Iran scraps competition in revamped Fajr visual arts festival
Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance will overhaul the flagship Fajr Visual Arts Festival into a non-competitive national exhibition, senior official Aidin Mehdizadeh announced on Monday.
The move marks a fundamental shift for the state-sponsored event, transforming the eighteenth edition from a traditional contest into a curated showcase of existing artistic output, a decision analysts view as an attempt to foster unity and show a broader "national celebration" of the arts, IRNA reported.
Dubbed the "National Celebration of Visual Arts," the revamped festival will amalgamate publicly-held events, previously issued open calls, and specially curated projects from the current Persian calendar year.
“We have taken this edition out of the competition format,” said Mehdizadeh, director general of the ministry's Visual Arts Office.
He described the new structure as "multi-episodic," featuring a provincially-focused segment titled "My Homeland."
The comprehensive event will stage exhibitions across Tehran and Iran’s 31 provinces, displaying this aggregated annual "achievement." Provincial artistic directors are currently being appointed for the decentralized program.
Authorities have cancelled the standard model of issuing a new open call, conducting judging panels, and awarding prizes.
Mehdizadeh expressed hope that the arts community would accept this "major difference" from past iterations, framed as a product of collective deliberation within the festival’s policy council and secretariat.