Tehran – The collective visual arts exhibition entitled “In Praise of Life” to commemorate legendary filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami will open on Friday at the Iranian Artist Forum (IAF).
Featuring works from a variety of media including painting, sculpture, photography, installations, digital art, video art and mixed media, the event brings together 161 artists of different generations on Tuesday.
Curated by Arash Reisian, the exhibition aims to celebrate Kiarostami’s enduring legacy through contemporary artistic interpretations.
The exhibition will be open to the public until August 17th.
Kiarostami was a film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer and film producer. The active 1970 filmmaker was involved in the production of over 40 films, including shorts and documentaries. He received critical acclaim for directing “Close-Up” (1990), “The Wind Carries Us” (1999), and “Taste of Cherry” (1997). He made his first films in Iran and Japan, later works, Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012), respectively.
He was a member of the filmmakers of Iran’s New Wave, a Persian film movement that began in the late 1960s, and emphasized the use of poetic dialogue and all-talented storytelling on philosophical issues. He is known for using Persian poetry in his film dialogue, title and themes. His films contain a prominent degree of ambiguity, an unusual mix of simplicity and complexity, and, in many cases, a mix of fictional documentary elements. The concept of change and continuity plays a major role in Kiarostami’s work, in addition to the themes of life and death.
Kiarostami, the winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for “Taste of Cherry,” died of cancer on July 5, 2016 at the age of 76.
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