Parable of the Garden: New Media Art from Iran and Central Asia

After going back to the exhibit and spent more time looking at the work, I really started to appreciate the work as a whole a lot more than I did before. I think the exhibit as a whole is a really good concept. I think a lot of people do not consider Iran and Central Asian countries that have advanced societies and technologies. I think this exhibit not only shows the creative capacity of artists of these regions, but also the technological advances these countries have made within the past decade.

After I really looked at the various works I found the piece by Karan Reshad to be very interesting. I think bRainstorm was one of the best examples of the "garden" within the context of new media. I think this piece took "new media" to the highest level. Reshad contacted artists through the use of computers, a newer technology, to create stickers to be posted in streets throughout Tehran. The artists also used computers to create their stickers and to send them to Reshad. The magazine was also created and published as an e-magazine which also falls under the category of new media. I think all of these uses of modern technology in the making of the magazine are just as important as the piece itself in considering this work of art. I think the multiple levels of thinking that are associated with this relatively simple piece is very interesting.

Reshad takes a symbolic approach to the garden. He takes the idea of putting these stickers in a place that has quite a bit of tension and a sense of loneliness in terms of expressions of creativity. Reshad putting these stickers in the urban environment makes the area happier and friendlier. He, in essence, creates his own garden out of the streets of Tehran.

Dia Beacon Review

The artists I really found interesting at Dia: Beacon were the German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher. All of Bernd and Hilla’s work that was exhibited was black and white digital photographs. The large series of photographs all had the same subject of industrial structures. All of the photographs seemed to almost have a symmetrical composition. The contrast of the black and white also seems to emphasize the shapes formed from the structure and the negative space.

Plant for Styrofoam Production, Wesseling near Cologne, Germany, 1997

Since all of their images show the details and textures of the materials the Bechers’ work stems from modernists Eugène Atget and August Sander. I think all of their photographs were simple, yet were still very appealing. I think the visual impact of all the photographs is very strong. The composition and cropping of the structures make the focus very clear and emphasizes the shapes formed by the parts of the structure. I personally think these photographs are a commentary on the growing industries that were taking place in the late 80s and the 90s. I think these images could easily be passed by in the museum, but if you take the time to look at them you get to see an unexpected elegance within the image.