Meeting with Shirin Neshat

On 5 April, 2002, the PRO ARTE Institute together with the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) and the Ford Foundation organized in the Hermitage Theater a meeting with Shirin Neshat, the American artist of Iranian descent who is now one of the most popular and original authors working for cinema and video. The program included Shirin Neshat's films and lecture. Her works explore Islamic cultures and express the ideas of loss and memory. The artist says that her films "..give a very realistic picture of our societies, our culture, our religion, our politics. At the same time there is in them another, emotional and mystical meaning, another level... expressing the idea of poetry and beauty which is one of the aspects of this culture, though underestimated for many many years."
Neshat's videos are black and white and minimalist, like her pictures. Characters' costumes and symbols associated with religious and social codes of Islamic society are metaphorical and almost hypnotic. Contrasts between the roles of men and women in Islamic countries are emphasized by color contrasts. In each film particular is the key to universal. Instead of dialogue, the author uses the language of poetic images. Sound is an integral part of Neshat's films. Exotic music and singing make visual magnetism still stronger. Susan Deyhim who wrote almost all soundtracks for Neshat's films helps her combine in her works various musical traditions. Shirin Neshat's talent has been recognized in many countries. Her recent exhibitions have been held in the major museums and galleries of the U.S., Germany, Austria, Italy, U.K., Sweden and Japan. On 2 and 3 April, Shirin Neshat visited Moscow; on 13 and 14 April, her films will be seen by visitors to the Hermitage exhibition of Monuments of Islamic Art in Kazan, Tatarstan.

Shirin Neshat

In the Hermitage Theater