SAIC Iranian Studies Group

SAIC Iranian Studies Group Iranian Students Association of School of the Art Institute of Chicago considers to promote and impl

Iranian Students Association of SAIC is a non-profit group open to students of all races and nationalities. This group considers to promote and implement events, meetings, exhibitions, talks and activities toward the Iranian/Persian arts and culture.

In this new The Guardian Documentary, Our Iranian Lockdown, a filmmaking duo turn the camera on themselves and capture t...
05/14/2020

In this new The Guardian Documentary, Our Iranian Lockdown, a filmmaking duo turn the camera on themselves and capture their lives in lockdown. Their film is an intimate portrait of the highs and the lows of love and loss in these times of great uncertainty.

In the documentary, filmed over several weeks in quarantine in Tehran, Sara Khaki and Mohammad Reza Eyni attempt to process the devastating loss of a family member to Covid-19.

A rare glimpse into the lives of a young couple in Iran, who are dealing with the grief of losing a family member during lockdown

"The breath of the morning breezewill fall, fragrant of musk/The world grown oldwill be young again" -Hafizنفس باد صبا م...
03/22/2018

"The breath of the morning breeze
will fall, fragrant of musk/
The world grown old
will be young again" -Hafiz

نفس باد صبا مشک فشان خواهد شد
عالم پیر دگر باره جوان خواهد شد

The holiday of spring and renewal, celebrated by millions of people worldwide, dates back thousands of years.

In 2004, three DHL packages were sent to Art Chicago from Iran. After 14 years in private storage, these packages and th...
03/06/2018

In 2004, three DHL packages were sent to Art Chicago from Iran. After 14 years in private storage, these packages and their contents are shown as part of Qais Assali artwork and archive at the Flaxman Library of School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

February 27–March 23
Flaxman Library, Main Collections Exhibition Cases
Sharp Building, 37 S. Wabash Ave., 6th floor

"Behind Closed Curtains: Interior Design in Iran" by Lena Späth now available at the Flaxman Library of the School of th...
02/11/2018

"Behind Closed Curtains: Interior Design in Iran" by Lena Späth now available at the Flaxman Library of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

A German girl travels all the way to Iran. She visited every corner of this country and has been inspired by the beauty of Iranian culture and traditions. Sh...

Congratulations to Azadeh Gholizadeh (MFA 12') to be part of this amazing group exhibition at the Chicago Artists Coalit...
02/04/2018

Congratulations to Azadeh Gholizadeh (MFA 12') to be part of this amazing group exhibition at the Chicago Artists Coalition.

"Artificial Life" is a HATCH exhibition featuring Azadeh Gholizadeh, Matt Mancini, Gülşah Mursaloğlu, Jeff Prokash, Anna Showers-Cruser, Joseph Wilcox, and is curated by Meg T. Noe.

If you are in Chicago, don't miss Nazafarin Lotfi (MFA 11') solos show Negative Capability at Regards gallery, opening o...
01/08/2018

If you are in Chicago, don't miss Nazafarin Lotfi (MFA 11') solos show Negative Capability at Regards gallery, opening on Saturday, January 13 at 4:00-7:00pm.

There are ways in which Nazafarin Lotfi’s work constructs, and ways in which it deconstructs. The things she makes present themselves as having been both made and unmade. When we consider what it is that she has produced, we end up navigating interiors and exteriors, unsure as to whether the whole...

Raha Raissnia: AlluviusThursday, November 30, 6-8pmThe Drawing Center35 Wooster Street, New York"The first solo museum e...
11/27/2017

Raha Raissnia: Alluvius
Thursday, November 30, 6-8pm
The Drawing Center
35 Wooster Street, New York

"The first solo museum exhibition of work by the Iranian-American artist Raha Raissnia, will contextualize the artist’s drawings as part of her broader consideration of photographic and filmic representation. Raissnia grew up in Tehran during the 1978–79 revolution, and she often accompanied her father, an amateur photographer, on trips to the city center to document mass protests against the shah."

The Drawing Center, in Soho, New York, is the only not-for-profit fine arts institution in the U.S. to focus solely on the exhibition of historical and contemporary drawings.

Today on Artforum Critics' picks: "By laying bare feelings of confinement and confusion with art-historical imagery, Hos...
11/17/2017

Today on Artforum Critics' picks: "By laying bare feelings of confinement and confusion with art-historical imagery, Hoseini sets a stage for looking at homosocial spaces and the paradoxical ways they are preserved in contemporary life."

