Club 29 is a temporary platform that seeks to reconsider notions of exhibition space. The first part of this research project has been accomplished through a collaboration between Canadian and Iranian artists, and provides different experiences for viewers and participants throughout the course of the exhibition. Club 29 consists of an installation and discursive, performative programs.
Club 29 reviews the collected narratives and archives of Rasht 29 Club (1967-1970, Tehran), which was the first non-profit art space in Iran founded by architect Kamran Diba, artist Parviz Tanavoli and musician Roxana Saba. The main concept for the club was to create a space for artists from various fields to gather, eat, drink, study and exchange ideas around art and culture. This unique space held a permanent exhibition of works by artists who frequented the club and organized programs such as poetry readings, musical performances, theatrical rehearsals and even artist studios. The first art auction in Iran was also held at this club.
Club 29’s installation and performances include: Approximation, Rasht 29 (Kelly Lycan); Rasht 29 History (Elham Puriya Mehr); Curtain lecture (Elham Puriya Mehr); Baby Odyssey (Natalie Purschwitz); Portal (Natalie Purschwitz); Intermezzos in Memory of Zaven Hakopian (Vedad FamourZadeh); Finger and Food and Flowers (Derya Akay); Lifting Workshop with Super Sohrab (Sohrab Kashani) and Pass and Pause: Iranian Architecture Revisited (Reza Haeri). In addition, readings of interviews, screenings of silent videos, poetry and 60s magazine readings as well as workshops is conducted. Program concept and installation by Kelly Lycan.
Club 29 has been made possible through the main support of Ag Galerie (Iran), in collaboration with KAAF Non-Profit Art Institute (Iran); to elaborate: discenter for curatorial projects (Canada), BC Arts Council (Canada) and The Canada Council for the Arts.
Research Assistant: Sara Shaban-Azad
Design: Empty Space Studio
Editors: Tobin Gibson (English) Dr. Farzan Sojoudi (Farsi)
Artists’ Residency: KAAF Non-Profit Art Institute
Acknowledgement:
Simindokht Dehghani, Sadra Keyhani, Sara Shaban-Azad, Kamran Diba, Parviz Tanavoli, Zohreh Waibel, Mahdyar Jamshidi, Tobin Gibson, Dr. Farzan Sojoodi, Dr. Mohammad Reza Haeri, Faryar Javaherian, Iraj Kalantari, Roham Maghsouldou, Goli Emami, Bahram Bakhtiar, Jamshid Tanavoli, Karl Schlamminger, Lili Golestan, Omid Tehrani, Nader Mobargha, Shahnaz Khansari, Ali Zanjani, Handuo Zhang, Mobasher Nekouei, Fahimeh Sadeghian, Samar Saremi, Mohammad Reza Khajavi, Nazanin Attarha, Babak Kouhestani, Farmehr Beyglou, Nazlee Markowsky, Nadeem Kajani, Bob Brown, Saeed Tajadod, Helen Naghilou, Dariush Ahmadi, Fatemeh Tavakolli, Abnous Alborzi, Salma Nobakht, Abbas Mashhadi Zadeh, Ramin Nafisi, Ali Pouriamehr, Hamoon Beheshti, Bamdad International House Cinema Theater Academy, and Maryam Naraghi.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153
