OPENING October 12, 4-8 pm Azad Art Gallery, Tehran / Iran http://azadart.gallery/En/upcoming.aspx Artists: Halida Boughriet, Sharzad Changvalaee,  Fatoş Irwen, Simin Keramati, Tahmineh Monzavi, Balqis al´Rashid, Dilan Cudi Saruhan, Nil Yalter, Arzu Yayıntaş Every person should have the exclusive right to dispose of their body as they wish. The body should be an untouchable personal zone. But power structures of a governmental or religious nature as well as certain social notions do restrict this right. In particular, women of the so called Near and Middle East are struggling for this right. However the undifferentiated, fragmentary idea of the subordinated, voiceless woman in the hijab, who has to be freed by external forces – an idea very prominent in the West – represents a false role as well. Per se it denies the individual self-determination of the many different women in the aforementioned region – just like some of the governmental or religious institutions in charge. Art is a field where – more or less safely – anyone can exercise this right on the own body. In Vienna the use of the body as artistic medium is prominent due to the Viennese Actionism, the works of Austrian artist VALIE EXPORT and the feminist avantgarde of the 70s, most of whom explored the medium of video. The central starting point […]