remember this? I sent my prayer book to new zealand for an exhibition display involving prayer books from all around the world. last weekend it was on show, and today I got a mail with some pictures of the exhibition, and a very positive note: "I have been notified in the past several days that the work I exhibited (prayer book suitcase) has been nominated as a candidate to be exhibited in the New Zealand national Art Gallery in Auckland."
so cool!
first picture is from the entire exhibition:
you can see the Shrine of the Báb, the terraces, and a display of a prayer book.
the second picture shows the actual case with the prayer books from around the world. "my" book is the one that is covered with a light brown leather thing, top left on the bottom. and my envelope is the white one in the front, a bit to the left of the middle. five huge stamps and a small blue etiquette on it:
it's an incredibly cool project that he managed to pull off, I am amazed and so happy that I was able to support and help it.
I will end this post with the "artist statement", a bit long, but well worth reading:
I want to develop in my own practice a language of expression that is different to the norms of what art is in this present time we live in. I want to create a body of artworks that when we look at it, we experience something symbolizing a spiritual concern and thereby tapping into one's subconscious. My practice is a tribute to a universal force, offering a glimpse to a concept greater than the artwork itself. "In every Atom he finds traces of a Sun." [1] As artists using the creative thought we have the capability within us to discover and express the reality of things, and penetrate the mysteries of existence through the arts.
The world is evolving into a world community and so are its cultures and spiritual beliefs. As mankind evolves throughout the ages, so does its art. It is certain that with the spread of the spirit and teachings of The Bahai Faith a new era will dawn in the arts, reflecting the spiritual nature of the world becoming an ever evolving global civilization. Every Religion has brought with it some form of art. Such a glorious new faith should give birth to a glorious art that resembles the spirit of its truth. When the spirit of the Bahai teachings is reflected within an artists work, it will touch the hearts of men.
No matter what work of art and of what culture, it is a living teacher forever of mankind's evolutionary development.
"In this wonderful new age art is worship. The more thou strives to perfect it, the closer thou wilt come to God. What bestowal could be greater than this, that one's art should be even as the act of worshipping the Lord? That is to say, when thy fingers grasp the paintbrush, it is as if thou wert at prayer in the temples." [2]
I embarked on a grand scale work that is based around the theme of universal unity in prayer and Bahai Pilgrimage. My work represents the diversity of the Bahai faith globally and the spiritual power this faith resembles, about 55 people participated, from 35 countries in 20 languages, it is truly a global collective collaboration of cultures around the world and sends a spiritual message of the collective unity that the Bahai's are capable of.
It is an installation styled work, containing a briefcase filled with Bahai prayer books. The postal envelopes themselves containing the prayer books sent from different continents embarked on a journey that was in itself a pilgrimage to New Zealand. Using found objects or materials that already carry significance and a history of its own before it is put into the context of a new work fascinates me - it adds more flavor and meaning. I also took into account the nature of what a prayer book is, what prayer means to people and its power. The prayer books themselves have so many personal stories within them from the individuals that sent them. These books have been held so many times and have been used for so many reasons when praying, they contain so many memories. I like the concept that the suitcase contains all these prayer books and memories from people all over the world. Each prayer book is a part of its owner and in most cases have been with them their whole lives. The participants have shown detachment departing with something that is so personal and precious to them. My placing their prayer books in the suitcase makes them part of the work on a personal level. They have shown that regardless of where they are from and regardless of how different their backgrounds and cultures are, they share one unifying force – their spiritual belief that mankind is one.
We live in a time when there are constant advances in communication technologies that open broad avenues of interaction among the planet's diverse populations. Artists should use this global communication and diversity of the world's people as a tool to express the arts. I have used the power of the Internet and e-mail to create a global network for this art collective. The communication back and forward between me and the participants is an artwork within itself, renewing old friendships and coming into contact with people I have never met. Thus new relationships were created through global communication and networking involving people all over the world. I have used modern age technologies to communicate an idea of spirituality through the arts.
