TEHRAN – A collection of Western artworks from the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA), which previously had been slated for shipment to exhibitions in Berlin and Rome, was put on display at the museum on Tuesday.

A great number of artists and literati including Gholamhossein Naami, Mehdi Hosseini, and Mahmud Dowlatabadi attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

Speaking at the event, Majid Mollanoruzi, head of the Center for Visual Arts, said that the exhibit has been set up to provide a chance for Iranian artists to see the original collection, which was to be sent for the shows in Berlin and Rome.

He also said that part of the catalogue of the show, which only contains the images of the prints, has been prepared by the Lajevardi Foundation, adding, “The catalogue of the entire show will also be prepared within weeks.”

Mollanoruzi also remarked that the Western works have been selected by the directors of the museums of Berlin and Rome and the Iranian works being shown have been chosen by Mehdi Hosseini.

Secretary of the exhibit Gholamhossein Naami said, “If the exhibit had been opened in Berlin and Rome, it would have been to the benefit of Iranian art. However, we still believe that the exhibit might still be set up.”

The exhibition was set to open at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin in November 2016, and at the Maxxi Museum in Rome from March through August 2017. However, Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Reza Salehi-Amiri halted the plan for further investigation.
 
“The exhibition was canceled due to the legal ambiguity hidden in the agreement, and I proposed that the exhibit be canceled pending further investigation,” the minister said in his first press conference in February. 

Photo: Art aficionados visit an exhibition of a collection of Western artworks, which previously had been slated for shipment to exhibitions in Berlin and Rome, at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art on March 7, 2017. (Honaronline/Gatha Ziatabari) 

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