Novruz: How it is celebrated in Azerbaijan

On the day of equinox many nations and cultures that once worshipped fire celebrate upcoming spring – Novruz (as it is called in Azerbaijan) or Norooz, Novruuz, Nawruz, Nauroz as it is named in other cultures or simply a New Year.

The celebration involves a lot of symbolism and rituals that date back to the time of Zarathustra, the prophet of Zoroastian religion, who lived back in the 6^th century B.C. He believed that anything on earth has a soul and each soul has both negative and positive features that balance out each other. Akhuramazda, the God of light, truth and life and Ankhra-Manyu, the God of darkness, evil, untruth and death divide and rule the world together.        

 

Fire, sacred and purifying, played a central role in the religious ceremonies and is an important part of Novruz celebration. Azerbaijan has been one of the centers of the religion and up until now there is an ancient temple, Ateshqah, now a museum, built on the site of eternal fire. It is not the only site: few kilometers away, also on Absheron peninsula, there is another place – Yanardag or Burning/Fire hill – another site where natural gas is so close to the surface’s oxygen that it self-ignite. The eternal fire that does not extinguish for centuries, no matter whether it is snowing or raining, even now mesmerizes the visitors of this place. From the fire, the name of the country takes its origins – the Land of Fire.

Novruz series, Fire, acrylic on canvas, Contemporary Nomad, 2005

Novruz series, Water, acrylic on canvas, Contemporary Nomad, 2005

Novruz series, Gilavar wind, acrylic on canvas, Contemporary Nomad, 2005

 

Fire is indispensable element of Novruz celebration: candles are lightened and tongal or bonfires are made all over the places in courtyards or even streets (also illegally). Everyone should jump over the fire at least once in a symbolic way of burning and leaving everything bad in the past and reviving as Simurg birds (in western mythology better known as Phoenix). If the bonfire is not big enough, it is not scary or dangerous at all, but before jumping make sure you are not wearing your favorite pair of pants or an expensive shirt!  

 

The climax of Novruz celebration is always the evening of March 20^th which is preceded by four Tuesdays or Chershenbe, each representing one of four natural forces: water, fire, earth and wind (that inspired me to make a Novruz series, while first three were painted in 2005, the inspiration for the fourth still has to arrive). Life is born in water, fire nurtures life that now springs from the earth, wind as a messenger makes trees to open their buds and flourish – spring is ready to arrive. Every Tuesday evening family unites for a traditional dinner – a rice meal called plov. Each region of Azerbaijan have their own variations of plov, the most important is that it has to be sweet by adding dry fruits or rose jam. Semeni, green sprouting wheat wrapped up with red ribbon - the herald of spring and symbol of fertility is put on the center of festive table surrounded by traditional pastry, dry fruits, nuts and lightened up candles as many as there are members in a family. Each person picks a candle and makes a wish: whoever candle goes out the last is the winner and the wish will come true.

 

Pastry is the tradition on its own: there are three most common and important pastries: paxlava (rhomb-shape sweet pastry made of minced nuts, sugar, honey syrup, rose water) that has an almond or walnut in the center – a symbol of a pregnant woman, shekerbura (a patty with very intricate ornamentation made manually) – a symbol of crescent moon, and goghal – millefoglie round-shape pastry with a lot of sari kyok spice inside (made out of turmeric plant), bright orange color of the spice makes this pastry a symbol of sun. In addition, seven elements starting with “s” have to be present on the table: sumakh (red spice), skad (milk), sirke (vinegar), samani (a special millet porridge made out of semeni, the sprouting wheat, but since it is very difficult to cook, the “green” version can also work), sabzi (greens) – also as a substitute to samani, sarmisagh (garlic), sikte (gold - could be a golden coin or some jewelry) and a small mirror.   

 

On New Year day relatives and friends see each other, families visit cemeteries to commemorate the passed away relatives, to honor them a special type of sweet - khalva is prepared (flour, rose water, butter, honey, saffron), those in quarrel have to forgive each other. Everyone is very attentive to what they do and say on that day as this will affect the upcoming year. In the evening, dressed up in new clothes, people, in addition to the gastronomic feast engage in a lot of activities such as fortunetelling, dancing, singing or playing games such as throwing hats under neighbour’s doors, knock and run away to later come back and discover some treats in the hat.  The most popular game is knocking colored eggs to each other; the purpose is to break the egg of another contestant without breaking the shell of your own – a skill that some perfection throughout many years. Two dervish or travelers friends Kyosa and Kechel are beloved folklore characters and central figures of any street feast: they joke, invite everyone to play games and dances. 

