran by making the city unrecognizable and causing a feeling of being lost, as the neighborhoods change so fast that they no longer relate to the space.

Outlines

00:00

🏙️ Urban Illusion and Artistic Response

The speaker, who grew up in Tehran and later moved to London and the United States for studies, discusses their return to Tehran after seven years. They observe the city's rapid urban development and the loss of open spaces. In response to this, they create art by transforming murals of gardens and villages painted on existing buildings into miniature monuments. This artistic process aims to capture the transient nature of these murals and merge the two-dimensional paintings with the three-dimensional reality of the buildings, reflecting Tehran's current state—a city caught between longing for its past and rushing towards an uncertain future. The speaker's work focuses on everyday experiences and objects, deconstructing and reconstructing them to reveal unnoticed aspects of their relationship with the social context.

Keywords

💡Tehran

Tehran is the capital city of Iran and the central theme of the video. The artist grew up in Tehran and discusses the city's rapid urban development and loss of open spaces. The city serves as a backdrop for the artist's reflections on memory, change, and the impact of urbanization on personal and collective identities.

💡Open Spaces

Open spaces refer to public areas such as parks and gardens that are becoming increasingly scarce in Tehran due to urban development. The artist notes the irony of painted murals depicting idyllic scenes of gardens and villages on buildings, which contrast with the reality of diminishing green spaces in the city.

💡Murals

Murals are large paintings or images applied directly to a wall or other large, permanent surfaces. In the script, murals are used to create an illusion of openness and perspective, reflecting a desire for a more connected and natural environment amidst the urban landscape.

💡Miniature Monument

A miniature monument is a small-scale replica of a monument or structure. The artist uses this concept to create three-dimensional representations of the two-dimensional murals, capturing the ephemeral nature of these artworks and making them stand as representatives of the current era in Tehran.

💡Ephemeral Nature

Ephemeral nature refers to something that is temporary or short-lived. The artist's work aims to capture the fleeting existence of the murals, which are subject to change as the city rapidly develops, by turning them into more permanent forms of art.

💡Demolition

Demolition is the act of tearing down buildings or structures. The script describes the widespread demolition of houses in Tehran, which is changing the city's neighborhoods at a fast pace and erasing collective and individual memories associated with these spaces.

💡Collective Memory

Collective memory refers to the shared recollections and experiences of a group of people, often tied to specific places. The artist expresses concern that the rapid pace of construction and demolition in Tehran is erasing the city's collective memory, making neighborhoods unrecognizable and contributing to a sense of loss and disorientation.

💡Transformation

Transformation in this context refers to the significant changes occurring in Tehran's urban landscape. The artist has witnessed a total transformation of the city over the past 30 years, which has profound implications for the identity and memory of its residents.

💡Social Context

Social context is the background of social interactions and relationships in which events, experiences, and objects are situated. The artist's work explores the relationship between everyday objects and experiences and their larger social context, particularly how they are affected by and reflect the changes in Tehran's urban environment.

💡Rebuilding

Rebuilding, in the artist's work, refers to the process of taking apart and reassembling elements of subjects to create new meanings or perspectives. This process is used to highlight unnoticed aspects of the subjects, such as the impact of urban development on personal and collective memories.

💡Disorientation

Disorientation is a feeling of confusion or loss of one's bearings. The artist describes how the rapid changes in Tehran's landscape can lead to a sense of disorientation, as familiar spaces are replaced, and the connections between people and their environment are disrupted.

Highlights

The speaker grew up in Tehran but moved to London and then to the States for study at the age of 17.

They returned to Tehran permanently about ten years ago after being away for seven years.

Tehran is losing open spaces, and murals of gardens and villages are painted on existing buildings to create an illusion of openness.

The speaker's art involves turning murals and painted buildings into miniature monuments to capture their ephemeral nature.

The art aims to freeze the murals and make the two-dimensional three-dimensional, merging the actual building with the illusion.

The resulting art reflects the unsettled nature of Tehran, a city longing for an illusion of its past while building a fantasy future.

The speaker's work focuses on everyday events, experiences, objects, and their relationship to the larger social context.

The art process involves taking elements apart and reassembling them to reveal unnoticed aspects of the subjects.

Demolition of houses in Tehran is a common sight, with buildings only 20 years old being torn down for new construction.

The rapid demolition and construction are changing Tehran's neighborhoods at a fast pace.

The speaker has layers of memories from Tehran, and the rapid changes are seen as destructive to collective and individual memory.

The speaker feels that the fast pace of construction is taking away the city's collective memory and individual memories.

Neighborhoods are changing so quickly that they become unrecognizable, causing a sense of loss and disorientation.

The speaker has witnessed a total transformation of Tehran in the last 30 years.

The speaker's art is a response to the rapid changes and the loss of memory associated with the city's development.

Transcripts

I grew up in Tehran but I moved to

London and later to the States to study

so I I moved out when I was 17 and I was

away for about seven years I moved back

for good about ten years ago and have

been living and working here since

ironically as the city is losing more

and more of its open spaces images of

gardens with blue skies or scenes

villages are painted on to the already

existing buildings creating an illusion

of perspective and openness projecting a

supposedly desired life on through the

undesired so in fabrications I take the

the murals and the buildings that are

painted on and turn them into a

miniature monument as an attempt to

capture the ephemeral nature of the

murals and to freeze them to become the

representatives of this era some form of

reality is given to the painting by

making the two-dimensional

three-dimensional and the actual

building and the illusion become one

architectural structure and the result

of which is as unsettled as the Tehran

of today a city longing for the illusion

of its past while restlessly bulldozing

over itself to build a fantasy of its

future my work is about everyday events

experiences objects and their

relationship to the larger social

context I take

the elements of these subjects apart and

then put them back together in a way

that rebuilds something

unnoticed about about these subjects so

this is the example of one of the

demolished houses that you see in Tehran

these days you see so much of this kind

of demolition happening in the city you

can you can tell this is not a very old

building probably like 20 years old or a

little bit more but it's being

demolished because they probably want to

build something that it like the one

that is next to it like a five-story

high building and this kind of

demolition is changing their

neighborhoods of Tehran in really really

fast

I have so many layers of memory from

each corner of the city every part of

the city is associated with memories

from different stages in my life I think

that's what makes this fast speed of

construction so destructive in a way

it's taking away our collective memory

and individual memory with it that the

neighborhoods are changing so fast that

they are unrecognizable I think you feel

lost when you can't relate to a space

you kind of feel lost that's that's how

it feels when you don't know your

surroundings

to be a witnessed or total

transformation of the city in the last

30 years

my so strongly