TEHRAN – The international section of the 10th Fajr International Festival of Visual Arts opened at the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Cultural Institute (ECI) on Wednesday.

About 70 works by 39 artists from 15 countries including Afghanistan, Switzerland, Greece, Italy and Germany are on view at the event that will run until March 16, the organizers announced.

Most of the works being shown were created by artists from Afghanistan. Winners will be granted a short-stay residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris.

The Cite Internationale des Arts is a foundation recognized as a public utility whose mission is to host foreign and French professional artists in residence. Each year, more than 1000 artists from more than 55 countries are staying in one of the 325 residency workshops.

Katerina Balamoti, the representative of the Greek Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Iran, also took part in the opening ceremony.

She said that this is the first time Greece is attending the festival. However, theater troupes from her country and Iran have held several joint performances.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by the organizers of Iran’s Fajr International Theater Festival and the Athens and Epidaurus Festival last month.

The national section of the Fajr International Festival of Visual Arts is underway at the Saba Art and Cultural Institute of the Iranian Academy of Arts.

Photo: Art enthusiasts visit the international section of the 10th Fajr International Festival of Visual Arts at the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Cultural Institute (ECI) in Tehran on February 7, 2018. (Honaronline/Mojtaba Arabzadeh)

RM/MMS/YAW