Tehran International Sculpture Symposium

In February 2006, the idea of holding an international sculpture symposium in Tehran was presented to the Department of Arts of Tehran Municipality’s Organization of Art and Culture by Dr. Mohammad Hossein Halimi, Professor of Arts in Tehran University. Based on information presented by him, I prepared the regulation drafts and the event notice in spring 2007. After three editions in two sessions with Dr. Halimi, Organization's Deputy for Art Affairs Mr. Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour, and Advisor to Deputy for Arts Seyyed Reza Mir Karimi, the Symposium Secretariat officially kicked off its activities on June 14, 2006 by publishing the regulations, which was followed by the lengthy process of identifying and sending invitations to Iranian and foreign artists in an attempt to inspire them to interpret their ideas on the three themes of science, art and spirituality.

These efforts brought about three hundred and eighty two models submitted by three hundred and seventy artists from fifty five nationalities. After three rounds of deliberations in November, the panel of judges composed of Messrs. Parviz Tanavoli, Abbas Kia Rostami, Youaf Darosh, Dr. Gholam Reza Ebrahimi Dinani and Dr. Mehdi Hojjat finally selected 15 models from foreign participants and 5 from Iranian entries, as well as 7 in reserve for this Symposium.
From February 20 to March 12, 2007, Chitgar Park in the northwest of Tehran was set as a workshop to host twenty two artists from 12 countries from, in order to give them the opportunity to create their visions in a concrete from.

Throughout the Symposium, Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays were allotted for visits by reporters, student, artists and the general public respectively. The international art event drew close to 8700 visitors in total. Coinciding with the Symposium, a ceremony was also held to honor Tehran University’s professor of sculpture Ms. Liliette Trian, along with an exhibition and publication of a book on her works.

The Sculpture, City and Architecture Forum was among other programs scheduled for the duration of the Symposium. It was held on February 28 in the Noor Hall of the Imam Ali (AS) Religious Museum, yielding to a separate publication containing 28 articles.
With the collaboration of TANDIS Publications, four special editions in two languages of English and Persian were published during the symposium in 31,000 copies, 10,000 of which were distributed for free among the visitors. Moreover, to document the activities and facilitate the exchange of experiences, documentaries of the work in progress during the Symposium were prepared and published in three formats of pictorial, photo and literature.

It is now my duty to express my gratitude to Messrs. Behrouz Darosh, Taher Sheikh ol Hokama, Mohsen Hossein Emad and Jamshid Moradian, gifted sculptors who generously shared their valuable experience with me on how to organize this event best. In the same token, special thanks go to all the executive and colleagues in different parts of the Symposium. I would also like to thank the Mayor of zone 22 of Tehran Dr. Nassiri, Deputy for Urban Services Mr. Mohammad Anvari, and Director of Chitgar Park Mr. Reza Pourghassem for their support and cooperation in organizing the Symposium workshops.