Noted American photojournalist and war photographer, James Nachtwey will take part in the first Islamic World Photography Biennial to be held in May.
According to ISNA, secretary of the event, Seyyed Abbas Mir-Hashemi said at a press conference on the biennial on Sunday that in line with its objectives, the Arts Academy has organized four painting and two rounds of Islamic world poster designing biennials in addition to other programs in various fields.
Based on the same policy, photography biennial was earlier scheduled to be held several years ago at the international level. Therefore, a policy-making council comprising photographers was set up to draw up policies for Islamic world photography biennial.
Eventually, it was decided to organize a photography biennial with a focus on Muslim family, Mir-Hashemi said.
The panel of jury for the event includes Bahman Jalali, Farhad Soleimani, Saeed Sadeqi, Sae’d Nikzad and Farzad Hashemi.
He further stated that the biennial will be held in two sections of snapshots and photo album.
The entries should be submitted to the secretariat of the event no later than December 31.
Commenting on the selection of foreign jurors, he said that Nachtwey and Shahidul Alam from Bangladesh have been approved for the position.
Identifying the features of Islamic venues, creating conditions for exchange of experiences among Muslim artists, paying attention to the experiences of young Muslim photographers, reviewing cultural and spiritual identities in Islamic communities and introducing active contemporary photographers are among the objectives of the biennial, Mir-Hashemi said.
Meanwhile, director of the event’s international section, Akram Pouraki said that a call-up has been issued for 44 member states of Federation of International Art Photography (FIAP), 16 countries which are also members of Asia-Pacific Photographers Association and Europe and Arab Photographers Union.
So far, 27 countries including Azerbaijan Republic, South Africa, the US, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, India and Norway have expressed their readiness to take part in the event.
It is expected that 36 other countries will be added to this figure before the deadline expires, she concluded.

Managing director of Saba Cultural Artistic Institute said that the exhibition called ’Forgotten Art Treasures of Iran’, which is underway in the institute, was organized without support from any state enterprises.
Speaking to ISNA, Mohsen Zare’ added that only owners of private collections cooperated in organizing the event. However, in this way, a big step was taken in developing permanent cooperation between the institute and the owners of collections.
Despite promises and coordination made with the relevant entities, no governmental institute cooperated in organizing the event, he complained, noting that the positive event was developed only through extensive cooperation of collectors.
“Galleries, halls and Arts Academy could pave the way for achieving the objectives of cultural heritage,“ he said, hoping the problems will not emerge anymore in subsequent exhibits.
The agenda of the event includes specialized workshops, research meetings and screening of films to review the achievements of Iran’s art in recent centuries from various perspectives, he said.
The extensive cooperation of collection owners exposed their potentials and capabilities which will used in future exhibits, Zare’ concluded.

Orhan Pamuk

Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer, has said that dividing the world into East and West does not imply conflict between the two.
He said this while receiving his honorary doctorate from Complutense University of Madrid. “I have nothing to do with politics and I look for meaning of life in my novels,“ he noted, reported MNA.
“What is important for me is creativity and art. My works focus on life,“ he said, adding that of course, the topics covered in his novels are neither completely real nor totally fictional.
“Human beings can incorporate the meaning of life in a form and I was after this,“ he said.
Novel writing is not a simple task, he said, noting that he conducted research for years before writing his novels.
He noted that he was inspired by Don Quixote, Anna Karenina and Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Writer of the novel ’Istanbul’ said, “I am opposed to and worried about conflict between cultures and civilizations.“

