The Probably Truth

Group Multimedia Exhibition

“The Probably Truth“

About Power and Social Identity

23rd August to 6th September 2019

Curator: Asieh  Salimian

In collaboration with  Factory TT

Artist

Shahram Entekhabi. Ali Babaei zad, Andrew Gilbert, Niklas Goldbach, Negar alemzadeh Gorji, Behnam Kamrani, Bjørn Melhus, Zartosht Rahimi, Ali Soltani Tehrani

Discussion panel on the topic of the exhibition With the presence of Shahram Entekhabi, Dr Ali Babaei zad, Dr Behnam Kamrani & Asieh Salimian 30th. August 2019 from 18:00 to 20:00

Statement

The exhibition ” Probably Truth ” in collaboration with a group of international and Iranian artists will be held in Tehran in September, 2019. The exhibition reflects individual and social identity in relation to the digital revolution. The electronic revolution, which has begun in 1990 and will come to an end around 2030, is expected to bring a perfect fusion between real and virtual worlds.

With the expansion of electronic processes, we can no longer imagine a contemporary society without relying on and utilizing the global Internet network. Here, an individual that is exposed to “mass surveillance” is integrated into a particular form of society and is located in the infrastructure of information systems, data, business models and markets. In this regard, social media have created a new atmosphere of social activity by providing conditions for interconnection and sharing of information.

The media visualize hidden issues and beliefs, ideologies and discourses, with the deceptive proposition of “freedom of choice”; but in order to stabilize the power system, the media keep the activities in secret, or conceal fundamental values and structures. In fact, it must be said that the media, contrary to the common sense, do not mirror reality, but affect the social creation of reality. Since the media are the most comprehensive basis of production, reproduction and information in the new world, their themes can be considered as a powerful factor in the social world.

The production of cultural and media content is intimately linked to the establishment of power, in order to disseminate and promote the basic stabilizing rules in society alongside with the continuation and amplification of social inequalities. For example, the”Consumption” in today’s world is an element of social status in which objects or commodities become signs. Consumption in the new world is more important than identity. In fact, people, create fake self-representations in the virtual world in order to become somebody else, to change social status or class.

Artists often explore the characteristics that determine our individual and social identity. They construct a sense of who we are as individuals, as a society, and critically reflect the understanding of “nation”. They question stereotypes and conventions while exploring aspects such as gender, race, ethnicity and cultural belonging. Our culture is informed by various forms of artistic and social practices , by technologies, politics, style, music, performance and the arts.

Asieh Salimian

May 2019