Posters, Children, Iran

Majid Abbasi introduces us to an exhibition in Tehran, “Lasting Legacy,” which is currently on view. “It is a retrospective of posters by various designers from 40 years ago. This selection is one of the most important parts of Iranian Poster Art. Especially the ’70s and ’80s.”

This exhibition celebrating The Children & Adolescents Intelligence Development Center is the first in a series of events to be held at The Vije School of Visual Communications (VSVC). It has taken five years of study, planning and training and continues through March 2011.

The participants include: Morteza Momayez, Nooreddin Zarrinkelk, Abbas Kiarostami, Farshid Mesghali, Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Ebrahim Haghighi, Mustafa Owji, Amir Naderi, Parviz Naderi, Bahram Khaef, Mohammad Reza Adnani, Parviz Mahallati, Mohammad Reza Dadgar, Behzad Gharib Pour, Abolfazl Hemmati Ahooe , Behrad Amin Salmasi, Mahshid Mohajer, Maryam Rahmati Evini Soodabeh Agah, Hushang Mohammadian, Ahmad Asbaghi, Shapur Hatami, Kourosh Parsa Nejad and Maryam Khonsary.

Here is a statement by Amrolah Farhadi, one of the organizers:

“Even though a history—or even a codified short history of modern graphic design in Iran—has not been collected and documented so far, clearly among the documents available and the remaining work scattered between the archives of individuals and organizations, a few influential and decisive events in the history of modern graphic design in Iran can be pointed out.

Currently The Vije School of Visual Communications (VSVC)—known as The First Graphic Design & Communications Private School in Iran—will be exhibiting over 50 of the collected posters, selected by Ebrahim Haghighi, at the Vije Gallery for the first time starting from October 1, 2010.

One of these events is the formation of The Children & Adolescents Intelligence Development Center which was founded in 1964 with the aim of creating opportunities for the expansion of the culture of reading and producing suitable books for Iranian children and adolescents. With the presence and cooperation of Iranian artists and intellectuals this center has been further expanded each day.

The Graphic Design Center of this organization also began work from approximately the same time. With the presence of artists such as: Farshid Mesghali, Abbas Kiarostami, Nooreddin Zarrinkelk, Morteza Momayez, Ebrahim Haghighi, Ali Akbar Sadeghi , and … it can firmly be said that the work created amongst them is a brilliant and lasting legacy for art history and graphic design in Iran.

Within a two years span Azin Farmandi a graduate from Shariati University in Tehran was able to gather over 400 posters of this organization. She completed her thesis entitled An Exploration of The Children & Adolescents Intelligence Development Center Posters along with eleven interviews with some of the most influential Graphic Designers of this center. This is considered to be the first reliable written document available.”

The Garteh Weekly Analytical-Research Magazine, which is co-sponsoring this event, initiated The Children & Adolescents Intelligence Development Center which deals with the study and analysis of the performance of this organization beginning from its launch.