Any other business

nerd_funk is the name of an ambitious, multi-faceted project by Ali Eslami and Mamali Shafahi. Ali and Mamali are both Iranian by birth but now based mainly in Europe. Ali is from a new-technology background but has gravitated towards art, and will soon take up a two-year residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Mamali is from a fine-arts background, but has developed a strong interest in new technologies, now often at the heart of his practice. Their profiles fit together neatly, like the pieces of a puzzle; this helps explain the unique strengths of their partnership in a project that combines art and high-tech. Shared interests Mamali and Ali discovered they shared a fascination with the impact on our lives, now and in the future, for good or ill, of new and emerging technologies, along with the now-ubiquitous phenomena, such as social media, they have made possible, and it was this shared interest that cemented their partnership. They're interested in how, already, technol...

  Homa Delvaray: Kolsum Naneh , Chapter 2, On the night of wedlock Only recently, as I did a bit of writing to help a friend curating an exhibition in Tehran (supposing it ever opens, as Covid gets worse, not better), did I start to discover the work of established graphic designer and visual artist Homa Delvaray. As I understand it, she started out working on graphic design 'standards' such as typography, posters, book design and corporate visual IDs, but has since extended her practice into handmade books, installations, sculpture and textiles, and as a result has started having her own solo exhibitions. What prompted me to post about Homa Delvaray was discovering this magnificent, hand-crafted book, Kolsum Naneh , based on selected chapters of a Qajar-era satire aimed, I take it, at promoting a more progressive attitude to women under Islam. Homa Delvaray will be one of ten artists from Iran and abroad in the exhibition I mentioned, scheduled to inaugurate a new contemporary...

Despite the catastrophic impact of U.S. sanctions on the Iranian economy, now compounded by the Covid-19 health crisis, somehow Tehran's art scene soldiers doggedly on. There's even something of a ' movida ' in the air, as galleries established in the north of town open up spaces in the newly-trendy mid-town area, home to the Pejman Foundation's spectacular conversion of an old brewery into a multi-purpose contemporary art centre: the Argo Factory . The bravest have also creatively revamped their business models to continue, exchange rates notwithstanding, to appear at international fairs  - if and when, these days, such events actually go ahead. Interestingly, what in the west is called 'outsider art' or ' art brut ' (according to Wikipedia , 'art by self-taught or naïve art makers') is quite a strong component of the contemporary art scene in Iran, where it isn't confined to specialist spaces, but shown by 'mainstream' galleries...

Surely one of the greatest of all illuminated manuscripts is the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp , produced in Tabriz for the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I in the first half of the 16th century. Famously, this book, sometimes called the Houghton Shahnameh , which survived intact until the 1970s, was broken up by its then owner, Arthur Houghton, partly to donate and partly for sale. Wikipedia tells the story , as also does this 1996 article from the International Herald Tribune , published when four pages came up for auction at Sotheby's in London. The Wikipedia page includes a link to a high-resolution reproduction of one of the most famous pages of the book, the  scene showing The Court of Gayumars , which can be greatly magnified, making it possible to to examine the fascinating details. As Wikipedia relates, in the 1990s a deal was made with the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) to swap a De Kooning painting for about 120 illuminated pages of the great Shahnameh . As far as I know...

The Trinity Apocalypse is a 13th-century illuminated manuscript, with texts in French, in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge . It contains 75 miniatures illustrating the life of St John and his visions. Some of them are absolutely outstanding. And the great thing is, you can browse through the whole book and magnify the pages to see the details  here . Photos: Trinity College, Cambridge

  I was alone during the first 2020 lockdown, and for evening meals, started making food that would last me two days or more. As I'm a lazy cook, that also meant making things that more or less cooked themselves, and didn't dirty many pots, me, or the kitchen. One of these dishes is a kind of chicken stew that, with rice, pasta or boiled potatoes, makes two good dinners for me. And the left-over sauce can then be resurrected on the third day to make a pasta dish in its own right. I buy a pack of four of what the French call ' hauts de cuisses ', i.e. the thighs only, without drumsticks, but of course you can buy whatever pieces you want. Place them in cold olive oil, skin-side down, in a wide pan, about four inches deep, then blitz them on a high heat, with the lid on : this way, you don't get oil and fat spitting all over the kitchen and burning your hands. While they're browning, cut up: one large onion garlic if there's any to hand a bulb of fennel or a ...

