Standardisation and the Question of Identity: On The Dominant Discourses on Contemporary Iranian Art
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Hamid Keshmirshekan * |
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Abstract: (9821 Views) |
This article deals with the discourse of cultural globalisation and related issues such as the
global market and cultural industry, which emerged as recent seminal factors within the context
of Iranian culture, art and artistic practice during the recent history of Iran. Moreover, it seeks
to explore the inevitable issues drawn from the process of globalisation, namely the forces of
standardisation, question of identity, i.e. local, historical, imaginative and collective identity,
which were followed by artistic production and thereafter other consequences and critical
discussions, located differently by generations in the contemporary Iranian art scene. Accordingly
the treatment of the subject is thematic rather than historical or chronological. Examining visual
culture in post-revolutionary Iran, with particular emphasis on the recent developments—from
the late 1980s onwards—this article then attempts to deal with the works of artists who are likely
to involve some account of the historical specificity of their context, as well as an exploration of
the ways in which the artists’ focal beliefs about national identity, social relations and cultural
essentialism find expression in their work. It will then address how an intellectual and aesthetic
change that is also intended to initiate a contribution to global culture becomes almost a desire
for the new generation. It will examine the role of the new developments in the art market in
the transformation of aesthetics and expectation. It seeks to show the sometimes contradictory
relationship between international markets and local expectations and domestic forces opposed
to globalisation. It will address questions such as how the locality of artists has been established,
and how an effect of the globalisation process and globalising forces can directly influence the
representation of such a locality in their art. |
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Keywords: Contemporary Iranian art, globalisation, standardisation, identity, cultural essentialism, global art market |
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Full-Text [PDF 1281 kb]
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special Received: 2015/03/11 | Accepted: 2015/03/11
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