The First "Conceptual Art" Show in Iran
04 Mar 2022In May 1966, the first "conceptual art" installation was displayed at Seyhoun Gallery entitled "Prodigal Waterman", which was a multimedia collection by Kamran Diba: a combination of large walls and boxes, with a life-size human figure painted on them floating in the water, joined together using water supply equipment such as valves, fittings, and plumbing tools.
A voice recording was constantly played in the gallery space, saying, "Attention! Attention! Water supply is approved by us!"
"Diver" painting depicted a full-length figure of a red human, painted topsy-turvy on a white background, and from his wrists down, his hands inside the blue water were painted white. With turquoise letters, he had written in the water, "I am the underwater man. Where is under the water?". Additionally, a 14-digit row of numbers was written in reverse on this man's waist.
This conceptual collection resulted from Diba's collaboration with several other artists. The calligraphy was done by Faramarz Pilaram, and the man and woman speaking on the tape were Ghazaleh Alizadeh, the famous author, and Parviz Tanavoli. Of course, such conceptual work was quite progressive for its time as the historical background required to understand it, was absent; thus, it was not considered a serious work of art.