”Having been there“

Masoud Momenha has provided a chance for audiences in this photo collection to contribute in the process of attribution of meaning to the images through (as I think) Nicholas Bourriaud’s approach of relational aesthetics; but this chance is just for tehranian audiences who are familiar with the lived history, urban environ .ment and social-political context of the city in the last three decades Besides, while representing the past, all of these photos have a present aspect; by initiative of Mo’menha the photographers took the pictures without physical presence in the locations thus two distinct times have been mingled in each of the photos: The past which belongs to the photographer and the present which belongs to Mo’menha as the mediator in the production of these photos.
At the moment of photography, the photographer was “there” just with his “lived past” while Massoud Mo’menha was really “there” right at that moment.

Ebrahim Mousapour Besheli ( PHD )

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