About a year ago now, during the first French lockdown (March to May 2020), with time on my hands and no interruptions or distractions, I decided to see if I could find decent materials online to learn conversational Persian. I'd had the same sort of idea about 10 to 15 years ago, when I decided that, holidaying in Greece every summer, I really ought to speak some Greek. But back then, for Greek, I couldn't find anything modern or really conversational, just old-fashioned courses with lots of grammar and the assumption that everything should be written in the Greek alphabet, not transliterated. I was therefore pretty amazed at the quantity and especially the quality of what's now on offer online, free or at little cost, for conversational Persian. Two complementary courses At beginner level, I used two main courses in parallel: the Iran Heritage Foundation's Persian Language Online , and the website Chai and Conversation .  The Iran Heritage course is centred on three ...

I had tickets to see Ann Hallenberg in Mahler's Song of the Earth in Berlin on April 5 2014, but had to cancel the whole trip for work. On April 8, this clip of Ann singing the Abschied was published on YouTube. On April 9, David, at just 27, took his own life and we lost an artist who could, I sincerely believe, even now have brought something quite new to the art of painting. For me, this Abschied has always been, since then, a farewell to David. As Peter Doig said , he will not be forgotten. The following Saturday, on a beautiful sunny day up in the snow-capped mountains: deep blue sky, white blossoms on the trees... I was at his funeral, where the crowd of those who loved him was such that many had to stay outside the church among the mountains of flowers, and inside, this was played:  ' Now I've heard there was a secret chord /  That David played, and it pleased the Lord...'

'He will not be forgotten' 'I loved David's work and really really liked him as a person - as a fellow artist and as a student. He first came to visit me in Düsseldorf from Lyon with his portfolio, and showed me his work. He asked if he could join my class and he said he felt he was marginalised making paintings in Lyon. I was immediately attracted to his painted language and the imagery that he worked with. I enjoyed having him in my class, as did all the students who worked there during this time. He was a very popular and respected student and even years after he left we talk about him and the work he made - wondering what he was up to. We kept in touch somewhat - I hoped to ski with him in Savoie, as this was a passion we both shared. Mostly though I hoped to see his work develop as I truly believe he was one of the most interesting and gifted young artists I have worked with. He will not be forgotten.' Peter Doig, April 2014, reprinted in the exhibition catalog...

BBC Radio has just issued a half-hour programme about the extraordinary permanent collection of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. I saw some of the collection when it was shown in the spring of 2017, after plans to send it on tour to Italy and Germany fell through. It includes some of the finest paintings I've ever seen. The BBC programme includes the story of the museum's Bacon triptych, the central panel of which shows two men in bed together. The triptych was shown at the opening event in Tehran in 2017, but the next day, only the two side panels were there, with an empty space and two hooks between... The museum has, by the way, just been thoroughly renovated, but remains closed because of the pandemic. Tehran's Bacon triptych in the reserves This is the link to the radio programme . This is a link to the Assouline book mentioned in the programme - not, by the looks of it, a serious art book and produced without even visiting the museum. Iran's culture minist...

Some wonderful things to see in the catalogue of this sale at Christies ... And an article and a video about the Qajar group portrait below.

