Solo exhibition during the 10th European Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 10) held at the Leiden University.
✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤
Hanging rugs
In an era echoing with the cacophony of information overload and algorithmic entanglements, the clamor of our time is for a more elegant manner of engaging with one another. The profusion of information and algorithms has rendered comprehending the world an arduous task, fostering polarization and rigidity.
Artist Niels Broszat discerns that humanity's most profound treasures have emerged from the exchange of knowledge, skills, religion, art, and trade. Drawing inspiration from the ancient Silk Road, where tolerance, science, and art flourished, Broszat illustrates how we inhabit a period wherein connectivity is at its zenith. Yet, instead of nurturing greater tolerance, we find ourselves drifting apart. An unsettling sameness permeates various facets of existence: fashion, music, art, design, religion, and politics.
Broszat casts off the confines of convention, ushering in a new realm where fusion is celebrated. He interweaves cultures, sciences, faiths, and artistic expressions. His toolkit spans diverse materials, and his approach is multidimensional: impulsive/yet restrained, beautiful/ugly, naive/realistic, slow/fast, and so forth.
Though not inherently a politically driven artist, Broszat's gaze turns to the current situation in Iran. A nation that once birthed so much opulence, knowledge, and liberties now extinguishes lives over a piece of fabric—a madness difficult to fathom. Humanity should have the right to savor music of their choice, immerse themselves in literature they desire, love whom they wish, and sculpt their identities freely. The yearning for these liberties surpasses the grip of any regime; it is an irrepressible force.
As a gesture of protest against the death penalty, Broszat devised a symbol: an inverted balloon. Its form mimics the emptiness within a hangman's noose. The symbol stirs the imagination—and is, in Broszat's view, the sole realm where a noose belongs.
Broszat's artworks beckon us to reconsider the tapestry of our interconnected world, to reflect upon the fusion of cultures and the resonance of freedom's call. Through his artistic lens, he urges us to embrace the power of unity and individuality, and to champion the right to express and explore, unencumbered by the stranglehold of conformity.
Gallows party
Grey Wolf
The Lamb of God by the Van Eyck brothers voluntarily stands on the altar, bleeding empty. His countenance suggests as if nothing is amiss. The depiction of sacrifice is so different from an actual sacrifice.
I have always been amazed and intrigued by how sacred events, customs, and traditions are portrayed in the arts: unnatural, exaggerated, and adorned with an excess of frills and drama.
Grey Wolf is my imagined tribute to the decapitated goat from the sport Kok Boru. Adorned with Chinese kung fu spear tassels, rainbow-colored straps, and rope from my father's legacy, a belt, a windshield washer fluid bottle, and plastic stretch wrap, it stands there proudly on a beautiful rug. Grey Wolf is not an Eastern image; it is an eclectic continuation of - in this case - Eastern cultural heritage.