 

It will not be an exaggeration to say that Novruz is the most important and long-awaited holiday of the year as it is an occasion to unite everyone at a festive table and share happy moments. Even when its celebration was forbidden by communists as a thread to their ideology, the nation still celebrated it. Now, it is a big event also in the city life as many open air shows and performances with traditional dances and competitions take place, mostly in Icheri Shekher or the Inner City - a historical center of Baku, the capital, surrounded by the medieval walls.

As a bonus, here is the recipe of the most easy to cook traditional Novruz meal: Suddash (sud - milk, ash - type of rice meal, synonym to plov).

Ingredients (for 2-3 people): 

1 full cup of long rice

2 cups of milk

1/2 table spoon of salt 

3-4 table spoons of sugar

1/2 cups of white raisins and dry apricot halves

100 gr of butter

4-5 table spoons of rose water (for flavor, usually, can be found in Middle Eastern and Indian shops)

pinch of saffron 

Preparation

Wash the rice in water. It is advisable to soak the rice in cold water for at least 2h, but if you don't do that it's not a big deal. Warm up the milk till it starts to boil in a teflon pan. Add sugar, salt and rice, saffron and rose water. Constantly stir. As soon as milk boils down completely, add dry fruits (previously washed under running cold water) and stir again. Cover the lid in cotton cloth or a napkin so that there is cotton layer between the lid and the food. Decrease the flame to minimum and leave the pan for 20-30 minutes stirring the rice once in a while. In the middle of the cooking process (ca. after 15 minutes) melt butter in a separate pan and pour on the top of the rice and stir again. 

Serve with rose petal jam or sugar. 

Rashid Rana Solo Show Opening at Lisson Milan and Flashbacks to Lalla Essaydi

Rashid Rana at Lisson Gallery 

Last week I went to Rashid Rana's opening at Milan's Lisson gallery. Rana, one of the most famous and definitely the most expensive (since this term nowadays is more impressive and for some is a key element of whether or not to visit an exhibition opening) Pakistani artist. I am used to gallery openings when few give a speech and do praise an artist standing next to him, visitors bring the flowers and gifts, but in Europe I do not think it is a tradition or maybe I arrive too late and miss the event's culmination. 

Rana entered space one hour later when everyone were already in the courtyard enjoying Italian wine and cold cut, so his arrival remained unnoticed to the majority of the crowd. Another observation, those who come to the exhibition openings, at least, from my very scarce experience, do not recognize the artist. In the world of Google search this ignorance, especially when one visits a solo show is a bit disrespectful. But again, I might be wrong. 

Rana is indisputably talented, but after reflecting and comparing his current exhibition with his earlier works, I incline to say that there is a bit of distantiation and less innovation in the works that are now on view: when looking at the pieces it might not be obvious that Rashid Rana made them, but when asking oneself whether Rashid Rana could have be the author of these pieces at the exhibition, the answer is "yes". 

"My work is often a three-way negotiation between myself, my immediate physical surroundings and what I receive – whether through the Internet, books, history or collective knowledge.” 

Rashid Rana, ArtReview, 2013

Rashid Rana, Notions of Narrations II, 2013. C-print, 228 x 323 cm. Image Source: Lisson Gallery

"Would anyone in this room know where the hell is Baku?"

- Would anyone in this room know where the hell is Baku? Seriously, Baku? So Dina, my friend Dina, went there and made a show of Lalla Essaydi in Baku!
- When was it?
- This autumn and before she was curating Love Me, Love Me Not pavilion at Biennale. 
- Oh
- Btw, Essaydi did not come up with anything new. Shirin Neshat has been doing that already. But you know what, after knowing her personal story I have started to appreciate her more. 
-?
- She has been married to a Saudi and then when they separated he was keeping the children and all those stories. So her Harem series is actually about her life with her husband!

I overheard this monologuous dialogue in the lower lever of the gallery sitting between three ladies, Middle Eastern by their appearance, whose English accent revealed they all have been living or visited often UK. It was difficult not to hear their conversation, despite I tried to read the press release - the reason why I sat down. Still, I did not want to be impolite and intervene with "Yes, I know where's Baku" comment. Later, however, when helping the same young lady to order a cab, I have brought up this topic and we both laughed. 

Shirin Neshat, from Soliloquy series, 1999. Gelatine silver print, 25,4 x 33 cm 

Lalla Essaydi in Baku's Museum of Modern Art

Beyond Time and Beauty exhibition was the one mentioned in the conversation. I am glad I had a chance to see Lalla Essaydi's works live so soon after discovering her participating in a group show She Who Tells a Story in Boston's Museum of Fine Art earlier last year.

