But Meaning... is a one-to-one scale prototype of a garden design and the stage of a dialogue between the mind and love. While borrowing the language of painting, sculpture, architecture and video, the piece works by slightly shifting the meaning of each. The plinths traditionally used to display sculptures are used as monochrome canvases placed in a grid across a field. All the sculptures are missing but one. A fallen plinth breaks the order of the abstract colour grid. Next to it stands a tall steel structure, a piece of architecture. Architecture’s entry into the scene introduces verticality and opens up a new space. With the rhythm of speech, above the plinths’ horizon line the ‘subtitles’ of this otherwise silent stage scroll on the white walls. From the stage, the viewer reads the text.

Marco Djermaghian aka Marco Say is an Architect who lives and works between Tehran and Kashan. He aspires to become a Hip-Hop Artist/Guru/Gardener while immersing himself in the Moving Image. In 2012 he started the design of “The House of Shams” which is an Art & Architecture Project centred around the 13th Century Poet and Mystic Jalal-al-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī aka Rumi. The House of Shams is a Split Institution, with two physical structures: one in Kashan and one in Tehran. The Primary aim of the Institution is more or less clear: It is the development of research around the writings of Rumī through new translations and seminars in the form of books, publications, podcasts, Skype talks, portals, recordings and videos. The Secondary aim of the Institution is rather obscure: It proposes a Journey through Contemporary Culture and Metropolitan Life with Rumī as a Guide, Critic, Partner, Commentator and Agent Provocateur.

Venue: Sazmanab (Khaghani St.)
May 15 – June 4, 2015
Opening reception: Friday, May 15 – 3-10 PM