About Us

Arte,

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Iranian  Art and Culture

Our Perspective the following collection is a Specialized Encyclopedia of Iran’s most prominent Cultural, Literary, Scientific and artistic personalities. Arte’s visual and verbal account of the contemporary art and culture of Iran focuses on the life, experience, works and personal narratives of these individuals from their own perspective, a verbal and visual autobiography that can benefit the present and the future of the Iranian society, and teach invaluable lessons to the younger generations.

Our Aims and Objectives can be explained through the following lenses:     

History: History is the product of an ongoing process of man acquiring self-consciousness through reading the past; a reading which is a fundamental necessity of our lives. It is not only within studying the complexities of the past and finding their roots in effective social forces, changes and rules of different periods, gaining a clear historical comprehension, that we can draw conclusions as to what mistakes or errors in judgement were made by our predecessors; but it also presents us with a compass that reduces our chances of deviating from the right path. Arte thrives to display accurate accounts through one on one conversations with pioneers of art and culture, to avoid the falsities that come with traditional historiography.

Our World Today: In our modern world, all ethnicities and nations are bringing forward things from within them to share with the rest of the world through processes of globalization. Each Nation’s share of reverence and respect corresponds to their contribution to the world. We believe Iran has a relatively large share on this small planet. Our will is to narrate the lives of our noble men and women, our artists and elites who have been neglected perhaps unjustly because of their particular geography; a neglect which has resulted for a great share of this country in modern civilization and culture to remain widely unknown. It is with deep regret that not only these individuals are not known to the world, but they are also not recognized by many Iranians including the younger generations. It is particularly saddening when the younger generations of Iranian migrants especially those born and bred abroad, have hardly any knowledge about their country, feel little or no sense of national belonging or the pleasures of having a sense of identity, and are therefore reluctant to ever consider giving themselves a chance of living in their motherland.

Cultural Heritage & Legacy: Every Arte interview has been conducted with a master who carries a wealth of exceptional knowledge and expertise, and therefore we view each and every one of these projects as Iranian cultural heritage. This includes an account of their lifetime, cultural, scientific and artistic works, anecdotes, experiences and opinions; all of which are unique to each individual and can be on the verge of being lost if not retrieved. Our utmost efforts are to record, edit and present them in the form of thorough and extensive interviews while the opportunity lasts.

A Brief History: Preliminary works on Arte Encyclopedia started in September 2015 and accumulated over the years. Arte started off by introducing 95 artists from the field of visual arts, and gradually extended the scope to introducing 53 musicians, 73 cinematographers and theatrics’ artists, 25 individuals from the fields of literature and humanities, and has covered 246 projects in total till 2019. At the moment (Summer 2021) 105 projects have been uploaded on the website, 54 are being edited and 87 are in line to be edited.