“La Maison de l’imaginaire” is a series that finds its conceptual roots in the earlier phases of Ali Ettehad’s work. The depiction of nonexistent cities with practically impossible characteristics has gradually manifested itself in his plays, novels, visual works, performances, and films. The insistence on the idea of ‘imaginary’ has led his new collection to take shape as a collaboration with artificial intelligence. Ettehad, who always begins his work with writing, and whose works are consistently intertwined with text, has now also prioritized text in his visual creations. All the

Between 2002 and 2003, Ettehad, during his travels across Iran, recorded videos of domes, fountains, tile-work, weavings, colorful Iranian fabrics, inscriptions, and ancient historical texts. These images were eventually placed within a kaleidoscope, and the output transformed into an analog video. This video was showcased on a vintage television. Decorative elements from Iranian ritualistic traditions were added to the video. This video art was first exhibited in Tehran in 2004.

MAYBE THE NEXT TIME
a video-art
by Ali Ettehad
2024