TEHRAN – The 11th National Biennial of Contemporary Iranian Ceramic Art was inaugurated at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center on Saturday after a nine-year hiatus.

The exhibition opened online for the viewers, however, the Visual Arts Office director, Hadi Mozaffari, the Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs, Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini, and the director of the event, Hirbod Hemmat-Azad, made the official opening statements and visited the exhibit on the opening day.

Hosseini said that poetry and ceramics with their long background in Iranian culture and history show that they have kept people and the artisans busy in the past.
 
“The varied works made in the past and the colorful ceramics including those used in the houses for both everyday use and for decorations indicate the usage of this art in the lives of Iranians,” he noted.

This biennial, which has resumed after 9 years, also indicated that Iran is a great and rich country, especially in the field of art with young artists.

“If we put the old heritage beside the ability of today we would see how useful this art of ceramics could be. Therefore valuable works will also be produced,” he remarked.

For his part, Mozzafari also noted that he is happy to see the biennial resumed after many years. He also hoped that they can provide more facilities for the artists and people to be able to visit the works while still observing health protocols. 

“We all try to form more art and visual biennials in the country and help revive old ones,” he added.

Hemmat-Azad also said that the organizers believed the event would inject hope and happiness among the artists and the people despite the hard days, and hoped that the biennial would be held under better conditions next year and would have better achievements.

The exhibit will be running for one month.

Photo: A ceramic installation is on view in the courtyard of Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center during the 11th National Biennial of Contemporary Iranian Ceramic Art on October 31, 2020. (Honaronline)

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