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Utne Magazine May-June 2006 USA
Ahmad Nadalian
Nadalian: River Art An interview by John K. GRANDE Nadalian is an Iranian sculptor whose life's work involves engendering respect for living creatures and the natural environment. To achieve this, besides living with nature himself, he established sculpture grounds in a peaceful environment in natural surroundings. Water is a living element that contributes to his sculptures, and many of the symbols he engraves and sculpts are derived from ancient mythology and the rituals of pre-Islamic civilizations. more
By carving simple fish shapes and other forms onto small stones and river rocks, artist Ahmad Nadalian seeks to repopulate the spirit of neglected streams and rivers in his native Iran and around the world and share these treasures with future generations. more
About Ahmad Nadalian
"I was so impressed with your concept, working at low tide in the early mornings to carve signs that during the day would be concealed. It calls into question so much about time, history, language, meaning, and sculpture." More
About Ahmad Nadalian
By : Edward Lucie-Smith
In Iran, Ahmad Nadalian (b.1963) is in the process of creating an immense River Art installation along the banks and amidst the waters of the Haraz River, near Mount Damavend. More
On 14 Nov 2002 Edward Lucie-Smith in a lecture at the British Museum said: "works by Nadalian being the most advanced of its kind, especially the way in which you use the internet".
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The International Center for Creation and exhibition of Art in Nature Nadin Reschke [so far so good- so weit so gut] >So far so good< is a travel project that deals with the idea of transforming public space temporarily into private or >home< space. A tent construction designed and sewed of parachuting silk builds a portable home while travelling, as it is easy to carry and yet ideal for creating a personal and intimate space.
The tent is one of the oldest forms of transportable accommodation and in times of globalisation and the urgent need for mobility it creates a “perfect” home. The tent is mobile which means it can be pitched or be packed up wherever needed and so create a space for meeting and contact or retreat. The artist aims to transfer public spaces into something new for a temporary time. The project rises questions about nomadic lifestyle and the process of transition an cultural identity. It supports the idea of trans-culture rather than concepts of multi-culture or globalization which are trying to overemphasize or diminish the cultural differences apparent on the globe. Nadin Reschke-Kindlimann uses the tent silk as a sketch book - embroidering her notions and observations about the different cultures onto the surface. The thread therefore functions like a pen and the cloth becomes a three-dimensional image area. With time more and more embroideries will cover the area and create a complex almost abstract pattern. Cognitively the images will interfere, cover and overlap over one another just like impressions and new experiences happen through the mind. The artist chose embroidering because it evidently is a very female tradition connected with everyday life and can be found everywhere in the world. It was always called the >drawing with a needle< and developed over 2000 years ago in China where this project will eventually end. From China the refined handicraft was brought to India and from there spread over all of Europe. Since then embroidering has been a tradition of decorating but also of marking and characterizing space as ones own. Until the beginning of the 19th century it was the only socially accepted way for women to create imagery before they got entry into the patriarchal art system. What fascinates the artists about embroidering is the process of permeating which creates a permeability of the cloth. The thread runs on both sides which means there is no inside and outside, no front and rear. It is a very slow, concentrated and focused process that creates a social atmosphere of straightforward nonverbal interaction. Therefore the process itself reaches people who are not involved in fine arts. The project takes 18 months going through different countries partly following the old silk route.
Bombay/ Indien Melbourne/ Australien Singapore Jakarta / Indonesien Hanoi/ Vietnam Peking/ China After the project has developed four months through Poland, Hungary, Romania and Turkey it takes place in Iran for three weeks, invited for a residency at the Paradise International Art Center in Polur.
Nadin Reschke
The project so far developed through the following stations: In Krzyzowa, a the International cultural centre in the south of Poland the tent got first inaugurated. Ten people, an international mixture of Polish, German and Russian met inside the tent to celebrate the opening of the construction with Polish wodka. In Budapest the project got invited to stay in Dinamo, a non-profit Art Space situated in the 9th District of Budapest. The working on the tent was accompanied with meetings and discussions with Hungarian artists. The residency in Budapest ended with a presentation of the project and a public art action, pitching the tent at Moskva ter, a very busy traffic junction, meeting place and street labour market in the centre of the city. Aim of this public intervention was to create a intimate and somewhat private space for meeting people in an public area and serve coffee inside the tent to invite passers-by. The action was stopped by the police. In Romania the project followed the invitation by Monika Brandsch, a Romanian-German sociologist to cook an old traditional Romanian recipe: Coltinasi. The meal got served inside the tent and a lively discussion developed on the question of national and cultural identities. In Istanbul the project got invited by the artists collective Oda Projesi to start a collaborative embroidering on the tent with the local neighbourhood. Women from the surrounding Istanbul quarter joined the artist and the process was enriched by discussions about different ways of living in private and public space.
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