Khosrow Hassanzadeh is one of Iran’s leading contemporary artists. During his artistic career his work became increasingly concerned with Islam as a factor in the interplay between East and West. This article discusses his recent series of works Terrorist to analyse the artist’s efforts to simultaneously criticize the accusing gaze of the West and reclaim the right of self-representation

Shatanawi, M.

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The Disquieting Art of Khosrow Hassanzadeh

Leiden University Scholary Publications

ArtsM I R J A M  S H AT A N A W IThe Disquieting Art of Khosrow Hassanzadeh“This series is the result of two years of thought, research and travel. It is a re-flection of a world where the word ‘ter-rorist’ is thrown about thoughtlessly. What is a terrorist? What are the origins of a terrorist and in an international con-text who defines ‘terrorism’? The West, with its personal definition of terrorism, gives itself the right to take over a coun-try, while in the Middle East the West is clearly accused of being a full-fledged terrorist. In exploring these ques-tions, I portrayed the people in whom I have the most faith: my mother and sisters.” With these words Khosrow Hassanzadeh introduces his most recent work Terrorist (2004). In the four-piece series Hassanzadeh portrays himself and his family members against a backdrop with images referring to their personal religious beliefs, accompanied by labels describing each portrayed “terrorist” with characteristics such as nationality, religious denomination, and personal history. The combinations of images and texts reveal that Hassanzadeh addresses contemporary Western perceptions in which Islam is heedlessly associated with terrorism. His “terrorists” are Mus-lim terrorists, and at the same time, or-dinary believers who are under scrutiny because of their faith.Discovering IslamThe emphasis on Islam in the Terror-ist series reflects Hassanzadeh’s development as an artist whose career became increasingly tied with the Euro-American art world and its con-comitant perceptions of Iran as a Muslim country. After a short training at Tehran’s Art Academy, Hassanzadeh made his first paintings in the mid-1980s. International recognition came only in 1999 when his War series, a gloomy diary of his memories as a volunteer soldier during the Iran-Iraq war, was exhibited at the Diorama Arts Centre in London. The exhibition proved to be a turning point in Hassanzadeh’s career. His work, increasingly addressing an outside observer, represented by his Western audiences, ultimately changed orientation. He began to observe Iranian society with the eye of an outsider, “looking in at his own society with a strictly incriminating eye” and “looking out for signs of culture and identity.”1It is at this point that Islam made its way into the paintings of Hassanzadeh. While his early works contained no referenc-es to Islam or Muslim society whatsoever, the newer series were loaded with them. Both Chador (2000), a response to Western perceptions of the veil as a symbol of the oppres-sion of Muslim women, and Ashura (2000), a re-interpreta-tion of the Shiite ceremony focusing on the female saints of Shiism, set out to challenge the dominant Western views of Muslim women. Prostitutes (2002), a tribute to sixteen pros-titutes killed by a religious fanatic in Mashhad, increased Hassanzadeh’s fame in the West as a representative of a pre-sumed Iranian “counterculture.” Meanwhile, Hassanzadeh’s orientation was gradually changing from a direct commen-tary on Iranian society to including a reflection on Western obsessions with Islam.Ethnic marketingHassanzadeh’s shifts in focus are tightly interwoven with the changed positions artists from the Middle East occupy in the global art world. Since 9/11, exhibitions featuring art-ists from the “Middle East” or the “Islamic world” are booming in the West. Most of these exhibitions start from the–debat-able–premise that contemporary art can serve as a means to inform audiences about the current state of affairs in the region.2 Moreover, the Middle East is “hot” and museums and galleries, just like publishing houses and other commercial institutions, need the marketing appeal of ethnic labelling to boost visitor counts or art sales.3 All the same, the idea that an artist’s national or religious background has an in-delible effect on an artist’s practice is highly controversial in the art world, and particularly in the Middle East. Many art-ists, including Khosrow Hassanzadeh, have been struggling against this notion for years. They argue that terms like “Is-lamic,” “Middle East,” or even “Iran” are loaded with religious and political subtexts and that the use of such terms in exhi-bition concepts draws away attention from the artistic value of their work. Ironically, it is precisely Hassanzadeh’s raw commentary on Iranian society that prompted most curators to include his work in their exhibitions. Khosrow Hassanzadeh is one of Iran’s leading contemporary artists. During his artistic career his work became increasingly concerned with Islam as a factor in the interplay between East and West. This article discusses his recent series of works Terrorist to analyse the artist’s efforts to simultaneously criticize the accusing gaze of the West and reclaim the right of self-representation. “Terrorist” # 2KHOSROW HASSANZADEH, COURESY OF KIT TROPENMUSEUM AMSTERDAM5 4  I S I M  R E V I E W  1 8  /  A U T U M N  2 0 0 6ISIM/NewsReclaiming independenceSet