Alborz Kazemi | "Encounter/Encounter": Dastan:Outside

Dastan is pleased to announce Alborz Kazemi's "Encounter/Encounter" at the former location of Electric Room. The exhibition will open to public viewing on October 11, 2019 and continues through October 18.

Alborz Kazemi (b. 1989, Tehran, Iran) studied painting at Tehran's School of Fine Arts. After his graduation, he became more interested in photography and cinema and most of his works have been photography-based. This is the artist's third solo exhibition at Dastan, following "Pieces of Body" (the tenth project among Electric Room's 50 projects), and "Image Corpus" (Dastan's Basement, February 2019). Alborz's work has been featured in a solo exhibition at No. 6 Gallery (2010, Tehran), and several group shows.

In the current project, the artist presents a series of images to engage the viewer in dichotomies. Part of the project consists of videos and images the artist captured during the past two years in Mosul (Iraq) after it was cleared of ISIS fighters. These depict an apocalyptic situation that despite their silence, portray war, destruction and instability.

These images that are formed "around war" as the artist puts it, are shown besides images of an inner setting, of the last days of the life of the artist's grandfather. In the second series, the viewer does not encounter direct references to death, but faces small details with deep innuendos. 

Encountering both series, we face sides of an event, in an intimate way. Alborz Kazemi's perspective and tone make a personal event a collective issue, and vice versa. Additionally, the presence of the camera and the way the subjects encounter it, adds new layers to the artist and the viewer's observations.