Alternative Iran
Alternative Iran: Contemporary Art and Critical Spatial Practice
The artist Parham Ghalamdar's former graffiti practice in Iran is showcased in the book "Alternative Iran", published by Stanford University Press. This book explores how Iranian artists navigate the art market and the state's regulations, offering a distinctive contribution to the contemporary art world. The book delves into the creative class's move towards nonconformist forms of artmaking, which are often exhibited in private venues and abandoned locations. Pamela Karimi, drawing from interviews with artists and experts in the field, highlights the unconventional art and performance activities that have received little attention outside Iran. The book provides insight into the relationship between the art community and the authorities, and includes over 120 full-color images, making it an illuminating and immersive experience that avoids voyeuristic curiosity around Iran's perceived "underground" culture.
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Dr. Pamela Karimi
Pamela Karimi is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She is the author of Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran (2013).
Review
"When politics becomes soul-craft, as it has in Islamic Iran over the last four decades, every aspect of life, each form of aesthetics, and every discursive practice becomes a potential locus of resistance, even rebellion. Alternative Iran is an informed and illuminating kaleidoscope of this dynamic culture pulsating beneath the dour Procrustean proclivities of the regime."―Abbas Milani, Stanford University
"Only Pamela Karimi could have written this book, a sophisticated scholar able to stay both outside and inside Iran and the Western-dominated art world. She offers a richly illustrated book that archives temporary artworks in private homes, deserted basements, construction-sites, excessive landscapes, unimagined urban spaces, and reveals them as practices of hope for a more democratic Iran, a cosmopolitan art market, and a peaceful world."―Esra Akcan, Cornell University
"Pamela Karimi's timely and important book highlights the charged agencies of contemporary Iranian artists in shaping their realities. Alternative Iran offers unexpected, impactful, and sophisticated insights into the contemporary art scene in Iran that necessarily subvert the dominant narrative imposed by and from both inside officials and outside hegemonic perceptions."―Nada Shabout, University of North Texas
"Pamela Karimi brings together different spheres of artistic endeavor to show that, censorship and official puritanism notwithstanding, Iranian artists continue to be creative and find ways to express this creativity. Alternative Iran affords us a fascinating analysis of the continuing cultural effervescence observable in Iranian society."―Houchang Chehabi, University of St. Andrews
