Nowruz: Images, Sounds and Voices from Contemporary Iran

The exhibition project was born from the encounter between Yasra Pouyeshman and Mara Sartore and takes shape as an open, evolving organism, conceived as the beginning of a series of encounters dedicated to images, sounds, and voices from contemporary Iran. At a time when political and social conditions make the circulation of artworks and dialogue with Iran increasingly difficult, the project embraces this condition of suspension and partiality, transforming it into an open narrative structure in which absence becomes presence.

Nowruz brings together a selection of works from KOOCH’s Venetian warehouse and introduces the work of Reihane Raei, Siroo, Affsoongar, Mahboobeh Yazdani, Ehsan Shayegh, Elahe Abdi, and Aynaz – artists who, despite the diversity of their languages, share a common tension between memory, identity, and transformation. The project’s visual identity and exhibition poster are designed by Babak Safari, whose research bridges traditional Iranian art and contemporary design, transforming the graphic device into a space of cultural resonance.

The exhibition is conceived as a gesture of closeness and friendship towards the Iranian people, with the hope that the “new day” evoked by Nowruz may soon coincide with a time of freedom and peace.