Education is a matter for the public sector, the state, at least that is how it is in Germany. If you look at the educational system in Iran, it is also largely in the hands of the state. But how does a society that has always found ways to resist against all forms of repression deal with an educational system that is used as an instrument to convey state ideology? There are many ways, at least in art teaching: lecturers fight for high-quality curricula at the universities, informal knowledge transfer and knowledge production has been established at private educational institutions since decades, and small non-profit initiatives organize workshops and semi-official series of events, on site and online.
In frame of the archive exhibition Tracing Movement(s) in Uncertain Times, the panel discussion Informal Modes of Education: Artistic Knowledge Production and Transfer in Iran with curator and educator Fereshte Moosavi (London), philosopher and translator Golnar Narimani (Vienna/Grenoble), and other guests, moderated by art historian and author Hannah Jacobi (mohit.art, Berlin) first looked at the current situation in Iran, where university faculties have been on strike and private courses have largely been discontinued. Secondly, participants considered and discussed the development of informal education in Iran: What does “informal” mean in concrete terms for teachers and students in Iran? What ways have been and are being found outside and also inside the institutions in order to circumvent and break with ideological canons? Where do informal and resistant educational initiatives find their place and how can they survive? And finally, what role does transcultural educational transfer play in the field of informal education in Iran?
Fereshte Moosavi is a curator and educator. She received her PhD from Goldsmiths University of London in Curatorial/Knowledge and served as Artistic Director and Curator of the MOP Foundation in London, which supports Iranian artists. Moosavi founded Curatorial in Other Words in 2015, an educational project in collaboration with the private teaching institute Charsoo Culture, Art and Publication Center in Tehran.
Golnar Narimani is a philosopher and translator. She is currently a doctoral student for her second PhD at Université Grenoble-Alpes and Université de Fribourg. She also works as a translator into Farsi from French, English, and German. In 2020 she co-founded the online educational platform Pelican School and, among others, continues to participate in an online reading groups and translation projects with Iran.
And further guests.
Hannah Jacobi studied art history with a focus on global art at Freie Universität Berlin. She regularly publishes texts about contemporary art in Iran. Together with Bernd Fechner, she initiated and founded the transcultural network of cooperation and the web platform mohit.art in 2021.
