Visual Poetry - Contemporary Posters from Iran

From its collection of Iranian posters, the only one of its kind in Europe, the museum presents a new donation of works from the last 20 years.

Iranian graphic design can only look back on a young history. It developed as an independent discipline in the 1960s. After the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war, designers picked up where they left off before the war. Their works combine the unorthodox interpretation of Persian cultural heritage with contemporary trends in international graphic design. From its unique European collection of Iranian posters, the museum presents a new donation of works from the last 20 years. In part they confirm stereotypical Western notions of Islamic aesthetics, in part they radically subvert them and surprise our gaze. The posters reflect creative freedom in times of political crisis; their often symbolically encoded, poetic visual language breaks through cultural and political restrictions of the regime.

Currently, Iran is in a historical moment. The poster exhibition is accompanied by graphic contributions that reflect the current political situation and visualize the courageous resistance led by women against a deeply repressive regime.