The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) Catalogue

Artists The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 40 (clockwise from left) Connected pools 2020 Plaster, glue and pigment, ed. 1/2 (1AP) / 25 x 39.7 x 25.5cm Connected pools 2020 Plaster, glue and pigment, ed. 1/2 (1AP) / 29.5 x 29 x 27.5cm Connected pools 2020 Plaster, glue and pigment, ed. 1/2 (1AP) / 21.5 x 26.7 x 29cm Courtesy: The artist and Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan / Photographs: Lorenzo Palmieri Taking the form of the architectural model, Connected pools 2020, from ‘Pools and Voids’, brings together distinct waters into a singular form. And yet Ansarinia retains the idiosyncrasies from each original construction. For example, the kidney-shaped pool leads to a rectilinear form, to a tiled version and then on to a tiered triangular composition. Each sculpture is a massing of discrete pools, and by presenting multiple sculptures alongside one another on a plinth the common tropes in pool design become apparent. Additionally, by linking together private discrete spaces, Ansarinia’s sculptures become reminiscent of hammams , traditional public bathhouses that are laid out as a series of adjoined rooms. 2 Once prevalent throughout Persian cities, hammams were spaces in which strangers and confidants came together to not only wash but also converse. In Connected pools , Ansarinia elegantly gestures to different Persian architectural traditions to represent collective desire. In the mid 1960s, when Tehran was growing swiftly as a major international city, two planning and architectural firms were commissioned to undertake the Tehran Master Plan: the Iranian firm Abdolaziz Farmanfarmaian Associates; and the American Victor Gruen Associates. Gruen was known for championing American suburbs and, reflective of this, the Tehran Master Plan was based on cities such as Los Angeles. It envisioned commuter belts where wealthy families enjoyed single- or two-storey houses with backyard pools, while the proletariat were stacked into apartment buildings with shared local pools. Nazgol Ansarinia’s ongoing ‘Pools and Voids’ 2019 series takes as a point of inspiration the clean lines of the modernist backyard pools of Tehran. In the northern inner-city suburb of Jordan — an area of only three square kilometres — there are 1000 ‘private waters’. These include both decorative and swimming pools. Given the dry climate, water has always had a strong presence in Iranian architecture, where houses and gardens are centred on a water basin, valued for both its symbolic role and functional design. Prior to the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633–56 CE, the majority of its population followed the Zoroastrian faith that regards water as sacred (along with fire, earth and wind) and dedicated numerous rituals to maintaining its purity. The first religious building in Persia was dedicated to Anahita, the Zoroastrian goddess of waters. 1 With the arrival of Islamic thought, water continued to be revered, as the Qur’anic teachings note it is a source of life and an emblem for spiritual clarity. This meant that the backyard pool became a key symbol of class distinctions. As private pools flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, they became the site of cosmopolitan parties for the Tehrani middle class and cognoscenti. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, however, they were seen as lavish displays of hedonism — so the vast majority were emptied and people retreated to their homes, away from the prying eyes of neighbours. More than 40 years after the Tehran Master Plan was implemented, the city’s urban density has skyrocketed. Land is a premium asset, which is why it is so surprising to see swimming pools left as voids within the urban plan, rather than transformed into gardens or repurposed. For Ansarinia, the fact that these pools have not been filled in expresses a silent aspiration for a future in which these spaces can once again be enjoyed. By illustrating these gaps in the city’s fabric, Connected pools brings attention to not only the physical but also the social chasms that remain present within contemporary Iran. An empty pool is a subtle political signal that news coverage of Iranian political movements overlooks. As architects and academics Hamed Khosravi, Amir Djalali and Francesco Marullo write: While public demonstrations of dissent are not uncommon in Iran, they always mark exceptional moments … Tehran’s public space is in fact highly controlled … Political constituency is rather brewed elsewhere, within the interior domains of private architecture. 3 Through her sculptures, Ansarinia brings these isolated signs to the attention of a wider public. Although the empty pools are located on distinct private properties, taken together across the larger neighbourhood or city, these small voids aggregate into a vast space — which could be read as an indirect metaphor for political camaraderie. Ellie Buttrose Endnotes This essay is indebted to conversations with the artist in November 2019 and the artist’s research statement, September 2020. 1 Richard Foltz and Manya Saadi-nejad, ‘Is Zoroastrianism an ecological religion?’, Journal for the Study of Religion , Nature and Culture , vol. 1, no. 4, 2008, p.422. 2 While hammams are found throughout West Asia and North Africa, Iranian and Egyptian hammams are unique for their inclusion of bathing pools. 3 Hamed Khosravi, Amir Djalali and Francesco Marullo, ‘Introduction: Notes on a city and its contemporary forms of life’, in Tehran: Life Within Walls: A City, its Territory and Forms of Dwelling , Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin, 2017, p.11. Nazgol Ansarinia Born 1979, Tehran, Iran Lives and works in Tehran