Maryam Hoseini wields abstraction as a tool for flattening and blending social space. In “Of Strangers and Parrots,” her first solo show with this gallery, stripes

Celebrate the Persian Winter Solstice Festival, Yalda, with the whole family at the "Chicago Persian School Talent Show"...
11/15/2017

Celebrate the Persian Winter Solstice Festival, Yalda, with the whole family at the "Chicago Persian School Talent Show".
December 23, 2017 at 2 pm. Prairie Lakes Theater: 515 E Thacker St, Des Plaines, IL

An impressive lineup of Persian performing arts by the Chicago Persian School talents of all ages.

Open to Public, $5 per person
Tickets and Information: www.chicagopersianschool.org/events

Started in 2014 by three alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Azadeh Gholizadeh (MFA 12'), Mir Yahya Mo...
11/06/2017

Started in 2014 by three alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Azadeh Gholizadeh (MFA 12'), Mir Yahya Moosavi (MFA 13') and Diana Torres (MFA 12'), Color Cocktail Factory holds painting classes and ceramic classes for enthusiasts of art and drawing in two locations in Chicago. Register for classes in Pilsen and Wicker Park from Wednesday to Sunday.

If you are in NYC, don't miss the opening reception "Of Strangers and Parrots", the first solo exhibition of Maryam Hose...
10/26/2017

If you are in NYC, don't miss the opening reception "Of Strangers and Parrots", the first solo exhibition of Maryam Hoseini (MFA 16') at Rachel Uffner Gallery on Sunday, Nov 5th.
Congratulations to Maryam Hoseini!

Maryam Hoseini, Overseas (Horizon), 2017, acrylic, ink and pencil on wood panel, latex paint on wall, 20 X 18 inches, overall dimensions variable.

10/11/2017

Congratulations to Sanaz Sohrabi (MFA 14') on opening of her solo exhibition "Documents Infield" at Coco Hunday in Tampa, FL. You can check out Sanaz conversation with Elliot Reichert:

Sanaz Sohrabi (Tehran.1988) works with image making and moving image practices in order to investigate the impermanence and malleability of archival records, historical narratives, production of imagery versus production of ideology and the role of images in shaping collective memory. She holds a BF...

"They" by Anahita Ghazvinizadeh (MFA 2013) will be part of this year Chicago International Film Festival.
09/20/2017

"They" by Anahita Ghazvinizadeh (MFA 2013) will be part of this year Chicago International Film Festival.

5 Likes, 1 Comments - Mass Ornament Films () on Instagram: “THEY's North American premier in Chicago! On October 13th, New Directors, Chicago International…”

Congratulations to Nazafarin Lotfi (MFA 11') for showing her work as part of Rhona Hoffman Gallery in EXPO CHICAGO. Naza...
09/15/2017

Congratulations to Nazafarin Lotfi (MFA 11') for showing her work as part of Rhona Hoffman Gallery in EXPO CHICAGO. Nazafarin is also part of Chicago Artists Coalition "The ANNUAL: An Exhibition of New Chicago Art", running through September 28.

Available for sale from Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Nazafarin Lotfi, Echoed Rings (2017), Panel, cable, papier-mâche, paint and ceramic, 19 × 9 × 26 in

Interested in Learning Persian Language? Curious to know about the Iranian Culture? Sign up for Chicago Persian School C...
09/05/2017

Interested in Learning Persian Language? Curious to know about the Iranian Culture? Sign up for Chicago Persian School Classes today: www.chicagopersianschool.org

Did you know that we have a FAST-TRACK class just for Teens and Young Adults who may understand some Persian but do not know how to read/write?
If you (or your son/daughter) like to read & write in Persian within 9 months, APPLY TODAY!
Choose from the two location/day options:
Sundays in Des Plaines OR Thursdays in Chicago
classes start on 9/10/2017
733 Lee St., Des Plaines, IL 60016
http://www.chicagopersianschool.org/adult-classes)
Questions: [email protected] , 847-868-0577

08/28/2017

What would you like to know about Iran?

Last Weekend to see Sedentary Fragmentation! Hours on Saturday, Aug 26th 1-6pm and Sunday, Aug 27th 1-5pm.
08/25/2017

Last Weekend to see Sedentary Fragmentation! Hours on Saturday, Aug 26th 1-6pm and Sunday, Aug 27th 1-5pm.

At Heaven Gallery, three generations of Iranian artists (and SAIC alumni) do much to expand the definition.

