TEHRAN – The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA), which was under restoration for over two years, will reopen on Thursday with an exhibition displaying works by a number of Western photographers and conceptual artists who protested against the Vietnam War.

Artworks by Dennis Oppenheim, Gordon Matta-Clark, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Edward Ruscha and several other artists have been selected for the exhibition.

“The artists were not necessarily photographers but they made use of photos to show their objections,” TMCA director Ehsan Aqai said during a press conference held at the museum on Tuesday.

The museum will receive a limited number of visitors on the opening day.

The museum also plans to showcase a private collection of Iranian artist Manijeh Miremadi and her husband Jamshid Nasseri under the title of “Souvenir”.

“The collection is a real gift that shows the artistic life of this couple who collected rare and precious items,” Aqai added.

Miremadi was one of the pioneers who established the Iran Art Publications after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, while Tavoos, the first bilingual electronic periodical of Iran was established by Miremadi. 

“Mr. Nasseri also agreed that the collection can be loaned for exhibits in the country’s other museums of contemporary art,” Aqai stated.
 
“The museum will be open to the public next week on Tuesday, however, there will be more restrictions on the number of visitors and they need to reserve tickets in advance,” he noted.

There are plans to establish virtual visits to the museum soon, he said.

Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini, also attending the conference, said that he seriously pursued the restoration project and that the project took a long time, since there were serious basic repairs required.

Visual Arts Office director Hadi Mozaffari, also attending the conference, said that a databank will be available to the public before the reopening of the museum.

Established in 1977, the TMCA is home to works by many august artists of the West, including Claude Monet, Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, and notable in the world for its historical narration of art with the largest collection of Western art that exists in the East.

Photo: Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA).

RM/MMS/YAW