scholarly journals Introduction to Jalal AL-E Ahmad's “To Mohassess, For the Wall”

ARTMargins ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-126
Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Mirzaei

Abstract “To Mohassess, For the Wall” is an article written in 1964 by Jalal Al-e Ahmad, one of the most influential and charismatic Iranian intellectuals of the time. Three years before writing this article, Al-e Ahmad had published Weststruckness, discussing the Iranians’ cultural alienation caused by the dependence on the west. In “To Mohassess, For the Wall”, Al-e Ahmad shifts his analysis to Iranian painting, arguing that Iranian painters during the 1960s merely repeat Western cultural processes and strategies instead of constructing Iranian ones. The context for Al-e Ahmad's argument is the Pahlavi regime's radical program of rapid modernization, which in the area of the arts was systematically expanded. Critical, provocative or problematic, the article offers a crucial window into the adoption of Western-style modernism by Iranian painters during the 1960s and into how an “insider” intellectual such as Al-e Ahmad evaluated the modernization of Iranian art before the background of what he perceived as the critical neglect of Iranian traditions. The text is addressed to Bahman Mohassess, a painter whom Al-e Ahmad considered to be one of the few who had not been coopted by the cultural policies of the Shah's regime.

ARTMargins ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-136
Author(s):  
Jalal Al-e Ahmad

Abstract “To Mohassess, For the Wall” is an article written in 1964 by Jalal Al-e Ahmad, one of the most influential and charismatic Iranian intellectuals of the time. Three years before writing this article, Al-e Ahmad had published Weststruckness, discussing the Iranians’ cultural alienation caused by the dependence on the west. In “To Mohassess, For the Wall”, Al-e Ahmad shifts his analysis to Iranian painting, arguing that Iranian painters during the 1960s merely repeat Western cultural processes and strategies instead of constructing Iranian ones. The context for Al-e Ahmad's argument is the Pahlavi regime's radical program of rapid modernization, which in the area of the arts was systematically expanded. Critical, provocative or problematic, the article offers a crucial window into the adoption of Western-style modernism by Iranian painters during the 1960s and into how an “insider” intellectual such as Al-e Ahmad evaluated the modernization of Iranian art before the background of what he perceived as the critical neglect of Iranian traditions. The text is addressed to Bahman Mohassess, a painter whom Al-e Ahmad considered to be one of the few who had not been coopted by the cultural policies of the Shah's regime.


2021 ◽  
pp. 72-93
Author(s):  
Անահիտ Չթյան

Արբի Հովհաննիսյանը պատկանում է նորարարական ուղղվածության արվեստագետների թվին: Նա, ինչպես թատրոնում, այնպես էլ կինոյում, իր խիզախ, հայտնություններով լի գործերով փորձեց ներկայացնել հարցեր, որոնք մարդկությանը հուզում են դեռևս վաղնջական ժամանակներից: 1960-ականներից ի վեր, լինելով Շիրազի և Թեհրանի արվեստի փառատոների մասնակիցն ու կազմակերպիչը, Հովհաննիսյանը, իր համախոհների հետ միասին, մտորել է «Համամարդկային թատրոնի» գաղափարի շուրջ: Մի թատրոնի, որը պետք է ընթանար Արևմուտքի և Արևելքի երկրների մշակույթները մերձեցնելու ճանապարհով: Արվեստագետն իր որոնումները շարունակեց նաև Ֆրանսիա տեղափոխվելուց հետո (1978)` այստեղ ևս իր գործնական աշխատանքում և տեսական հրապարակումներում հավասարապես կարևորելով Սփյուռքի և հայրենի արվեստները միավորելու գաղափարը: Arbi Hovhannissian belongs to the artists of innovative trend. His creations both in theatre and cinema abound in daring and unexpected solutions, where he seeks to address the issues that interest the humanity from time immemorial. Beginning from the 1960s, as the organizer and participator of the Shiraz and Teheran Art Festivals, Hovhannissian, jointly with his associates, deliberated the idea of the “For All Mankind Theatre”. Presumably, it was to unite the cultures of the East and the West. The artist continued his quest upon his moving to France in 1978. Here, in his occupational activity and theoretical publications, he equally underscored the importance of unifying the arts of the Fatherland and the Diaspora.


Author(s):  
Iuliana Cetină ◽  
Andrei L. Bădin

Abstract Culture is one of the most important aspects of being human alongside education. A very interesting way of approaching the issue of culture is understanding the importance of the art in everyday life. Alan Peacock, one the first pioneers of the term cultural economy, was a man of the arts who understood the importance of culture, not only in life, but in economy. Many writers in the 1960s identified some opportunities in engaging in the cultural and arts industries. As we know, cultural goods have an economic value and an artistic value. The evaluation of artistic goods or products is made only after it is consumed by clients or customers. The world of cultural services is large and forgiving with non-professionals. The use of cultural policies in today’s European Union, United States of America and Asia is very important because of the positive spillover it causes. Creating cultural policies and dedicating funds specifically for this started in the 1980s with the implication of UNESCO. Cultural policies not only help preserve cultural sites and heritage, but offers a broader strategy that envelops both cultural goods and cultural services. The cultural marketing concept refers to the art of using marketing tactics and strategies in order to promote and develop the cultural and artistic industries or sectors. The same instruments are used but the way in which they are used is very different. The performing arts sector is ever changing and it needs a new marketing mix approach to connect to new audiences. Artists need to work closely with business and management professionals in order to have the best representation off stage.


