A prologue on The 5th Festival of 30 Performances, 30 Artists, 30 Days

“The 30 Performances, 30 Artists, 30 Days Festival” began with the aim of inclusive introduction of Performance Art to the audience and artists as a media with expressive capabilities. In previous editions of the festival, we focused on performer, audience, real time and place; in this edition, expanding the theoretical topics is the main aim. We have not neglected about direct education during previous periods and  performance art workshops and their practical results which led to the founding of Beta Group is one of the achievements of this section. In this way, we have moved forward towards the goals of the festival during the past five years and I am glad that many of those goals have been achieved today. The result of the efforts in this year led to holding “The 5th Festival of 30 Performances, 30 Artists, 30 Days” into a new house, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

In “The 5th Festival of 30 Performances, 30 Artists, 30 Days”, we continue to pursue our previous goals although the new horizons have also opened. In the fifth festival, the theoretical focus will be on “Performance Theory” which will be followed in the form of articles and sessions. Also this year, the performance art workshops will host the enthusiasts and the practical result of that will be released as the Beta Group at the end of the festival.   

One of the achievements of the festival which is the result of practical, educational and theoretical activities is the introduction of a new generation of artists in this field. Now, with a growing trend, we are observing the increasing number of activities in this arena. And according to limitation of participation in the festival (30 artists / groups), every year we are forced to host a smaller group of the artists. In this period, inviting artists is based on their continuous activities in the areas of theoretical and practical aspects of Performance Art. Furthermore, in selection and formation, the process of creating an artwork -as one of the features of Performance Art- is considered more than the previous periods.

This year, “The Fifth Festival of 30 Performances, 30 Artists, 30 Days” has found new friends at The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. This event was not possible, if there were no accompaniment of these friends and individual artists, audience, managers and those who involved.    

Amir Rad
December 2015