August 2025, “Expectant” A group show.
On August 1st, “Expectant”, a group show curated by Bita Fayyazi organized by Parallel Circuit opened at 8Cube, a mere 5-minute drive away from the first Israeli bomb attack site that took place on June 13th in northeast Tehran. A cacophony of war sounds – exploding bombs, sky covered red-dotted antimissiles, internet shutdowns and a disconnection from the outside world – still lingers silently as a backdrop of Tehran life.
It is in the aftermath of these volatile circumstances, during a ceasefire, that “Expectant” creates an escape vessel for artists and art lovers to take shelter in. The show’s strength is in its diversity of artworks and inclusivity of artists across mediums and practices. The curator, Fayyazi, a prominent artist herself, has played a central role in Tehran’s art scene by curating shows which elevate the spirit of collaboration to a new level. The 28 participants showcased in “Expectant”, half of whom are women, are comprised of emerging, midcareer and established artists who have expertly contributed to bringing the theme of the show to life as a group.
Exhibition view of Expectant
Through sculpture, textile, video, installation, painting and photography the exhibition explores how the theme of expectancy serves as a compelling impetus for participating artists. Most pieces in the show transpire a feeling of anticipation, a suspension in time and space while waiting for the unforeseen to happen. Many of the works are imbued with the potential to be and become in the silent stillness of the moment, while a few are suggestive of the absurdity of the human folly of trying to make sense of all the waiting.
Playing outside the entrance of the main hall is the video work, Loitering, (concept by Bita Fayyazi, edit by Pouya Parsamagham) – preparing the visitor for what’s in store as far as a thought-provoking take on expectancy is concerned. The video is an edited version of a football (soccer) match where the focus has been shifted from players’ running, dribbling, fouling, passing and stealing the ball to closeups of in-between moments of waiting around, walking aimlessly around the field, without the objective of scoring a goal or an audience. A metaphor perhaps for the futility of the game of life – wanderers without a goal in sight – begging the question ‘what is the point of it all?’
The main exhibition floor is a well-lit open space allowing each work of art to breathe and be seen. On opening night, the show had the energy and excitement of a hall in an international art fair. The textile works of Afsaneh Modiramani, Oasis and A Little Higher, welcome the visitor: urban and nature dissolve into shadows and textures as the colors and shapes of her fantastical threadwork disappear and reappear like fleeting mirages and illusions in a timeless space.
Contemplating still moments within the passage of time are Milad Mousavi’s brilliant figurative paintings in the Subway Series, characterized by distorted human forms and the exploration of social scenes that capture the ‘waiting’ moments of everyday life on public transport. Gohardasht Light depicts one such familiar moment of shared exhaustion, as seen in the bulbous features and slit-line shut eyes of sleepy passengers that glow in the soft, honey-hued early morning light shining through a metro car’s window.
Two very different minimalist and simple yet engaging works that explore the hopeful side of anticipation are seen in Afshin Sa’dipoor’s color pencil drawings of potted plants and Narges Farahani’s installation, Suspension. Sa’dipoor’s unconventional choice of tracing paper enhances the process of the plants coming into being as their leaves emerge from their foggy apparition to break through in color and vivacity in the middle of the page. Suspension by Farahani is a quasi-conical shaped papier-mâché suspension with an automatic drip irrigation system that delivers a single drop of water in long intervals into a soil-filled clay pot on the floor – the germination of any concealed seeds in the soil is anticipated in silence. There was evidence of greenery sprouting on my second visit.
A walk through the show reveals that not all artists perceive expectancy as a period of active preparation for the upcoming moment of fruition. The waiting period in some of the works represents a more comprehensive (holistic) take on life’s overall absurdity, between the moments of birth and death. In Chasing Death video work, Pouya Parsamagham juxtaposes clips of “I Hired a Contract Killer” by Aki Kaurismäki and Abbas Kiarostami’s “Taste of Cherry” – in both the protagonists are looking for someone to end their lives. The bringing together of the two characters across time, allowing them to live on one screen, joins the two lost, hopeless men in their search to end the ’waiting’ period (in the new scenario, perhaps they can be of help to each other). A vibrant take on ‘the end’ lurking in the background is at the heart of Body, iron pipe, trees by Arya Tabandehpoor. Bright colorful strips and checkered print on photography paper overlay and irradiate a standing human body/skeleton.
Moving beyond the complicated human realm of anticipation, is a unique take on the theme by Sepideh Zamani in her installation of a wooden structure holding a ball and a ceramic dog eagerly waiting for the moment it is thrown. The piece, titled Silent Play, enbodies the definition of an expectant – a dog’s enthusiasm and readiness to play the game. Who knows what is going through a dog’s mind during the waiting period.
“Expectant” reveals the framing of the in-betweens and in-the-meantimes as a persistent condition of being alive here and now – both hopeful and hopeless. It is through the spectrum of lingering and waiting, longing and anticipation, that this timely exhibition offers a moment of respite. In the current state of affairs, living in turbulent times of uncertainty in Tehran, one can only wish for a non-bombastic resolution.
“Expectant” on view at 8Cube August 1 – September 5, 2025