2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 255-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caius Dobrescu

AbstractThe article addresses the emergence and development of the rock scene under the very specifi c circumstances of Romanian communism. While pointing to the extension and complexity of this social-musical phenomenon, it tries to explain the paradox that the rock scene could coexist with what is currently perceived as one of the most repressive and unreformed social systems in communist Eastern Europe. The analytical part of the paper is centered around two case studies: 1) the artistic and intellectual evolution of the rock band Phoenix, from its 1962 beginnings to the 1977 spectacular escape to the West of most of its lineup, 2) and the strange combination of nationalist-Stalinist mobilizationism and flower power Woodstock-like poetry of the cultural activist Adrian Păunescu and his Flacăra Cénacle of the Revolutionary Youth, from the mid-1970s to the last part of the 1980s. Alluding to the name of the cult act Phoenix, the title of the paper suggests that, once dissipated under the impact of repressive and manipulative cultural policies, the overwhelming creative energies manifested in the Romanian youth culture of the second half of the 1960s were almost completely lost to the cause of a gradual, peaceful opening of the Romanian society.


2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-268
Author(s):  
R. J. CLEEVELY

A note dealing with the history of the Hawkins Papers, including the material relating to John Hawkins (1761–1841) presented to the West Sussex Record Office in the 1960s, recently transferred to the Cornwall County Record Office, Truro, in order to be consolidated with the major part of the Hawkins archive held there. Reference lists to the correspondence of Sibthorp-Hawkins, Hawkins-Sibthorp, and Hawkins to his mother mentioned in The Flora Graeca story (Lack, 1999) are provided.


This book is devoted to the life and academic legacy of Mustafa Badawi who transformed the study of modern Arabic literature in the second half of the twentieth century. Prior to the 1960s the study of Arabic literature, both classical and modern, had barely been emancipated from the academic approaches of orientalism. The appointment of Badawi as Oxford University's first lecturer in modern Arabic literature changed the face of this subject as Badawi showed, through his teaching and research, that Arabic literature was making vibrant contributions to global culture and thought. Part biography, part collection of critical essays, this book celebrates Badawi's immense contribution to the field and explores his role as a public intellectual in the Arab world and the west.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 88-107
Author(s):  
Louise K. Davidson-Schmich ◽  
Jennifer A. Yoder ◽  
Friederike Eigler ◽  
Joyce M. Mushaben ◽  
Alexandra Schwell ◽  
...  

Konrad H. Jarausch, United Germany: Debating Processes and Prospects Reviewed by Louise K. Davidson-Schmich Nick Hodgin and Caroline Pearce, ed. The GDR Remembered:Representations of the East German State since 1989 Reviewed by Jennifer A. Yoder Andrew Demshuk, The Lost German East: Forced Migration and the Politics of Memory, 1945-1970 Reviewed by Friederike Eigler Peter H. Merkl, Small Town & Village in Bavaria: The Passing of a Way of Life Reviewed by Joyce M. Mushaben Barbara Thériault, The Cop and the Sociologist. Investigating Diversity in German Police Forces Reviewed by Alexandra Schwell Clare Bielby, Violent Women in Print: Representations in the West German Print Media of the 1960s and 1970s Reviewed by Katharina Karcher Michael David-Fox, Peter Holquist, and Alexander M. Martin, ed., Fascination and Enmity: Russia and Germany as Entangled Histories, 1914-1945 Reviewed by Jennifer A. Yoder


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 610-633
Author(s):  
Jiří Janáč

Throughout the period of state socialism, water was viewed as an instrument of immense transformative power and water experts were seen as guardians of such transformation, a transformation for which we coin the term 'hydrosocialism'. A reconfiguration of water, a scarce and vital natural resource, was to a great extent identified with social change and envisioned transition to socialist and eventually communist society. While in the West, hydraulic experts (hydrocrats) and the vision of a 'civilising mission' of water management (hydraulic mission) gradually faded away with the arrival of reflexive modernity from the 1960s, in socialist Czechoslovakia the situation was different. Despite the fact they faced analogous challenges (environmental issues, economisation), the technocratic character of state socialism enabled socialist hydraulic engineers to secure their position and belief in transformative powers of water.


Experiment ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 297-316
Author(s):  
Lorin Johnson ◽  
Donald Bradburn

In the 1970s and 1980s, Los Angeles audiences saw Soviet defectors Mikhail Baryshnikov, Alexander Godunov, Natalia Makarova, and Rudolf Nureyev in the prime of their careers at the Hollywood Bowl, The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Greek Theater. Dance photographer Donald Dale Bradburn, a local Southern California dancer describes his behind-the-scenes access to these dancers in this interview. Perfectly positioned as Dance Magazine’s Southern California correspondent, Bradburn offers a candid appraisal of the Southern California appeal for such high-power Russian artists as well as their impact on the arts of Los Angeles. An intimate view of Russian dancers practicing their craft on Los Angeles stages, Bradburn’s interview is illustrated by fourteen of his photographs, published for the first time in this issue of Experiment.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ema Hrešanová

This paper explores the history of the ‘psychoprophylactic method of painless childbirth’ in socialist Czechoslovakia, in particular, in the Czech and Moravian regions of the country, showing that it substantially differs from the course that the method took in other countries. This non-pharmacological method of pain relief originated in the USSR and became well known as the Lamaze method in western English-speaking countries. Use of the method in Czechoslovakia, however, followed a very different path from both the West, where its use was refined mainly outside the biomedical frame, and the USSR, where it ceased to be pursued as a scientific method in the 1950s after Stalin’s death. The method was imported to Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s and it was politically promoted as Soviet science’s gift to women. In the 1960s the method became widespread in practice but research on it diminished and, in the 1970s, its use declined too. However, in the 1980s, in the last decade of the Communist regime, the method resurfaced in the pages of Czechoslovak medical journals and underwent an exciting renaissance, having been reintroduced by a few enthusiastic individuals, most of them women. This article explores the background to the renewed interest in the method while providing insight into the wider social and political context that shaped socialist maternity and birth care in different periods.


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