I really didn't mean this new blog to turn into a food blog, but that seems to be the way it's going so far! Fava is another simple but excellent dish, as anyone who's been to Greece will know. Despite the obvious reference in the name to broad beans, it's a plain but delicious puree or 'porridge' of small, yellow split peas, associated with the island of Santorini. Fava with caper leaves... Until Covid locked us all down at home, I was in the habit of spending a couple of days, at the end of each year's summer holidays, on Santorini, and while there stocking up on the local fava 'beans', which bear a 'protected designation of origin' symbol. The last time I was there, the jeweller I buy my holiday presents from every year noticed I was carrying some fava and jars of capers, dashed off, and eventually came back with a giant bag of the former and a giant jar of the latter, so I was all set to weather the pandemic. Fava more or less makes itsel...

 I had no idea this was out there!

Art Dubai 2021, the first 'physical' art fair since Covid-19 shut everything down, ends today. The Financial Times has covered it this weekend under the headlines: Fanfare for Art Dubai as Gulf city pioneers return to normal Excitement surrounds first big fair of Covid era after months of cancellations and online-only events.   Dastan at Art Dubai. Photo: Ismail Noor Link to the article here . Is Art Dubai the Future of Art Fairs? The website hypebeast.com put a series of questions to galleries participating in the fair this year, including Dastan in Tehran, one of very few Iranian galleries that, pre-Covid, continued to show at international fairs in spite of the catastrophic effect severe US sanctions have had on exchange rates, making the cost of international fairs prohibitive for most. Link to the article here . Link to Dastan's website pages covering the fair here .

I was at the greengrocer's on the rue de Bretagne yesterday to buy more asparagus, when I saw they now also had baby broad beans. So after last night's baked asparagus, tonight's starter will be habitas con jamón , beans with ham, another springtime treat I can't get enough of. I sometimes wonder when and how people realised some foods have particular affinities with each other. When I was a child, in England, we occasionally had broad beans with bacon. The bacon fat was poured over the beans. Those were inch-long beans, boiled. I first had the Spanish version, habitas con jamón in a back-street family tavern in Sitges. Since then, any time I see it on a Spanish menu I have it. There's even less to this than to baking asparagus. As usual with very simple recipes, the better the produce you use, the better the result will be. I envy anyone who has broad beans in the garden. But I like habitas con jamón so much I'll do them with whatever I can get my hands on, w...

While on the subject of asparagus, this is another dish that's best with French asparagus, but I also make it with the Spanish stuff, or even, at a pinch, with asparagus flown in from Latin America at other times of year. In Rome one sunny day, probably about twenty years ago, I had lunch alone in a restaurant just off the via Condotti. I chose farfalle with asparagus. They mixed the asparagus with spring onion, cream and chervil. It seemed a bit bland to me (and stingy with the asparagus, as usual in restaurants) and I thought, as sometimes happens, I could probably do something similar but better myself. Here's what I've done ever since. I use one bunch of green asparagus to make generous, main-course portions for two people . You could make more reasonably-sized portions for three, and no doubt a decent starter for four. Cut off the bottom half of the stalks and blanch the top half for a few minutes in boiling water, with the fragile tips over the side of the pan, rathe...

'In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.' It's a long time since I was a young man, so my thoughts turn to other things... French asparagus is now in the shops. For me, that means asparagus every week over the next couple of months (and strawberries for pudding), to make the most of it. Many years ago, in Cambridge, a friend served it to me baked and dredged with parmesan, and that's how I've cooked it most often ever since. It could hardly be called a 'recipe' as there's nothing to it. I use a bunch of green asparagus per person , for generous portions as a starter. You could probably use two bunches for three people, or even for four if you serve some Parma or San Daniele ham with it, or if your plan is to use the asparagus as the side dish to a main course. I cut off the bottom half of the stalks; maybe a bit less if they aren't tough. The discarded stalks can (and often do) go into a cold asparagus soup. I lay th...

Since 2007, I've kept a blog about operas and concerts I've been to, and the content actually goes back as far as March 2003: when I created We left at the interval , I included an archive of articles I'd already written and posted elsewhere. So at the time of posting this, it covers eighteen years of performances (supposing this past Covid year counts). Kévin Bray: Ils se reposent (2019) But I've now decided to keep a second blog for any other topics - i.e. anything and everything other than operas and concerts.  Here it is.