Art for Peace Festival
TEHRAN.(Iranart) - To mark the International Day of Peace, the 5th Art for Peace Festival will be held at the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran, September 12-21.
The event will include artworks in Painting, photography, sculpture, installation, video art, music and performance, by artists from over 30 countries, Honaronline reported.
On the sidelines of the festival, outdoor concerts will be held. Banafsh (violet) band and Illia ensemble led by Farman Fat’halian are among the performing musicians. A number of solo and improvisational performances are also in the cards.
“On September 12, we will have an art performance and a number of children’s plays organized by Qasedak theater group and the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA),” said the secretary of the event, Fereydoun Farbod, himself a graphic designer and photographer.
The main slogan of this year’s edition is ‘Imagine Peace’. The event aims to tap the artistic potential for enhancing the culture of tolerance and peace and to help remove people’s inherent cultural barriers that hinder peace and peaceful coexistence in the world.
The Art for Peace Festival looks at the subject of peace as the main theme of the works beyond national, religious and personal boundaries. The goals include using art as a means to promote the culture of peace, creating a platform for local artists to interact with their overseas peers and exhibiting works by foreign artists in the country.
“This year, a film section has been added to the festival, a section that seems to be effective in promotion of peace,” CEO of Iranian Artists Forum Majid Rajabi Memar said, adding that “peace is not defined only in its opposition to war, but as more inclusive concept.”
Most of the participating films are short divided into national and international sections. The festival received 22 foreign films and 46 made by Iranian filmmakers. After a review, 10 foreign and 17 domestic films were selected to be screened at IAF. After the films are screened, meetings will be held to debate the works.
According to Farbod, the festival will host foreign delegates from Italy, France, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mexico, Japan and China.
The festival was established in 2013 by Farbod together with the help of a group of local artists, cultural figures and peace activists.
Four years and four festivals later, the number of supporters has exceeded 5000 people globally and the forum has collaboration with several organizations namely Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iranian Artists Forum, Niavaran Cultural Foundation and the Mojdeh, Vista and Shirin art galleries.