Speakers for Summit 2024

In collaboration with Pachinko, The Tehran Summit proudly announces the lineup for its third edition themed “Chthonic Realism: Summoning Ghosts and Monsters.” Departing from the concepts of horror, speculation, the unknown, and the future, the summit explores: What happens when contemporary artists summon the ghosts of antiquity or monsters beyond the boundaries of time and space? How can the past beckon us through the obscurity of the unknowable and towards a multitude of Futures? And how this may alter perceptions of reality?

Scheduled from May 18 to May 24, the audience is invited to a series of talks by distinguished practitioners exploring our concepts of reality and existence in the world, free from established relations and a world without us, a non-human world in opposition to an Anthropocentric one.

Speakers: Coco Fusco, Santiago Sierra, Pamela Karimi, Xiaoyu Weng, Bo Wang, Shumon Basar, Jason Babak Mohaghegh, Tania Bruguera, and Ghazel.

Curated by Erfan Ghiasi and Una Mathiesen Gjerde / In collaboration with Pachinko by Mathilde Carbel and Kristian Schrøder.

The Tehran Summit and Pachinko are inviting audiences from different fields of the arts and philosophy to register to access each talk digitally. For Oslo-based audiences, the program will also be screened live in Pachinko’s exhibition space. Across the span of a week, every night will feature a distinguished speaker delving into the intricacies of the theme.

Program
Coco Fusco: “Art and Democracy: Testing the Limits”
May 18, 8:30pm Tehran Time

Santiago Sierra: “Santiago Sierra’s talk”
May 19, 8:30pm Tehran Time

Pamela Karimi: “Gestural Feminism: On Art and Advocacy in Iran”
Postponed to June 7 due to a work emergency, 8:30pm Tehran Time

Xiaoyu Weng in conversation with Bo Wang: “An Asian Ghost Story”
May 21, 8:30pm Tehran Time

Shumon Basar: “LORECORE TO ENDCORE AND BACK AGAIN”
May 22, 8:30pm Tehran Time

Jason Babak Mohaghegh: “The Unlost: Resurrection of Forgotten Creatures”
May 23, 8:30pm Tehran Time

Ghazel in conversation with Tania Bruguera: “Art for the Not Yet”
May 24, 8:30pm Tehran Time

About The Tehran Summit
Co-founded by Erfan Ghiasi and Ghazel in 2022, The Tehran Summit creates an alternative way of looking at the process of art-making and rejects the monopolization of art by the market. Due to travel restrictions to Iran, The Tehran Summit takes advantage of the internet and online platforms and creates a bridge between Iran’s artistic atmosphere and other countries and brings together different contemporary discourses and methods of art-making utilized by artists and art collectives. The Tehran Summit arises out of an urgent need for events initiated by independent art practitioners, non-profit collaborations, and radical thinkers in a climate heavily affected by commercial galleries, politicized art institutions, and market-oriented exhibitions. Concentrating on socially engaged art projects and contemporary aesthetics and philosophy, The Tehran Summit functions as a forum for visual artists, cultural practitioners, and thinkers to debut ideas and for organizers to engage summit audiences in their projects and communities. Thus far, Summit [00] and Summit [01] have invited influential artists and thinkers from around the globe including Zineb Sedira, Adrian Paci, Kendell Geers, Per Hüttner, Mo Salemy, Humberto Vélez, Sylvie Blocher, Graham Harman, Michael Rakowitz, Nato Thompson, The Center for Tactical Magic, Alistair Hudson, and The Yes Men.

About Pachinko
Pachinko is an artist-run space located in Grønlandsleiret 47C, Oslo. Pachinko aims to present experimental cross-disciplinary projects by regional and international artists. Through a Nordic network, an open structure and a flexible programme, Pachinko seeks to provide a testing ground for artistic and social discourse. Pachinko is run by Mathilde Carbel and Kristian Schrøder.

Acknowledgements
The third Tehran Summit has been made possible with the generous support of the Fritt Ord Foundation and Arts Council Norway.