Born in 1956 in Marrakech, Morocco, Lalla Essaydi has been working in variety of media, recently devoting herself to photogpraphy. Despite she was educated in Europe and the USA, many years spent in Saudi Arabia have shaped her works. Lalla Essaydi’s photography is a contemporary reflection of Orientalism that is traced back to the nineteenth century art of Ingres, Delacroix and Gérome.

“In my art I wish to present myself through multiple lenses – as artist, as Moroccan, as Saudi, as traditionalists, as Liberal, as Muslim. In short, I invite the viewer to resist stereotypes.” 

Lalla Essaydi

“<…> the subject of Harem Revisited are clothed in elaborate caftans and their environments are now covered with these richly adorned fabrics. The draperies are dense and have such rich embroidery and complex patterns that when seen altogether, the effect is dizzying, essentially turning the women themselves into objects of decoration, camouflaged within their environments. They become, in effect, a metaphor for the essence of Essaydi’s exploration. These vintage textiles, which were created between the 17^th century to the early 20^th century for use in wedding ceremonies, to decorate palaces and the harem area, were all generously loaned to Essaydi from the Nour and Boubl er Temli collection.” 

Dina Nasser-Khadivi, exhibition curator  

Lalla Essaydi, Harem #19b, 2009. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, 101,6x76,2 cm (40x30 in.) 

Lalla Essaydi, Harem #19b, 2009. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, 101,6x76,2 cm (40x30 in.). Details

Lalla Essaydi, Harem Revisited #39, 2012. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, 101,6x76,2 cm (40x30 in.)

 Lalla Essaydi, Harem Revisited #39, 2012. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, 101,6x76,2 cm (40x30 in.). Detail

 Lalla Essaydi, Les Femmes du Maroc: Harem Women Writing, 2008. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, 122x152,4 cm (48x60 in.)

Lalla Essaydi, Les Femmes du Maroc: Harem Women Writing, 2008. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, 122x152,4 cm (48x60 in.). Details

“In the works from the Bullet Revisited series, a scene is set the sort of room one finds in Orientalist painting. Each room – its tiles, woodwork, and other décor, as well as the women’s clothing – is reproduced in faithful detail. But these scenes are created with bullet casings that turn the domestic space into a psychological one, charged with the violence within contemporary society.” 

DDina Nasser-Khadivi, exhibition curator 

Lalla Essaydi, Bullets Revisited #3, 2012. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium in three parts, 122x152,4 cm (48x60 in.) each.

Lalla Essaydi, Bullets Revisited #21, 2012. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, 122x152,4 cm (48x60 in.)

Lalla Essaydi, Bullets Revisited #21, 2012. Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, 122x152,4 cm (48x60 in.).Detail

For more photos from Lalla Essaydi exhibition, click here.

P.S. 

My favorite Artistic Twinship "game" may juxtapose Shirin Neshat's and Lalla Essaydi's works with Chinese Landscapes (1999-present) by Huang Yan who participated in independent Chinese pavilion at the 55th Venice Art Biennale with the works below. 

 Huang Yan, from Chinese Landscapes series, 2001, 100 x 80 cm

 Huang Yan, from Chinese Landscapes series, 2001, 100 x 80 cm

If interested to see more "body art", check out this post called Printed Skin on Pattern Bank blog.

A Ghost Artist

I went back home to be taken care of and pump up my completely ruined immune system, but while combating with all type of “demons” I have decided that nothing could be better than an art therapy. The news about an upcoming workshop Art in Print by omnipresent Yarat! was just in time pennies from heaven.

Since I knew the owner of the Natavan gallery I was granted after-the-deadline access to the workshop, the privilege I decided to exploit since I had all the time in the world and needed to have some joggling.

While at the beginning I was more interested and excited about helping my friend with preparing the space for the exhibition, especially since I have just completed a NODE course on Exhibition Design, on the second day of the workshop I decided to stop by the premise and try to make my own cut asking Paul Coldwell, the British artist who hold that workshop, to add my pieces to the final show only if there will be space.

The process of printmaking turned out to be a lot of fun and despite me being quite dressy (just because I was planning to meet my primary school sweetheart that I have not seen for over 20 years), I was not afraid to get numerous cuts, dip my hands into black and red ink to paint with fingers, ruining my manicure and afterwards rubbing my skin for few minutes to get back my natural skin color.   

