Performing the Iranian State

Visual Culture and Representations of Iranian Identity

Edited by Staci Gem Scheiwiller

Publication date:

15 February 2013

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780857282934

This book discusses what it means to “perform the State,” what this action means in relation to the country of Iran and how these various performances are represented. The concept of the “State” as a modern phenomenon has had a powerful impact on the formation of the individual and collective, as well as on determining how political entities are perceived in their interactions with one another in the current global arena.

Acknowledgments; A Note on Transliteration; 1. Introduction: Setting the Stage – Staci Gem Scheiwiller; I – THE QAJAR DYNASTY: 1786–1925: 2. The Photographic Source for a Qajar Painting – Donna Stein; 3. Cartographic Desires: Some Reflections on the “Shahr-e Farang” (Peepshow) and Modern Iran – Staci Gem Scheiwiller; 4. Takkiyeh Dowlat: The Qajar Theater State – Babak Rahimi; II – THE PAHLAVI DYNASTY (1925–1979) AND TRANSITIONAL PERIOD AFTER THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION (1978–1979): 5. For the Love of her People: An Interview with Farah Diba about the Pahlavi Programs for the Arts in Iran – Donna Stein; 6. Shaping and Portraying Identity at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (1977–2005) – Alisa Eimen; 7. Seismic Shifts across Political Zones in Contemporary Iranian Art: The Poetics of Knowledge, “Knowing” and Identity – Abbas Daneshvari; III – THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC: 1979–PRESENT: 8. Performativity and Ritual Space in Postrevolutionary Tehran – David Simonowitz; 9. Reclaiming Cultural Space: The Artist’s Performativity versus the State’s Expectations in Contemporary Iran – Hamid Keshmirshekan; 10. Female Trouble: Melancholia and Allegory in Contemporary Iranian Art – Andrea D. Fitzpatrick; IV – THE IRANIAN DIASPORA: 11. Performing Visual Strategies: Representational Concepts of Female Iranian Identity in Contemporary Photography and Video Art – Julia Allerstorfer; 12. Painted and Animated Metaphors: An Interview with Artist Alireza Darvish – Mina Zand Siegel and Carmen Pérez González; 13. In the House of Fatemeh: Revisiting Shirin Neshat’s Photographic Series “Women of Allah” – Staci Gem Scheiwiller; Illustrations; List of Contributors

“‘Performing the Iranian State’ is a timely and original contribution to Iranian studies. Beginning with the Qajar era and moving through discussions of the Pahlavi regime, the Iranian Revolution and the Iranian Diaspora, these essays present fascinating case studies of the productive function of visual culture and performativity in constructions of identity and state in Iran.” —Ali Behdad, John Charles Hillis Professor of Literature, UCLA