Fajr Visual Arts Festival resumes online
Iran relaunch the 18th Fajr Visual Arts Festival in a virtual format on March 15 after the event was halted following recent wartime attacks, the festival’s policy council chief Aydin Mehdizadeh said.
Mehdizadeh said the festival’s exhibitions were temporarily suspended on February 28 after what he described as a “US-Zionist attack” on Iran that killed Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several senior military commanders, plunging the country into mourning, IRNA reported.
“The festival secretariat was preparing the remaining exhibitions when the attack occurred on February 28,” Mehdizadeh said, adding that organizers decided to close the displays “temporarily” until conditions allowed them to reopen.
He said the cultural event had formally begun days earlier. The opening bell of the 18th edition was rung beside the historic Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System in southwestern Iran, while the main exhibition titled Baba Ab Dad (Father Gave Water) opened on February 26 at the Imam Ali Religious Arts Museum in Tehran.
Organizers had also prepared a series of additional exhibitions under themes including “Festival of Festivals” and “National Unity”, intended for public viewing across the capital. Those displays will now be staged online because of the war.
“Given the current circumstances, the exhibitions will be held virtually,” Mehdizadeh said.
According to the festival secretariat, the works will be available to the public from Sunday, March 15, via the official website of the Fajr Visual Arts Festival.
The Fajr arts festivals, staged annually around the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, form the country’s flagship state-backed cultural showcase, spanning cinema, theater, music and visual arts and drawing artists from across Iran and abroad.