Registrations open: Voices From sessions in May

At a moment when war, repression, and over a month of internet blackout make it increasingly difficult to understand what is happening inside Iran - even for those living through it - we turn to artists and cultural workers from Iran whose practices continue despite fear, fragmentation, and uncertainty. While the wish for democracy is stronger than ever, the conditions on the ground are shifting, unstable, and often impossible to grasp from the outside.

This session invites speakers from Iran and the Iranian diaspora to share how they navigate these realities, how artistic and professional practices respond or resist, and which stories or nuances remain absent from international conversations.

What realities are cultural workers currently navigating? How do artistic practices endure under fear, censorship, or rupture? What forms of solidarity, care, or community-building feel meaningful now? What perspectives remain unheard or misrepresented beyond Iran’s borders.

Speakers: 

Sepehr Sharifzadeh (Iran/France) - Curator/Strategic Consultant · Creative Producer · East‑West Divan · PADA Co‑Founder · IETM Advisory

Helia Shadifar (Iran/Canada) - Interdisciplinary artist

Arezoo Kazanbeik (Iran/Belgium) - Architect, heritage specialist, and cultural producer

More information about the speakers here.

For this edition of our Voices From series, we turn our attention to festivals that have disappeared, become dormant, or been forced into silence due to political, economic, or infrastructural pressures.

In many regions, festivals once served as vital artistic, social, and political ecosystems - spaces for gathering, experimentation, and community-building. Their disappearance leaves gaps that are not only cultural but deeply structural. This session invites speakers from Iran, Turkey, and Argentina to reflect on what is lost and what remains when festival infrastructures collapse.

What conditions lead to the disappearance of festivals? How do artists continue making work when the structures around them shift or erode? Which memories, documentation strategies, and informal networks can carry festivals forward in other forms? And do changing ecosystems call for other forms of artistic gatherings?

We will hear from: 

Amirali Ghasemi (Iran)– Independent Curator, Media Artist, Graphic Designer 

Mohammad Abbasi (Iran) – Director, Invisible Centre of Contemporary Dance; UNTIMELY Festival 

Roni Isola (Argentinia) - Cultural manager, producer, programmer and arts curator

Fatih Gençkal (Turkey) – A Corner in the World; tibia x fibula; Artistic Researcher at Das Third; IETM member

More information about the speakers here.