08/25/2017

In Sedentary Fragmentation, curator Kimia Maleki explores the legacy of the Art Institute of Chicago's influence on Iranian artists, stretching back from the 1950s until the present. View Post

[Displacement often results in a feeling of misplacement. “Sedentary Fragmentation” refers to the challenges of missing,...
08/14/2017

[Displacement often results in a feeling of misplacement. “Sedentary Fragmentation” refers to the challenges of missing, seeking, and recovering an inner state or territory. When an artist desires to move, to mobilize, and to create, it doesn’t happen instantly upon arrival. Disintegration of artistic practice tends to occur when there is a hesitation to understand the environment and to map out new territory. Creating a space can counterintuitively be acquired by remaining immobile, by re-creation through sedimentation.]

Catch the exhibition of Iranian and Iranian-American The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Alumni before it is closed by August 26th at Heaven Gallery. Fridays-Sundays 1-6pm

Talk & Performance: Sedentary Fragmentation at Heaven Gallery with performance "Mistakes Were Made" by Yasi Ghanbari who...
08/05/2017

Talk & Performance: Sedentary Fragmentation at Heaven Gallery with performance "Mistakes Were Made" by Yasi Ghanbari who made it from NYC for tonight and a talk by Anita Alkhas, Yasi Ghanbari, and Kimia Maleki. Make sure to stop by the exhibition before it is down on August 26th.

"Mistakes Were Made", a piece by Yasi Ghanbari (MFA 10')  was performed at Essex Flowers, NYC on Friday, July 28th. If y...
07/30/2017

"Mistakes Were Made", a piece by Yasi Ghanbari (MFA 10') was performed at Essex Flowers, NYC on Friday, July 28th. If you are interested to watch this performance, stop by Heaven Gallery of Chicago this Friday, August 4th at Talk & Performance: Sedentary Fragmentation.

www.sedentaryfragmentation.com
www.yasighanbari.com

Artists Talk: Sedentary Fragmentation took place at Heaven Gallery on Saturday, July 22. Thanks for those who came out. ...
07/23/2017

Artists Talk: Sedentary Fragmentation took place at Heaven Gallery on Saturday, July 22. Thanks for those who came out. Audio of the panel will be soon available on: www.sedentaryfragmentation.com

[She denied herself the easy path, choosing instead to tackle thornier issues. Her preferred method of working on a prob...
07/16/2017

[She denied herself the easy path, choosing instead to tackle thornier issues. Her preferred method of working on a problem was to doodle on large sheets of white paper, scribbling formulas on the periphery of her drawings. Her young daughter described her mother at work as “painting.”]

Stanford mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, the first and to-date only female winner of the Fields Medal since its inception in 1936, has died.

Sedentary FragmentationJuly 14– August 25, 2017 Opening: Friday, July 14, ​7–11pmConversation with artists: Saturday, Ju...
07/10/2017

Sedentary Fragmentation
July 14– August 25, 2017

Opening: Friday, July 14, ​7–11pm
Conversation with artists: Saturday, July 22, 4:30–6pm
Performance by Yasamin Ghanbari: Friday, August 4, 6:30-8pm

Heaven Gallery
1550 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60622

​sedentaryfragmentation.com

Featuring: Hannibal Alkhas (1930, Iran), Mehdi Hosseini (1943, Iran), Raha Raissnia (1968, Iran), Azadeh Gholizadeh (1982, Iran), Yasi Ghanbari (1984, USA), Nazafarin Lotfi (1984, Iran), Elnaz Javani (1985, Iran), Maryam Hoseini (1988, Iran), Sophie Loloi(1993, USA)

In 1952 an Iranian-Assyrian student Hannibal Alkhas came to the U.S to study medicine, but decided instead to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There he studied under Boris Anisfeld, one of his most influential teachers. After returning to Iran, Alkhas helped modernize the pedagogy of painting in the School of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran, where he taught many prominent Iranian artists. In 1963 another young artist, Mehdi Hosseini, came to Chicago and enrolled in the painting department at the School of the Art Institute. Having experienced the Midwestern art scene, he returned to Iran and started teaching at art universities, becoming one of the pioneers of Iranian contemporary art. Though he is not heavily represented on the market, he is one of the leading historians of Persian painting and is on the faculty of the University of the Arts in Tehran.

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, many families moved to the U.S to seek a better life. These families stayed and gave birth to children who are now second generation Iranian-Americans. A few members of this generation have chosen to pursue art and have been constantly challenged by issues of identity due to their dual heritage. Many have struggled against art criticism that uses their heritage as an interpretive lens for their practice, which raises the question: Why have art critics, curators and audiences persisted in identifying these artworks with a particular region?

