Center for Contemporary Art2014-2016
About
Sazmanab was a contemporary art center in downtown Tehran with a vibrant program of exhibitions and events. Sazmanab supported artistic work through a program of exhibitions, residencies, workshops, talks, and other events. Sazmanab was founded in 2008 by artist-curator Sohrab Kashani as an art space and was originally based in a small apartment in north-west of Tehran.
Cinétracts by Other Means (2015), a collaboration with Roaming Academy (Doreen Mende and The Otolith Group)
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In early 2014, Sazmanab began the relocation process to an old building on Khaghani St. near Darvaze Dolat in downtown Tehran. The neighbourhood was made up of wood shops, car repair shops, and warehouses. Sazmanab had its reopening and the launch of the new Ab/Anbar gallery (a gallery Kashani co-founded in the same building) in October 2014 with an exhibition by Iranian-born artist Babak Golkar. Ab/Anbar gallery hosted—and at times co-hosted with Sazmanab—exhibitions by Iranian artists from the diaspora.
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Team
Founding Director: Sohrab Kashani
Curator: Sohrab Kashani
Interns and volunteers:
Manzar Samii (2014), Cornelia Harper Tang (2014), Ziba Jassemi (2014), Namdar Shirazian (2014), Mahsa Biglow (2015), Elshan Azadi (2015), Homa Ershad Sarabi (2015), Mostafa Ebadollahi (2015), Houman Amiri (2015), Amirhosein Sadat Hoseini (2015), Mohammad Zarrinmehr (2015), Afra Mirfarsi (2015), Lydia Hauth (2015), and Zahra Yousefi (2015)
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Programs
Sazmanab set up more than fifty events and exhibitions at its Khaghani St. venue. Events included talks, presentations, lectures, panels, discussions, workshops, performances, screenings, book launches, and audio/visual performances.
Compass Trouble Again (2015), exhibition by Sazmanab artist-in-residence Thomas Jeppe
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Sazmanab was the first open-call residency program in Tehran. From 2011 to 2014, most Sazmanab's residents were housed in Sazmanab's previous venue in north-west of Tehran. From 2014 to 2016, Sazmanab residents were provided with living and working space in other locations in Tehran, some held in collaboration with KAAF Institute in Tehran.
Residents:
Thomas Jeppe (artist, 2015), Manuel Buerger (graphic designer, 2015), Mette Juul (artist, 2014), Reza Aramesh (artist, 2014), Ala Ebtekar (artist, 2015), Jon Rubin (artist, 2015), Mark Allen (artist, 2015), Dejan Kaludjerović (artist, 2015), Julie Vayssière (artist, 2015), and Marie-Line van Vuuren (artist, 2015)
Conversations: Iran (2015), project and exhibition by Sazmanab artist-in-residence Dejan Kaludjerović
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Sazmanab's library held a variety of books, journals, and other publications related to the arts, cultural discourses, and social sciences. While there was an assortment of texts, there were specific sections dedicated to art history, monographs on artists, and exhibition catalogues featuring the work of artists from Iran, the Middle East, and other parts of the world. The library also held publications produced by Sazmanab. Sazmanab Library was e-flux's official distributor in Iran from 2011 to 2016.
Photobook Tehran at Sazmanab (2015), a collaboration with International Center for Photography in New York (ICP)
Back to topDigital Archive
The Sazmanab Digital Archive included the documentation of all Sazmanab's projects and events, archived live-stream footage of Sazmanab during its events, and Sazmanab's video and film archive “Sazmanab Video Library”.
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Video Library
Sazmanab Video Library (also known as: Lost in Teh(e)ran and Tehran Video Forum) was a database of Iranian video work and film formed by Sazmanab in 2011 and made public in 2012. Sazmanab Video Library was an innovative platform for artists working with video and film. The mission of Sazmanab Video Library was to collect and catalogue a large variety of different works that were made available for screenings, exhibitions, and acquisitions. The database was a resource for artists, educational institutions, museums, galleries, and cultural centers.
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Press (selected)
Guggenheim Blogs
TIME Travel+Leisure
ArtAsiaPacific (Almanac 2016)
Foreign Policy
The Stream, Al Jazeera English TV
Washington Post
Yahoo News AFP
The GW Hatchet
Observer
New York Times Style Magazine
Huffington Post
Telemundo
Windows Blogs, Microsoft
Yale Daily News
New York Times
In The Air, Blouin ARTINFO
VOA News, Voice of America
Huffington Post
New Haven Independent
One Quarter Journal
L’Oeil de la Photographie
PRI
WNYC News, WNYC
Skype Blogs, Skype
BBC Persian TV
ABC News
Fareed Zakaria GPS, CNN
artnet News
Reuters
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Credits / Acknowledgements (2008-2016)
Photos courtesy of Sazmanab, taken by Mehdi Alizadeh, Farhad Bahram, Mahsa Biglow, Anita Esfandiari, Amirali Ghasemi, Haleh Ghasemi, Kiana Hayeri, Ziba Jassemi, Sohrab Kashani, Atousa Khalaj, Keiman Mahabadi, Omid Mehdizadeh, Maryam Mohammadi, Parichehr Momtahan, Siavash Naghshbandi, Shirin Rezaee, Orkideh Rezapour, Setareh Soheili, and others.
Identity & Art Direction: Sohrab Kashani
Web Development: Sohrab Kashani
Off-site venues and hosting partners in Tehran included: Aaran Gallery, Azad Gallery, Charsoo Art Institute, Dastan's Basement, KAAF Institute, Mohsen Gallery, Silk Road Gallery, among others.
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