Artist Shirin Sabahi in conversation with curator Azar Mahmoudian about her forthcoming publication, Pocket Folklore, which will be published to go along Sabahi’s project on Noriyuki Haraguchi’s sculpture Matter and Mind (Oil Pool), permanently on view at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

The book gathers different forms of writing including a conversation with the artist, a short story about the individuals behind the objects fished from the pool, and a chemical analysis of the sump oil that was used to make the work in 1977. The book hosts a previously planned but not published booklet with an essay and a series of photographs of the construction of the oil pool by the first chief curator of the museum. The booklet follows the enveloping logic of the project, where artworks of different mediums sequentially encase one another.

The Contributors to the book are Negar Azimi, Media Farzin, Farnoosh Fathi, David Galloway, Adam Kleinman, Edit Molnár, Marcel Schwierin,and Sissel Tolaas. The book is designed by Louis Lüthi and is forthcoming from Edith-Russ-Haus and Roma Publications.

Shirin Sabahi is a Berlin-based artist and filmmaker. Recent exhibitions and screenings include Edith-Russ-Haus, Oldenburg (2018, solo), Beirut Art Center (2018), Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza (2018), Charim Galerie, Vienna (2017, solo), Tokyo Arts and Space (2017), and The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik (2017) amongst others.

Azar Mahmoudian is an independent curator and educator based in Tehran. Recent projects include the multi-chaptered film programme, Sensible Grounds, for Tensta Konsthall; SAVVY Contemporary; Fundació Antoni Tàpies; Royal College of Art; and Vilnius Academy of Arts, among others (2018-2020); and Shifting Panoramas at TMOCA, Tehran, and DAZ Berlin (2018). In 2016 Mahmoudian was part of the curatorial team of the 11^th Gwangju Biennial. She received an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London, and was awarded the Chevening Scholarship in 2008.

This event is part of the public programme accompanying the exhibition When Legacies Become Debts, curated by Azar Mahmoudian.

FREE

Please note, seats for this event are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis. 

Image: Shirin Sabahi, Pocket Folklore, 2018