The truth about Tehran, by artist Nazgol Ansarinia | The artist and their city
Summary
TLDRThe 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
- π³ The speaker grew up in Tehran and has witnessed significant changes in the city's landscape.
- π¨ Tehran is losing open spaces, and artists are painting gardens and blue skies on existing buildings to create an illusion of openness.
- π The speaker's art involves turning murals and painted buildings into miniature monuments to capture the ephemeral nature of these images.
- ποΈ The transformation of two-dimensional murals into three-dimensional monuments merges the actual building with the illusion, reflecting Tehran's current state.
- π Rapid urban development, including the demolition of houses, is changing Tehran's neighborhoods at a fast pace.
- ποΈ The demolition is often driven by the desire to build taller structures, which is altering the city's character.
- πΊοΈ The speaker feels that the rapid construction is destructive as it erases collective and individual memories associated with the city.
- π‘ Neighborhoods are changing so quickly that they become unrecognizable, leading to a sense of loss and disconnection from one's surroundings.
- ποΈ 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
ποΈ 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 stateβa 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Tehran
π‘Open Spaces
π‘Murals
π‘Miniature Monument
π‘Ephemeral Nature
π‘Demolition
π‘Collective Memory
π‘Transformation
π‘Social Context
π‘Rebuilding
π‘Disorientation
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
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