TEHRAN – The Iranian Graphic Designers Society opened its twice-postponed exhibition “Momayyez: Art as a Profession” virtually on Friday October 23rd, Secretary and curator of the exhibition Onish Aminelahi said.The society first planned to organize the showcase as a tribute to top Iranian graphic designer Morteza Momayez during Iran’s Graphic Design Week, which begins every year on April 27 concurrent with World Design Day.
Due to a spike in the COVID-19 cases in the country, the weeklong festival was postponed until September. However, as the critical situation continued, the exhibition was postponed again.
The society’s decision to pay tribute to Momayez, who is considered to be the father of modern graphic art in Iran, refers to the International Council of Design’s decision to select the theme “Be Professional!” for World Design Day 2020.
An opening ceremony was held with a limited number of guests at the Iranian Museum of Graphic Design in Tehran, which was stream live on Instagram, curator Onish Aminelahi said in a press release on Sunday.
Twenty-five posters have been selected to be showcased in the submission section of the festival.
The exhibition showcased 57 designs by 57 invited artists. In addition, the exhibit displayed works by a number of the overseas graphic designers whose works previously were on display in an exhibition organized by the Momayez Foundation.
The overseas artists include Alain Le Quernec, Alex Jordan, Armando Milani, Dimitris Arvanitis, Guy Schockaert, Leonardo Sonnoli, Linda Fu, Milton Glaser, Mimmo Castellano, Niklaus Troxler, Paula Scher, Sadik Karamustafa, Seymour Chwast, Shigeo Fukuda, Ug Sato and Uwe Loesch.
The exhibition will run for two months at the Iranian Museum of Graphic Design.
In a statement previously published, the selecting committee of the exhibition composed of Kurosh Parsanejad, Mehdi Saeidi, Majid Abbasi, Kianush Gharibour and Mehdi Mahdian wrote, “As history confirms, Morteza Momayez is a powerful symbol of professionalism in graphic design and tribute to him is homage to a professional life.”
“Finding examples of professionalism and a new approach to Morteza Momayez is really pleasant, however, it is difficult to express it through designs.”
Momayez died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 70.
The theme “Be Professional!” is a reflection on the designer’s role, not only in designing, but in their greater responsibilities towards humanity, the planet and culture, ico-D wrote in its statement for World Design Day 2020.
“If we consider ourselves professionals, then we must adhere to a set of commonly held principles that we are not willing to compromise. If we consider ourselves professionals then we must consider the impact of our work on more than the client and the individual end-user. We are accountable for the social, cultural and environmental costs of our professional actions,” the council stated.