KISMET BY BITA FAYYAZI INSTALLED AT FABRICA

 Acquired by Luciano Benetton, a profound reflection

on the inevitability of destiny.

 

Ponzano, 13 February 2007. The force of destiny, the inescapable forger of the future; this is the theme of Iranian artist Bita Fayyazi’s Kismet installation which Luciano Benetton has purchased. It will be permanently displayed at Fabrica, Benetton Group’s communication research centre. Bita Fayyazi herself will today present the installation to Luciano Benetton.

 

Kismet (the word means “fate” in Persian) is a group of golden, suspended new-born babies which, as Bita Fayyazi says, “dissociate from the reality in which they find themselves. Loosing their apparent form and solidity, spinning cocoons, contemplating their world as an impregnable castle. They realize their destiny”. Because destiny reserves a day for all of us, each and every one.

 

Formerly shown at the 51^st International Biennale of Venice in 2005, the work is now at Fabrica in the corridor between the neo-Palladian villa and Tadao Ando’s new building: a symbolic passage between the old and the new, past and future. Between the Western world and Oriental culture, which the Benetton Group, and its president in particular, has always observed with great interest.

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I have been making sculptures of babies for some 7 years...

 

Returning from an exhibition in Denmark I had stepped into an airport book shop. Browsing through a book of photography on the Bosnian war, one particular image caught my attention: a tragic black and white picture depicting the burial preparation of a small baby which had been shot dead, the bullet having engraved a black hole through it's chest.

 

I don't unfortunately recall the photographer's name, but that haunting image has stayed with me ever since. We are surrounded with images and accounts of children being wounded, murdered, killed in wars, abused, used in hard labour, ….. .

 

When I resumed work at my studio in Tehran, the first thing I started making was essentially my impressions of the baby in that image. It had met it’s fate in a tragic fashion. Fate itself and the way destiny unfolds... what if the infant could somehow catch a glimpse of it’s own impending fate and the world about it?

 

With Kismet the whole idea started with a proposal I submitted to the selection committee for the 51st International Venice Biennale in 2005.

 

Kismet means fate and it was first introduced into the English language by a diffident English writer Edward Fitzgerald (1809-83) through his translation of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat stanza (Book of quatrain verses by Omar Khayyam, 11th century Persian poet),

 

"The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,

Moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,

Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it."

 

The Kismet installation is open to interpretation and can be read from any direction or angle. However, for me, the story is followed from right to left, as in the script of my native tongue, Persian.

 

"Golden Babies dissociating from the reality in which they find themselves. Loosing their apparent form and solidity, spinning cocoons, contemplating their world as an impregnable castle. They realize their destiny.

The source, left behind, is bereft of substance; in pieces, shattered."

  

Bita Fayyazi

January 2007

Bita Fayyazi

Iranian, born in 1962 in Tehran
15 years work experience in the field of ceramics and sculpture
Lived in England for a period of 7 years; returned to Iran in 1980
Currently live, work and teach at a private studio in Tehran

Exhibitions:

2005, When still a Child, XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2005, Amazon, Rebell Minds Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2005, 51st VeniceBiennial, Iran Pavilion, Venice, Italy

2004, Gardens of Iran, Ancient Wisdom/New Visions, TehranMuseum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran

2004, A selection of Iran,ian contemporary Art (3 generations), National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia

2004, Contemporary Ceramic exhibition, Isfahan Museum of Contemporary Arts, Isfahan, Iran

2003, "Iranian Contemporary Artists" at Pietro Della Valle, the Italian School of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2002, 2nd conceptual art exhibition titled "New Art", Tehran Museum Of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, Iran

2001, The 7th International Female Artist's Art Annual, Art Addiction Virtual Gallery

2001, First Conceptual Art Exhibition, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran

2001, Iranian Contemporary Art, Barbican Center, London, UK

2001, " ±7 Ceramists, Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, Tehran, Iran

2000, Ekbatana? , NikolajContemporaryArtCenter, Copenhagen, Denmark

2000, Falling Figures, Seyhoon gallery, Tehran, Iran

2000, Canadian Women's Club, Barg Gallery, Tehran, Iran

1999, Golestan Gallery, Tehran, Iran

1998, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, Iran [Winner of special exhibition prize: Cockroaches]

1996, Golestan Gallery, Tehran, Iran

1994, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, Iran

1993, Classic Gallery, Isfahan, Iran

1993, Embassy of the Netherlands, Tehran, Teharn

1992, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, Iran

1989, Pafar gallery, Tehran, Iran

Experience:

2004, For Bam, Tehran, Iran

2003, The Speed Bag Factory International Artists Residency Programme, Johannesburg, South Africa

2003, Lucky Charms, Golestan Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2003, On The Road, Tehran, Iran

2002, Forum on "Cultural Practices In The Region", Beirut , Lebenan.

2001, Festival of the Culture and Civilization of Persian Gulf Coastal Communities, Gheshm Island, Iran

2001, Khoj International Artists' Workshop, New Delhi, India

2000, Children of the DarkCity, Tehran, Iran

1998, "Experiment 98" Conceptual Art & Installation, Tehran, Iran

1997, Road Kill, Tehran, Iran

Miscellaneous:

Correspondent Editor for the British art magazine the "Contemporary"

2001, As part of a documentary film about Iran, "Women in Black" by Sean

2001, A member of the selection committee and jury for the 7th Tehran Ceramic Arts Biennial at the Museum of Contemporary Arts

2002, As one of the participant artist in the online project "Peep Radio", based in Denmark initiated by the Danish artist Rosan Bosh, http://www.peep.dk/programmer/111100/bita.rm

 

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