I guess I have a bit of a talent to disguise myself as if one googles that event he/she will not only find me at the event photos but also in the list of group show participants, despite being the only one (and this time not because of acquaintance with the gallery owner) selected to share the room with the artist, Paul Coldwell. Because of that some were mistakenly thinking my art was belonging to him so they appeared on TV marked as his. I did not mind, at the end, it's quite an honor to be considered (even though by obscure reporters covering the event) an established professional after less than 3 hours of doing prints! 

The last sentence under no way undermines Paul's research and work on loss and items of attribution, a certain trace, a portrait of a person based on his belongings. The topics covered by Paul Coldwell reminded me of another great project - My Most Important Suitcase by Fritz Roth (click here).

The pieces above were produced simultaneously while being a very dedicated mentor and supervisor of above a dozen students' work

Among the ones shown to us, I liked these two, but I strongly recommend to browse the rest of his website as there is much more: 

Points of Reference, 2011, Substrate: Somerset Velvet 300gms,Edition: 20+3 A/P

Source:http://www.paulcoldwell.org/

Hot Water Bottle, Glass and Compass, 37cmx22cmx6cm

Source:http://www.paulcoldwell.org/

Getting back to my artistic return. This even also remained unnoticed, or better said, unknown to my relatives and friends. So, yes, whenever I have time my arty side rebels and kills a boring consultant. First time it resulted in a series of QR-code inspired acrylic paintings on glass last winter when I was all by myself to manage a client in the middle of nowhere of Russian woods with -25C of cold outside. I had three after the work hobbies: Evening Urgant, a Russian version of Letterman show, drawing those acrylic self-expressions and checking out the snow level outside my terrace. Second time I was in stil-warn Baku, in the heart of the historical Inner City which already made the experience much more fun (especially, the tapping of inky fingers on paper). People at the show asked me what did I do: Paul saw some landscapes, Natavan - flowers, someone else - petroglyphs. Since I had no clue what I was doing (as from the beginning I wanted to carve a tree with carpet ornamentation, but due to lack of time and skills I only cut my fingers), I made a smart face and because everyone was seeing something different as in almost any other abstract piece, I called my papers Rorschach Studies (after Swiss Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst whose 1921 inkblot test is actually proven to be useless) automatically becoming a contemporary artist with own artist statement. 

I guess, I have discovered a new area of interest - printmaking, another hobby that I am afraid remains superficial as long as work over 12 hours a day!

P.S. thanks to my friends, Natavan and Ulviya who made me discover and experience this previously untapped and mistakenly considered boring technique!

Contemporary Nomad on Facebook

I have uploaded some pictures from my recent gallery visits.

Please, check out dedicated folders on my Facebook page: 

Mucha exhibition in Prague

Gazelli Art House Baku

Marco Rossi Artecontemporanea & Spazio Oberdan in Milan

Also, make sure to check out Gogolfest of Kiev - a week-long contemporary art festival which this time took place in an abandoned factory. The opening night was really vibrant and very energizing. 

Check out the videos by clicking here.

Stay tuned for a big upload on Art Biennale of Venice that I finally visited earlier this month! Still have to find time and courage to face the work of over 3000 pic selection!

And if you want to see daily updates on art and travel, like the page!

Have a nice weekend,

CN

Arty Weekend – Part I

for more photos, please, check out my Facebook page

Past weekend from the “apple-city” (Almaty) I moved to the capital of the Land of Fire – Baku.

My failure to meet Warhol

Baku, the biggest port on Caspian Sea, has gone through several changes in the past few centuries. The commercialization of oil in the late nineteen century enriched the city and its architecture. The effects of the second oil boom of a recently independent country gave a boost to a new level of rebranding. Some of the changes are worth to be proud of while some others are small “genocides” against the city’s cultural heritage and green zone. The city of controversies and vanity, Baku has added a new facet to its image: in the past few years there has been a real boom of contemporary art – an area highly appreciated and supported by the president's family. Some unprecedented international initiatives took place recently one of which was bringing Andy Warhol's 100 works to a newly inaugurated Heydar Aliyev Center – a futuristic creation of the architect Zaha Hadid. 

Those who went to Common Ground, a 2012 Architecture Biennale in Venice, probably have seen this building’s model in the section of the exposition dedicated to Zaha Hadid. 

