A Postcard from Tehran
An Exhibition in Seattle centering the Experience of Immigration and the Process of Transforming an Unfamiliar City into a Home
What happened: Postcard from Tehran, was a two chapter art exhibition in which ANTiPODE framed Tehran and Seattle as cultural antipodes and explored their relationship by showcasing video art, drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures, installations, and posters. For this exhibition we collaborated with prominent artists who maintain a connection to Tehran, whether physically or in heart. Postcard from Tehran was presented at Railspur Building in Seattle.
In the first chapter, in November 2023, ANTiPODE activated the 7th and 8th floors of the RailSpur Building with a multi media group exhibition of Iranian artists and events including film screenings curated from Tehran and Jazz nights and experimental music performances featuring local artists from Seattle.
In the second chapter, in January 2024, the exhibition was moved to the first floor. This extension included selected artworks from the previous exhibition and works from two new artists: one Iranian artist based in Tehran and one American-Ukrainian artist based in Seattle. Additionally, part of the space was transformed into a temporary artist studio where the audience could learn more about the process of creation and see the results of a collaborative project of two artists.
Statement: We are often attracted to people with opposite personalities and looks, opposite imperfections, perhaps to cancel out our own imbalances. Not because a tall morning person is the best partner for a short night owl but because, as the grumpy German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer puts it, the will-to-life force inside us wants us to give birth to balanced babies. Forget about how wrong Schopenhauer might be for a second and let’s extend his theory of attraction to cities. Yes, cities and not countries. Because, unlike countries, cities are not just dead myths whose agents end our romantic relationships, waste our lives with mandatory military services, reject our visas, and ban us from dancing in our friends’ weddings or holding our parents’ hands after chemo sessions. Unlike countries, cities are real; They have meanings and personalities. We can love them, hate them, live them, leave them, and they can live together inside us jetlagged immigrants who never fully leave and never fully arrive. We, like children of divorce, force cities to transform their differences into commonalities; we keep living the double life, with all its advantages and traumas, and become bridges that house their long-distance relationships.
Being that bridge for over a decade we believe that Seattle and Tehran share the requisite opposite imperfections to have strong feelings for each other. Tehran: an unintentional aimless train that is often cruel and always late; Seattle: an intentional healthy high-tech canoe that is sometimes naive and always in motion. Tehran: a concrete jungle full of hopelessness and past, wherein randomness murders tomorrow and pain and pleasure walk hand in hand. Seattle: a calm lake full of control and productivity, wherein minutes are important and tomorrow is the main object of worship. They would be strongly into each other, don’t you agree?
In “Postcard from Tehran”, ANTiPODE wants to explore this potentially charged relationship by presenting video art, experimental music, short/long films, drawing, paintings, prints and posters from leading artists who still live in Tehran (either physically or in heart) to force Seattle and Tehran to interact, so they can give birth to balance, we feel at home for a while, and like-minded artists in Tehran and Seattle create meaningful long-term connections.