Second International Monotheistic Religions Award ceremony, which will focus on illustration this year, will open in Tehran’s Imam Ali (AS) Museum on Monday.
According to www.aftab.ir, secretary of the event, Mojtaba Aqaei, who was recently appointed the caretaker of the museum, said that the museum will also host Ghadir Research and Cultural Festival sponsored by Tehran Municipality’s Cultural Artistic Organization next week.
Named after the Feast of Ghadir which marks the anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) appointment of Imam Ali (AS) as his successor, the event will feature works pertaining to the occasion and Imam Ali’s (AS) Velayat (leadership) will be revered in Ghadir Feast (December 29).
Aqaei further hoped that the festival will be held on an annual basis.
Aqaei, who is also head of the organization’s Visual Arts Center, pointed out that the institute will organize its programs at the urban, national and international levels.
In the urban section, a visual arts festival will be held in the summer of 2008.
Describing International Monotheistic Religions Award as one of the museum’s international undertakings, Aqaei further said that last year the event featured poster designing while in the upcoming round it will focus on photography.

Islamic Culture and Relations Organization plans to launch a center for translating Persian texts into several languages.
Announcing this, Mehdi Mostafavi, a presidential advisor and head of the organization, said, “The move will be undertaken as per the enactment of Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution,“ reported MNA.
Mostafavi, a member of Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution, made the statement on the sidelines of a ceremony to unveil the book ’Teaching Persian to Non-Persian Speakers’.
He added that with the implementation of the plan, Persian texts in the fields of humanities and Islamic sciences will be translated into other languages.
Stating that all Iranians are duty-bound to translate Persian texts, Mostafavi called on private institutes and bodies to assist the ICRO in the project.

Latest research findings and doctoral theses on Iranian studies were reviewed in a seminar at the University of Durham in Britain.
According to a press release faxed to Iran Daily by the Public Relations Department of Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, the first day of the seminar focused on archeological studies in Zanjan, Tehran and southern Iran.
A number of doctoral dissertations about Iran including those dealing with Iranian Shiites in India, tribal art, dialogue among civilizations and Iran’s cultural policies were also reviewed.
Iran’s Cultural AttachŽ in Britain, Helmi, in a meeting with the director of the university’s Center for Iranian Studies Powell Luft on the sidelines of the seminar, expressed his readiness to help hold Iran’s cultural week in the university.
“Iran’s Cultural Office will support research on Iranian studies,“ he said.
Helmi further stated that the entity will also help conduct refreshers courses and provide scholarship to the British students to study Persian literature at the doctorate level in Iranian universities.
Luft, for his part, also expressed the university’s eagerness to organize Iran’s cultural week and said that the students are interested in Iranian cinema and welcomed the screening of films from Iran at the event.

Bahram Baizaei and the cover of his latest play, 'Sohrab Killing'

The latest play titled ’Sohrab Killing’ by noted Iranian film director Bahram Beizaei has been published.
According to ISNA, the play, which was completed last year, was printed in 3,000 copies by the Illuminators and Women Studies Publishing House.
In writing the drama, Beizaei was inspired by ’Rostam and Sohrab’, a famous tale from ’Shahnameh’, an epic work by well-known Iranian poet Hakim Abolqasem Ferdowsi.
Some sections of the drama were recited in the ceremony to commemorate Beizaei by his wife Mojdeh Shamsaei.
Later, theater officials announced that Beizaei had planned to stage the play in Vahdat Hall. However, after a while, he decided to bring to stage another of his works, ’Afra’.
Beizaei is currently rehearsing ’Afra’ so as to be able to begin performance on January 1.
His screenplay ’On the Precipice’ was published recently.

Second Festival for Selecting Best Dramatic Works will be held at the Artists’ House on January 6.
According to MNA, the panel of jury includes Qotbeddin Sadeqi, Mahmoud Ostad Mohammad, Faramarz Talebi, Naseh Kamkari and Hossein Kiani in the play section while Mohammad Reza Khaki, Farzan Sojoudi and Yadollah Aqa-Abbasi will serve on the jury for the translation and research section.
Some 69 unpublished long plays, 72 unpublished short plays, 34 published plays, 22 research works on dramatic literature as well as 45 published long and short plays have so far been submitted to the secretariat of the event.