Night of Judgement/Daddy Kills People, at Dastan's Parallel Circuit in Tehran

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I already explained, in a post about Iranian artist Mamali Shafahi's Heirloom Velvet project, that while Mamali continues to work with Ali Eslami on his five-part VR project, nerd_funk, he's also producing sculptural pieces influenced by his father's paintings. 


In his latest exhibition, Night of Judgement/Daddy Kills People, at Parallel Circuit in Tehran, the new works are suddenly on an altogether bigger scale. As well as reliefs, there are gorilla 'totems' and large-scale free-standing sculptures, including a fountain and a rotating 'scorpion' throne. As usual, the works are fully installed, with a fluorescent grid design on walls and floors and coloured and UV lighting, and for the opening a live performance brought together a flautist, a sportsman and a flock of baby goats.

Installations of this kind will soon be used to house Mamali and Ali's nerd-funk experiences, creating an immersive environment linked to the content of each VR chapter, thus bringing both sides of Mamali's current artistic practice together as a logical whole.

A number of things about this show interest me in addition to the development of Mamali's work itself. With it, Dastan is pursuing its policy of bringing to Tehran, at the Parallel Circuit space, artistic projects of a kind never before seen there. Interest is high: over 800 people attended the opening. And Parallel Circuit is doing this in conditions that, to me, go well beyond the typical gallery experience in, say, Paris or New York.

In Paris, even at a vernissage, in most cases you're lucky to get a plastic cup of tepid water, beer or sour wine, and the handout is usually just a plain, printed text or, these days, a QR code on the wall. At Parallel Circuit, the exhibition 'statement' includes striking, custom-designed graphics, and the gallery premises include a coffee-bar and a book and gift shop, with merchandise related to the gallery programming. Western galleries might usefully take note.

This is a link to the exhibition on Datsan's website, where you can find the full, illustrated statement in Persian and English.

This is a link to another solo exhibition of similar works by Shafahi fils at Everyday Gallery in Antwerp, which opened on Saturday January 29 2022.

The following are some exhibition views (all photos by Matin Jameie), samples of the statement handout, and, finally, a brief BBC Persian TV report on the exhibition.








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