Identification and assessment of the public art components that contribute to creation of democratic atmospheres from the 1380s (Case study: Tehran’s Ab-o-Atash Park)

Document Type : Original/Research/Regular Article

Authors

1 Department of Art Research, Faculty of Arts, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Art Research, Faculty of Theoretical Sciences and Higher Art Studies, University of Arts, Tehran, Iran.

3 Department of Visual Communication, Faculty of Arts, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Public art in Iran has undergone dramatic changes since the beginning of its development, and especially after the 80s when Social and discourse arts started to give way to decorative, formalist and abstract art. As a result of this process, reconstruction discourse which characterized by its social function and brought about social harmony and solidarity started to fade. So, the development of human and vibrant environments in the densely populated cities of the contemporary age is a need that has obsessed all urban authorities such as designers, planners and policymakers. Thus, taking into account the role of audience in retrieving and utilizing the spaces devoted to art and public art activities and improving the quality of democratic spaces, the researcher made attempts to investigate the contribution of public art components to creation of democratic atmosphere of the 80s in Tehran’s Ab-o-Atash Park. The Embedded Design Mixed Research Method was used to conduct the study. Atlasti and SPSS software were used in the qualitative and quantitative phases of the study, respectively. The results show that the public art components have most significantly contributed to creation of graffiti, structural elements, simultaneous displays, celebrations and lighting (each having a coefficient of determination of 1). Water fountains and elements devoted to celebrities and dignitaries (with coefficient of determination of 0.893) and building structures (with coefficient of determination of 0.846) were ranked second and third, respectively. The results showed that public art components have had the least contribution to creation of stone sculpture (0.427) and the amphitheater (0.362) and the ski resort (0.467) respectively.
In the years after Revolution the public art in social discourses affected by three decades' purgation or sublimation discourse in 1960s with a nostalgic and unifying moral function followed a public ethics and sustainability. With the end of the war and beginning of the 70s, the daily life in Iran has been changed a lot and the ethics of here is bravery and errantry of the what time gave way to rationality and computation of the construction period. New generation took a distance from the heroes of 60s to shape his daily life in another way. Therefore, the main confliction is that the heroism life is the dominance of the danger and violence and going to the danger, while the daily life is the dominance of the women and the reproduction and care. Iran had the experience of Revolution and war a head, needed to the features and ethics of heroism in art, not a mediocre ethic that avoids danger. In fact, in the 1370s more common and routine subjects were proceeded the martyr's wall paintings and fronts gave their way gradually to the decorative, formalist and abstract paintings). The lifestyle of the youth and the street wanderings cherry that were considered as a kind of idleness at the beginning of 1380s and were regarded as a fruitless routine in the civility system, became the predominant form of youth life in the 1380s. They gained and uninhibited and free experience in wanderings that has trifled in all of the cultural, educational and political formations. Wandering is described as democratic urban consumer.
The loiterer is the hero of the daily life and interested in urban beauties and elegances at best. Wandering is the production of space; wandering is the art of daily life and how to use the space is important by the loiterer. The beautification discourse of 1380s, with the cultural function resulted in the public the esprit, social joy and enthusiasm and beautification discourse. In the meantime, the artistic events undergone some changes. The general art is also changing gradually from the idealistic pictures (Heroes) to the routine and interactive (facilitator) pictures and symbols. The events that can stabilize the discourse space and bring the general esprit, and social joy and enthusiasm and the discourse beautification. Generally, by entering the art to the general arena, the factors affecting the meaning of Art changed under the influence of the cultural, social and political situations and fields, the personal and public audience, the authority powers and artists, all of were effective in creating the meaning of art. This change in relations is somehow a change in the discourse, and this discourse method of the general art is the result of social functions, special time and place. This research has tried to answer below question with the purpose of considering the role of the audience in recapturing and seizing and how to use the space in relation to artistic activities and general art and qualitative improvement of the democratic space supporting those the general art components is effective in the democratic creation and experience of the Water and Fire Park.
* How much were effective the elements of the general art in creation and experience of the democratic space in the 80s, in the study sample of Tehran water and Fire Park?
The relationship between the art and urban space has been beneficial for both phenomena during the history, but the speed of the developments of the past century has caused challenges in the relationship between the art and urban spaces in our country, so that the applied art in the city has an ordered and attached nature, not popular. With the extraction of general art elements by the deep interviews based on the individual experience of experts in space and its verification by the special audiences, this research tried to answer this important question that: how much does the contribution of each of the general arts presented in the water and Fire Park effects on space production and the democratic experience in the space. During the qualitative section and the deep interviews, it was found that there are most of the activities in the space that should be accomplished to be able to comprehend the general art related to that, therefore, in this research the type of activity is dependent on general art. During the different periods of time the art has taken a void range of different forms and during the historical periods the artists have Sean is strong desire to engage via the physical and mental contexts of society and this issue have successfully gained when the artistic work has been connected with a specific place or event and has created the general art. The general art can be emerged in public spaces in different ways and forms such as the big and small statues, murals, paintings. public space furniture and ...., but in the meantime, along with the created charms by the general art, the social participation based on the cultural aspects of any public space under the influence of the different types of general art can make more people presented. the general art reliance in some way on interaction with the general public based on some common social ideas gives a very suitable opportunity for reviving these ideas and trying to revitalize the community and social relations. The need for human and vibrant environments in today's crowded cities is a need that has occupied the minds of all city officials including the urban designers, programmers and policy makers. The general art which is taken from and describes the historical narratives and holding ceremonies or periodic celebrations, simultaneously with the lighting of the elements in Water and Fire Park, have the greatest contribution in creating a democratic experienced by individuals which can be considered it equal among all kinds of arts in terms of value transmittal, and the simultaneous presence of all the arts is required. The arts mixed with conceptual metaphors and especial meanings are in the next stage and at last they are case arts.

Keywords

References

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Theoretical Principles of Visual Arts
Volume 6, Issue 1 - Serial Number 11
September 2021
Pages 144-159

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History

  • Receive Date: 02 December 2020
  • Revise Date: 18 April 2021
  • Accept Date: 22 May 2021

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