against this background, the Terrorist series can be analysed as a critique on the ways the international art world approaches artists from the Middle East, as Sohrab Mahdavi has done in his review of the series. He argues that by portraying himself and his mother and sis-ters as terrorists Hassanzadeh wants to take possession of the accusing gaze of the “other,” i.e. the West. Thereby, the work seems to criticize the common practice of the art world to demand that artists in the Middle East scrutinize their identities and reformulate them accord-ing to Western needs. Although Terrorist aims to reclaim the right to self-representation and independence, “It fails on both registers: ‘self-representation’ here is an appropriation of Western values and the work can only become ‘independent’ if the artist’s intended viewer is Western.”4 Nevertheless, this “radical failure” only reinforces the artist’s message, making it unique in the non-Western art scene. Artists like Khosrow Hassanzadeh are in a catch 22 situation. They have to rely on the Euro-American art market to function as artists in a gradually glo-balising art scene. Yet they feel uncomfortable with its crude marketing policies that emphasize their “otherness” and keep them in assigned roles of “Muslim” or “Middle Easterner.” Hassanzadeh describes himself as an “Occidentalist,” someone who moves back and forth between the mutual imagery that East and West produce. The question is if in the current hypersensitive political climate artists will be able to take up such sovereign positions.A retrospective of Khosrow Hassanzadeh is on view at the Tropenmuseum Amsterdam from 22 September 2006 through 7 January 2007.Mirjam Shatanawi is Curator of Middle East and North Africa at the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam. Email: m.shatanawi@kit.nlNotes1. Sohrab Mahdavi, “Terrorist,” in Tehran Studio Works: The Art of Khosrow Hassanzadeh, ed. Mirjam Shatanawi (London: Saqi Books, 2006), 124.2. As reflected in the titles of recent exhibitions that featured works by Hassanzadeh: Inside Iran (Amsterdam, 2006), iran.com (Freiburg, 2006), West by East (Barcelona, 2005) and Musulmanes, Musulmans (Paris, 2004).3. Tirdad Zolghadr, ed., Ethnic Marketing (Zürich: JRP Ringier, 2006).4. Mahdavi, “Terrorist,” in Tehran Studio Works, 124.13 – 15 October 2006Conference Youth and the Global South: Religion, Politics, and the Making of Youth in Africa, Asia, and the Middle EastVenue: Dakar, SenegalOrganizers: African Studies Centre (ASC), Council for the Development of Social Science in Africa (CODESRIA), International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) & ISIM19 October 2006Onderhandelen met islamistische bewegingen?Ramadan Festival DebateVenue: University of AmsterdamPanellists among others: Jan Schoonenboom, Tariq Shadid; Chair: Radi Suudi 26 October 2006ISIM in UtrechtSharia in Europe—Scope and LimitsLecture by Mathias RoheVenue: Utrecht University10 November 2006Reflections on Muslim Intellectual History: Farewell Conference of Professor Abdulkader TayobVenue: Radboud University NijmegenSpeakers: Mona Abaza, Nasr Abu Zayd, Asef Bayat, Martin van Bruinessen, Abdou Filali-Ansary, Muhammad Khalid Masud, Roel Meijer, Abdulkader Tayob30 November 2006ISIM in UtrechtThe Alevis in Flux: Reformulation and InstitutionalizationLecture by David ShanklandVenue: Utrecht University21 March 2007 – 25 March 2007 “Muslim Women” in Europe: Bodily Performances, Multiple Belongings, and the Public SpherePanel at 8th Mediterranean Research Meeting Venue: Florence & Montecatini Terme, ItalyConvenors: Ruba Salih (University of Bologna) & Annelies Moors (ISIM)Sponsors: EUI & ISIMISIM Ph.D. and Staff SeminarsVenue: Leiden University17 October 2006:Uncoordinated Networks: Muslim Educational Institutions and the Will for Reform in IndiaLecture by Rémy Delage31 October 2006:Sacred Places and Sacrificial Paradigms: Idd el-Hajj Discourses in TanzaniaLecture by Gerard van de Bruinhorst14 November 2006:"Love Marriages" Revisited: The Shaista Almani CaseLecture by Tanya Sheikh28 November 2006:Islamic Law and Society in Morocco, circa 1870–2006: The Genesis of a Modern Legal SystemLecture by Léon Buskens12 December 2006:The Bosnian Ulama and the Negotiation of Islamic Revivalism in Multi-Ethnic BosniaLecture by Önder Cetin6 February 2007:Lecture by Joe Stork 20 February 2007:I Love Moroccan Music, Because I Am Moroccan: Dutch-Moroccan Youth and Their Musical Exploration of IdentityLecture by Miriam Gazzah 6 March 2007:Gender and Family Law RevisitedLecture by Annelies Moors20 March 2007: Seeking Guidance in French Islam: Media Muftis and Telephone Fatwas in ParisLecture by Alexandre CaeiroFor more information on these and other events please consult the ISIM website or contact the ISIM secretariat at: Tel: +31 71 5277905Fax: +31 71 5277906E-mail: info@isim.nlwww.isim.nlI S I M  E V E N T SKHOSROW HASSANZADEH, COURESY OF KIT TROPENMUSEUM AMSTERDAM“Terrorist” # 1ISIM invites applications from holders of externally funded Ph.D. and postdoctoral fellowships who wish to pursue research at ISIM. For more information please contact ISIM at fellowships@isim.nl.In addition, ISIM invites applications and research proposals for visiting fellowships for its various programmes. For more information on the visiting fellowships and for application forms, please consult www.isim.nl.F E L L O W S H I P SI S I M  R E V I E W  1 8  /  A U T U M N  2 0 0 6  5 5

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