Iran: Iranomutomorphosis .net

Bita Fayyazi is the curator of the Imago Mundi collection “Iran: iranomutomorphosis.net”: 149 artworks that bear witness to and confirm the growing international interest in Iranian painting, photography, sculpture, and illustration.

Imago Mundi Collection is the global, democratic, non-profit project started more than 10 years ago from an idea of ​​Luciano Benetton, to promote research, knowledge, communication, and, above all, dialogue among the different visual cultures of our world.

«Kismet (fate in Persian) represents for me», says Luciano Benetton, «the symbolic transition between old and new. Between the Western world and Eastern culture – Iranian in particular – which I have always viewed with particular interest».

The curator of “Iran: iranomutomorphosis.net” is Bita Fayyazi. «For me, this whole process of putting together the artworks, getting to know the artists, gaining an awareness of their world and track of mind, the exchange of ideas and discussions… », says Bita Fayyazi, «all in all has been very educational and opened new horizons in my own life and work».

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Under the aegis of Fondazione Imago Mundi, the project has involved – so far – almost 30,000 artists, both established names and new talents, from 17 3 countries, native communities, regions, and towns. The only constant is the format: a 10x12cm canvas, on which all participating artists are invited to express their vision in total freedom (style, topic, media, etc).

Every single artwork becomes part of Imago Mundi’s great, creative, visionary mosaic, an extraordinary artistic mapping and global cataloging – of the works, poetics, and languages ​​- that diverges from the usual methods, be they museum-based, trend-led, or market-driven.

In all these years Imago Mundi has built a great, interconnected artistic community, which it promotes also on its online platform – www.imagomundiart.com – and on Google Art & Culture and with international exhibitions (from Venice to Vienna, from New York to Dakar, from Toronto to Rome, etc), also produced in cooperation with public and private institutions.

In spring 2018 Imago Mundi opened Gallerie delle Prigioni, its “home” in the heart of Treviso, the hometown of the Benetton family: thanks to architect Tobia Scarpa‘s conservative restoration, the former Habsburg prison was transformed into an exhibition space open to all, a platform for experimentation about contemporary art, where the Imago Mundi collections are the starting point for new research about creativity, for presentations, meetings and workshops for schools. Online activities, in particular on Imago Mundi social networks, have been enhanced in this last year, due to the health emergency; they include conversations, documentaries, dialogues with curators and artists, who are either part of the community or share its vision.

Each single of Imago Mundi collection has also a dedicated catalog, which also includes the biographies of the artists and essays by art experts and critics thought to introduce the reader to the local cultural and artistic scene.