In 2010, despite financial hardship and sanctions, the next generation of artists came from Iran to pursue their graduate degrees in American art schools, which had been an uncommon choice for the previous 30 years. The lack of Iranian artists in the Western art scene sets narrow expectations for these recent immigrants, who were forced to respond to their experience in a new environment.

“Sedentary Fragmentation” tries to bring together Iranian voices, generations, and alumni who studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but whose practices are individual and different. This exhibition will show how these nine artists subtly use and reveal their identities in a politically complex milieu. Showcasing archival materials from the artists’ experience in both Chicago and Tehran, this exhibition offers challenging points of view about several generations of artists who are often misrepresented by having identities placed upon them that do not define them as artists.

Curated by Kimia Maleki

05/30/2017
Congratulations to our very own Anahita Ghazvinizadeh (MFA 13') on screening of her feature debut "They" in Festival de ...
05/22/2017

Congratulations to our very own Anahita Ghazvinizadeh (MFA 13') on screening of her feature debut "They" in Festival de Cannes 2017 in France.

05/18/2017

Global Encounters Lunch at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a lunch-lecture series aimed at shedding light on ideas that transcend place and broadening and deepening our understandings of the world. Each lunch-lecture explores a specific topic from a global framework, highlighting specificity while acknowledging current trends. Come to eat, listen, and expand your world.

Videos of all lectures are available on:

https://saic.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Sessions/List.aspx ="336ff8db-2054-40bb-b378-42d208b28da0"

Iran presidential election is happening on Friday, May 19th. Here in this documentary, we watch a small impact of sancti...
05/17/2017

Iran presidential election is happening on Friday, May 19th. Here in this documentary, we watch a small impact of sanctions on Iranians' life and culture.

This film chronicles the five-year struggle of architect Amir Anoushfar and designer Shadi Parand to preserve one of Iran's largest historical buildings by t...

If you are in LA this weekend, don't miss the opening reception for "RECONSTITUTION" a group exhibition curated by Cathe...
04/21/2017

If you are in LA this weekend, don't miss the opening reception for "RECONSTITUTION" a group exhibition curated by Catherine Taft and Hamza Walker including works by Maryam Taghavi (MFA 17'), Kathryn Andrews, Shagha Ariannia, Gretchen Bender, Dawoud Bey, Mary Ellen Carroll, Ching Ho Cheng, Tseng Kwong Chi, Sonya Clark, Joeff Davis, Sid M. Duenas, Melvin Edwards, Ridykeulous (Nicole Eisenman & A.L. Steiner), Rafa Esparza, Lauren Davis Fisher, Arshia Haq, Rachel Harrison, Sharon Hayes, Edgar Heap of Birds, Brendan Fowler/Election Reform, Gronk, Anish Kapoor, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Kang Seung Lee, Zoe Leonard, Steve Locke, M (aka Michael Chow), Van McElwee, Harold Mendez, Mike Mills, Jenny Perlin, Jefferson Pinder, Christina Quarles, Umar Rashid, Marie “Big Mama” Roseman, Peter Saul, Augustus Sherman, Mark Themann, Danh Vo, Christine Wang, Timothy E. Washington, Lawrence Weiner, and the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

How to Be a Global Artist?Monday, April 17, 12:00-1:00pmSAIC Sullivan Galleries
04/16/2017

How to Be a Global Artist?
Monday, April 17, 12:00-1:00pm
SAIC Sullivan Galleries

As part of the Global Encountes Lunch please join us for our last talk of this semester: "How to Be a Global Artist?" by Ainehi Edoro.
Monday, April 17th, 12:00-1:00pm at SAIC Sullivan Galleries,
Ainehi Edoro is an Assistant Professor of English at Marquette University. She holds a doctorate degree from Duke University. She is the founder and editor of the African literary site called Brittle Paper: An African Literary Experience.

Hope to see everyone tonight in our first Docunight! 7:30pm School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1307 Maclean Building...
04/11/2017

Hope to see everyone tonight in our first Docunight! 7:30pm School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1307 Maclean Building.

Free and open to public.

If 18-year old Sonita had a say in things, Michael Jackson would be her father and Rihanna her mother. She captures her dream of being a famous rapper in her scrapbook.…

Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, (MFA 13) was back at SAIC after producing her first feature movie, “They”, which is at post-produ...
04/09/2017

Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, (MFA 13) was back at SAIC after producing her first feature movie, “They”, which is at post-production stage and will premiere in 2017. At this event, we screened two short movies by Anahita. The event was followed by a reception and discussion between the director and SAIC faculty member Daniel Quiles. We heared from Anahita about her experience, career, and life as an international student, alumni, and filmmaker.

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