Shahriar Asdollah-zadeh
--------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Writings from the Bahai Faith
[2] Ibid
so cool!
first picture is from the entire exhibition:
you can see the Shrine of the Báb, the terraces, and a display of a prayer book.
the second picture shows the actual case with the prayer books from around the world. "my" book is the one that is covered with a light brown leather thing, top left on the bottom. and my envelope is the white one in the front, a bit to the left of the middle. five huge stamps and a small blue etiquette on it:
it's an incredibly cool project that he managed to pull off, I am amazed and so happy that I was able to support and help it.
I will end this post with the "artist statement", a bit long, but well worth reading:
I want to develop in my own practice a language of expression that is different to the norms of what art is in this present time we live in. I want to create a body of artworks that when we look at it, we experience something symbolizing a spiritual concern and thereby tapping into one's subconscious. My practice is a tribute to a universal force, offering a glimpse to a concept greater than the artwork itself. "In every Atom he finds traces of a Sun." [1] As artists using the creative thought we have the capability within us to discover and express the reality of things, and penetrate the mysteries of existence through the arts.
The world is evolving into a world community and so are its cultures and spiritual beliefs. As mankind evolves throughout the ages, so does its art. It is certain that with the spread of the spirit and teachings of The Bahai Faith a new era will dawn in the arts, reflecting the spiritual nature of the world becoming an ever evolving global civilization. Every Religion has brought with it some form of art. Such a glorious new faith should give birth to a glorious art that resembles the spirit of its truth. When the spirit of the Bahai teachings is reflected within an artists work, it will touch the hearts of men.
No matter what work of art and of what culture, it is a living teacher forever of mankind's evolutionary development.
"In this wonderful new age art is worship. The more thou strives to perfect it, the closer thou wilt come to God. What bestowal could be greater than this, that one's art should be even as the act of worshipping the Lord? That is to say, when thy fingers grasp the paintbrush, it is as if thou wert at prayer in the temples." [2]
I embarked on a grand scale work that is based around the theme of universal unity in prayer and Bahai Pilgrimage. My work represents the diversity of the Bahai faith globally and the spiritual power this faith resembles, about 55 people participated, from 35 countries in 20 languages, it is truly a global collective collaboration of cultures around the world and sends a spiritual message of the collective unity that the Bahai's are capable of.
It is an installation styled work, containing a briefcase filled with Bahai prayer books. The postal envelopes themselves containing the prayer books sent from different continents embarked on a journey that was in itself a pilgrimage to New Zealand. Using found objects or materials that already carry significance and a history of its own before it is put into the context of a new work fascinates me - it adds more flavor and meaning. I also took into account the nature of what a prayer book is, what prayer means to people and its power. The prayer books themselves have so many personal stories within them from the individuals that sent them. These books have been held so many times and have been used for so many reasons when praying, they contain so many memories. I like the concept that the suitcase contains all these prayer books and memories from people all over the world. Each prayer book is a part of its owner and in most cases have been with them their whole lives. The participants have shown detachment departing with something that is so personal and precious to them. My placing their prayer books in the suitcase makes them part of the work on a personal level. They have shown that regardless of where they are from and regardless of how different their backgrounds and cultures are, they share one unifying force – their spiritual belief that mankind is one.
We live in a time when there are constant advances in communication technologies that open broad avenues of interaction among the planet's diverse populations. Artists should use this global communication and diversity of the world's people as a tool to express the arts. I have used the power of the Internet and e-mail to create a global network for this art collective. The communication back and forward between me and the participants is an artwork within itself, renewing old friendships and coming into contact with people I have never met. Thus new relationships were created through global communication and networking involving people all over the world. I have used modern age technologies to communicate an idea of spirituality through the arts.
Shahriar Asdollah-zadeh
--------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Writings from the Bahai Faith
[2] Ibid
Hello, this is Shahriar.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this on your blog, and thank you for being apart of it in spirit.