« This exhibition is an homage to those who said no to life imposed by the Iranian regime of the Islamic Republic. »

The word ZENDEGI, which gives its title to this exhibition, means “life” in Farsi. By choosing to use a word in the Persian language, Esmaël Bahrani suggests that we go through an inevitable translation to enter the space. It is evidently essentiel to invoke Iran in the context of the current insurrections that the country is witnessing, and which are the basis of a future sustained by hope but threatened by the extreme violence of the Iranian regime. Yet for Esmaël Bahrani it is as difficult not to talk about Iran at the moment as it would be to make a direct and unambiguous link between his work and his country of origin. Today we chose to talk about Iran because it is important to do so everywhere and with vigour. Nevertheless, the contributions offered by Bahranis’s work do not take the shape of a direct comment on a political situation, and deal with life above all, as well as the power of the moment.