Iran, Where Mathematics is challenged!

Where Mathematics is challenged:

Last night in the cloudy sky of Austin I saw the crescent moon of June; a dash of hope in the gloomy days of my life.

I am from Iran; I study Art History. I live in Austin with a cat and a mathematician husband whose ultimate belief in mathematics was challenged a couple of weeks ago.

It was about three weeks ago around 2AM Tehran’s time, that Iran’s interior ministry with a speed unknown to men announced the results of the 10th Presidential Election; more than 20 million votes were counted and the winner of the presidential election was announced some hours later, as Ahmadinejad.

My husband said, the interior ministry people have probably failed their calculus courses in high school.

The next day when people, my friends and my fellow students, came to the streets to get their votes back, my family of 4 in Tehran extended to millions. It was yet another mathematically challenging equation.

Today, although we are far from Iran, we are standing side by side with our family of millions, with our fellow Iranians.

Since mathematics could not answer neither for the fraudulent election of June 2009, nor for my overgrown family, my mind is reaching out to any art historical analysis I have learned. So I may be able to bring some sense to what has shocked my people and me in these past weeks.

Iran, my country is in a Surreal State; a mixture of dreams and nightmares. People of course are trying to turn the dreams into reality and the nightmares into a minimal state.

I am from Iran, where mathematics is challenged and surrealistic nightmares are ruling.

Our Votes Are Stolen, But Not Our Hopes!

Iran: No to The Coup!

Where is My VOTE?
Where is the People's VOTE?
Where is OUR VOTE?

My country, Iran, is under Coup d'etat!

No to Coup d'etat!

PS. Thanks to T. for his unwanted corrections; it is good to know people care!

2009 Iranian Presidential Election:

On Iranian Presidential Election:
The 2009 presidential election in Iran has fully occupied my days in the past month. There are 3 candidates running besides the current president. They are: Mir-Hossein Mousavi (Independent Reformist), Mehdi Karroubi (Etemad-e Meli, Reformist) Mohsen Rezaee (Independent Conservative).

If you are interested and you are more comfortable reading the news on Iran's coming election in English these are some useful inks to check. Most of my links are from BBC News partly because I am an old BBC fan and in some parts because I think among other agencies BBC is relatively impartial.

Iranian presidential election, 2009 on Wikipedia
Iran's presidential candidates BBC
Iran presidential race appears to get tighter BBC
Big test for Iranian democracy BBC
Iran candidate backs women's rights BBC
Ahmadinejad courts a divided Iran BBC
Iran's Ahmadinejad lambasts opponents BBC
Will Iran's 'Marriage Crisis' Bring Down Ahmadinejad? Time

Build on your background information on Iran:
Iran History and Timeline
Iran in Maps
Country Profile
Iran: facts and figures
Guide: Who runs Iran
Iran's revolution turns 30

WE Will Vote!
We vote for those who Do Not Lie to us,
For those who Do Not Oppress us,
For those who Do Not Discriminate against
Women, Children and Minorities,
For those who are a step Forward in the Process of Reform!

Vote!

Row-Maker / Row-Breaker :

This sounds interesting:
Selseleh/Zelzeleh: Movers & Shakers in Contemporary Iranian Art

An exhibition of Contemporary Iranian Art in LTMH Gallery (Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery). It is a group exhibition featuring 40 artists from the post WWII to today. Selseleh/Zelzeleh stands for Tradition/Tremor. I would paraphrase it to Row-Maker /Row-breaker. The names that caught my eyes are: Parviz Tanavoli, Nazanin Pouyandeh, Sohrab Sepehri and ShirinNeshat. The exhibition will be on view until August 20th, 2009. If I make it to New York this summer this exhibition will be one of my visits.

Heech on a Chair, Parviz Tanavoli, 2007-8,

* Read more about the exhibition on Artlog: Selseleh / Zelzeleh: Movers & Shakers In Contemporary Iranian Art.

Summer Planning!

Today is one of those rare days that the air conditioning system in the Fine Arts Library is working in a desirable temperature, consistent with my mood. I am here trying to figure out what books I need to keep for the summer. I finished the semester by handing in all my papers last week and now I am planning for the summer. My mind tries very hard to block the depressing thought that I perhaps won’t see my family this summer; as far as my eyes are concerned my mind is not successful at all.

I will continue writing for Peyk newsletter. My latest column was on early photography in Iran inspired by a class I took this semester on Early Photography. The piece is a public introduction to amazing photographs of an often-unnoticed photographer, Antoin Sevruguin. You can check the PDF version of the piece on Peyk 121 English section.

Have you seen any interesting films recently? I hope to have a more active film life in the summer. No certain plans yet, but two movies per week is a start.

I will take two summer sessions of French; the registration will open again on May 26th. I have to be careful with the deadline; I’ve already missed an early registration. This is basically the only thing I am sure I will do.

The rest of my plans like many other times are more of a ‘Wish List’ rather than an organized schedule that one can follow and put check marks next to the tasks that are done. I am going to keep the wish list unpublished for the time being.


Just to make this post a bit interesting: I finally had the chance to visit Driscoll Villa at Laguna Gloria (AMOA). I had two failed attempts before, I got there every time when they were closing the villa. But this Sunday it was like magic. I made friends with the nicest lady one can imagine and she let me in for 10min. I will visit the villa again. She promised to tell me many interesting stories about Clara Driscoll.

Beverly Penn, Genius Loci: Villa (detail), 2007
Bronze, 72 x 72 X 12 inches