Heydar Aliyev Center became another architectural marvel of city's modern look

Live it looks impressive: the “tent’s” ivory curves shine in the sun, the sterile white interior of the entrance area promise franquillity, yet there has to be another time to discover all of its beauties as the building was closed for visits the day I was in Baku! So this unpleasant fact made impossible to see Warhol’s Life, Death and Beauty exhibition. It could have been my second only-Warhol time as in Milan’s 900 museum I have recently seen Bank of America Merrill Lynch collection of the artist’s works which is on until September 8th. The exposition was disappointingly small as I expected something beyond one room exposition, yet informative as a sort of a storyline was created through which evolution of Warhol’s techniques could be traced. In addition a nice designer solution of flavoring the exhibition with explanatory text in pop-art style (fluorescent colors, call boxes, etc.) added funkiness to the visitors’ experience. Also, I have discovered that there were many variations of famous Campbell canned soup and during the first show 32 metal soup cans were exhibited next to the paintings. So despite finding Warhol overrated and not among my favorite artists I still admit he was a marketing genius.

 While in Milan the exhibition was crowded, according to those who were luckier than me in  recently exploring the center in Baku, the show is really good, but they were the only visitors as probably everyone is now at the seaside or abroad. According to local newspapers 25,000 tickets were sold the first weeks, yet I wonder whether hosting an event like this in the middle of summer was a right pick: Since most of the students are long time ago on holidays and the remaining suffer from the university standardized entry test itch, a big chunk of potential audience is out of reach. Art is still a hobby of a few and summer is a dead season as I have encountered empty rooms also visiting the Museum of Fine Arts and some contemporary art galleries mostly located within the Inner City (a part of Baku surrounded by a medieval wall).

Artistic quest continues…

The museum has been recently renovated but I found the look a bit kitsch. In addition, its three floors vaguely have any organizational structure and navigation as well as lack any printed or descriptive materials except painting titles (this reminded me a comment I write on a slide for a post-storecheck presentation in a category management project I am currently working on!) neither the young girls working there really made an impression of very dedicated and knowledgeable employees. So unless you do your homework and study some art history beforehand/afterwards, your beyond-a-painting-title-curiosity will remain unsatisfied. Ground floor accumulated mixed chronology/theme classical art that included Shishkin, Aivazovsky, Kuindzhi, last floor was dedicated to national art with some remarkable pieces. 

Land, 1970s, Rasim Babayev

Land of Fire triptych: Ateshgah Temple,The Caspian Sea Nowadays, The Maiden Tower, 2007, Tahir Salahov

Still life with kelaghayi (a traditional silk scarf), 1973, Sattar Bahlulzade

Second floor had a temporary exposition arranged in a rush to commemorate the death of a renown Azeri artist, Togrul Narimanbeyov, whose lifeless body was a subject of fierce discussions on where to be buried: in the motherland or the city he lived past decades – Paris. 

Nizami World, 1980, Togrul Narimanbeyov

...title to be checked..., Togrul Narimanbeyov

An the winner is…

While in Amsterdam my favorite art gallery is Jaski, in Baku it was very easy to make my choice: there are quite a few galleries, some "historical" like Qiz Qalasi and newly opened like Yay! by Yarat Contemporary Art Space. I recalled an accidental discovery of Gazelli Art House on Dover street in London's Mayfair district this January when crossing the gallery’s entrance in Baku. Owned by ex-Sotheby’s employee, the Baku gallery had an exposition of three artists, David Jones, RoryMcCartney, and Hyo Myoung Kim as well as a very passionate about her work, friendly and knowledgeable employee Ayla (in all other Baku galleries the staff is either not present with gallery open for visits or has a basic or no knowledge about the items on exposition).

a view from the gallery's second floor to Rory McCartney's Psycho Boogie, 2011

Among the three, Korean artist Hyo Myoung Kim is my favorite as his works in digital media were both laconic and fascinating by their simplicity. His pixelated images look painted while printed on aluminum panels, especially A Thousand and One night or 1024 colors 100x100 cm Digital Diasec prints. The latter is a collection of the most beautiful and famous fireworks all over the globe – a quintessence of happiness and celebrations. If it had spare €4,5K I would buy this piece without any further doubt!

1024 colors, 100x100 cm Digital Diasec prints, Hyo Myoung Kim

1024 colors, 100x100 cm Digital Diasec prints, Hyo Myoung Kim

 This work by David Jones, Implosive Neuro Polymorphism, Polyurethane, Oil and Ink on Alluminium, 108x108 cm reminds me of Asian paysage or calligraphy, maybe because of the meticulous “ink lace”

For his Ultramagnetic 2010 painting Rory McCartney rotated the canvas several times to reach this dripping into different directions effect