Bahman Namvar Motlagh stated at the opening ceremony of the conference "Carpet, Tradition, Art": The work of the Academy is policy-making and we are ready to find appropriate and fundamental solutions to the problems of carpets. One of the things we need to do is structure and status.

According to the public relations of the Academy of Arts, the three-day conference "Carpet, Tradition, Art" started this morning, Monday, December 13, 2021, with the presence of artists, experts, students, and enthusiasts of traditional arts and crafts.

The carpet is the canvas of the Iranian people and the narrator of our culture and identity

Bahmaneh Namvar Motlagh, the head of the Academy of Arts, in his speech called the carpet the canvas of the Iranian people"s imagination and said: the carpet is the aesthetic mirror of the Iranian culture and the canvas of the Iranian people"s imagination, which sometimes belongs to professional artists It is a village and if one can read this canvas of imagination, one can get acquainted with the Iranian mind.

"The carpet is a valuable heritage that can represent our identity," he said. The word tradition means continuity, which is opposed to repetition and rupture, and in which there are changes and reforms.

Bahman Namvar Motlagh considered carpet an economic product that the Academy of Arts cannot ignore this aspect. "The carpet is an example of a resistance economy and has all the economic features," he said. It is valuable, it creates employment and it is considered a creative industry. We export and export beauty carpets, and we have a place in the world in this field.

The head of the Academy of Arts reviewed the basics of teaching topics related to carpets and paying attention to its design and aesthetic issues in the growth and promotion of the carpet and said: "Iranian carpet aesthetics is one of the serious issues today to revive it." We have not done anything serious about this for years, and what still exists today is mostly translations of other people"s works. The work of the academy is policy-making, and we are ready to find appropriate and fundamental solutions to carpet problems. Carpet is a product of the Iranian world and we should be scholars of this art in the world and one of the things we should do is structuralism and status studies.

A report on the three approaches of the conference

Touraj Jouleh, the scientific secretary of the conference, began his speech by presenting a report on how the conference was organized and the plans made for the conference and said: In the middle of 2019, he decided to hold a purposeful, scientific and artistic event in the field of handmade carpets.

The carpet researcher said: "The policy-making and planning council of this conference considered a three-pronged approach in three areas:" scientific articles "," an exhibition of pictorial knots "and also" showing films and filmmakers" views "for this conference. In the articles section, 26 articles reached the secretariat of the conference. After judging and reviewing, the top seven articles were selected by the jury, and today in this program, the authors of those articles are appreciated. These articles will be presented tomorrow in the Golestan Art Hall of the Academy of Arts. An important and distinctive approach of faculty members has been to pay attention to historical documents in various linear and printed trends that have not been seriously considered in previous studies. We believe that with the studies and interactions that are taking place, this issue should be given serious attention by the officials of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology as a relevant topic in the specific courses in the field of carpet.

He continued: "The other part of this conference is the exhibition of pictorial knots with the aim of a new approach to the aesthetic and especially anthropological dimensions of image weaving, which opens today at the Academy of Arts and will last up to three days." The film section and the filmmakers" perspective is the third part of the conference, which will be held on Wednesday, December 15, 2014.

The carpet is both an old look and has an avant-garde approach

Mohammad Ali Rajabi, the head of the specialized group of traditional arts and crafts, was the second speaker of the conference, who began his speech by praising the organizers and staff of the conference. He then mentioned the life of Professor Khalil Droudchi, the head of the carpet department in the Department of Traditional Arts and Crafts of the Academy of Arts, and said: "We should name the professors who did a lot of research in the field of carpet and today their place is vacant." One of them is the late Droudchi, who did a lot of work in the field of carpets, especially in the field of carpet economics, which was his specialty, and the place of such lessons and discussions in the field of carpets is still empty. Also, we should mention Professor Mohsen Mohseni who could not attend our gathering today due to illness; He did valuable research in the field of carpets.

The head of the Department of Traditional Arts and Crafts of the Academy of Arts continued to use the word "tradition" in this conference and said: If we do not know the tradition, we do not know carpet; We can not even identify the nature of all this, which is art. Tradition mediates closeness to art and civilization; It is formed by the tradition of civilization, because the tradition, as it is best interpreted in the Holy Qur"an, has three roots, the main root of which is in the ancient name of God, that is, it has its roots in the ancient. The other root is a revelation, that is, it is always alive.

He continued: "If we look at the history of our traditional arts, we find that these arts were the best of their day and are still alive today; So that today we can talk about the carpet, which is thousands of years old, and hold a conference for it. At the same time, this art is very avant-garde and has an approach to the future and is the epitome of the rest of the name, because we can talk about carpets today because it has a history.

Rajabi clarified the nature of traditional arts: Art in traditional culture tells the truth that emerges from human existence and human existence is full of these truths. Where does it show this truth? Where it shows beauty; Because the truth does not appear in every container. The carpet should not be seen as a mat but as accessible to men, women, and children; Even walking on the carpet has etiquette.

This permanent member of the Academy of Arts also considered carpets to be related to architecture and noted: carpets are formed at home; A house with Iranian atmosphere and thought that should be studied. He also talked about carpet materials that can be returned to nature because they originate from nature. At the end of his speech, Rajabi pointed out that we should respect the carpet; With the respect of man, who is the Ashraf of creatures and the Ashraf of creatures creates something noble.

Carpet is a popular art and like Persian language and a part of Iranian identity

The next speaker of this conference was Seyyed Razi Hajieh Aghamiri, a researcher and artistic director in the field of carpets, who considered carpets as a part of Iranian identity as a Persian language and said: The title of this conference, which includes "art" and "tradition", has different forms; One defines art in one way and the other in another way. We have to check where these two words are for the carpet. These words have a semantic burden and have their meaning in every society and cultural thought. When we talk about carpet art, we have to have good reasons and know which of the definitions we use.

For example, can paint carpets, which are known today as tablecloths, be called art? Or is the carpet just a mat? Or does it have another attribute while being subversive? What happened throughout history that over time, in addition to being practical, they painted patterns on tools?

Hajieh Aghamiri continued: "Over the years, the elements and phenomena have changed regularly, and the changes have progressed to the point that their nature disappears, and today we are facing a phenomenon that has changed the nature of the issues." What we understand today as carpets is different from what it used to be. He added: If we do not know the tradition, we will not be able to understand the carpet. Tradition is both past and not, and creativity is rooted in tradition. Artists always look at art critically and, concerning tradition and its critique, begin to be creative and innovative. Innovation is not something that is completely cut off from tradition, and a carpet can not be created without looking at its ancient foundations.

Carpet has been an important category for many filmmakers

Alireza Ghasemkhan, another speaker at the conference, prepared a film and a book prepared for the conference and said: "At the beginning, it was thought that in the section" Carpet in the view of filmmakers" ", only an article in this field could be presented. But in the very first steps we took for this conference, we realized that a lot of work has been done in the field of feature films, documentaries, and even animation, and in fact, the carpet has been an important category for filmmakers.

Qasim Khan referred to feature films and documentaries and explained: In pre-revolutionary films, more attention has been paid to the position of carpet sellers. Of course, documentaries have also been made by Zarrineklak and some other filmmakers, but gradually, with the advent of the Center for Documentary and Experimental Cinema and the Young Cinema Association, special attention has been paid to the carpet category, with Reza Mirkarimi being the most brilliant film with fifteen directors. They have dealt with the subject of carpets with various topics, among which we can mention the films of Khosrow Sinai and Abbas Kiarostami.

The carpet is a national document along with other documents

Mohsen Roustaei was the final speaker at the event, examining "the place of documents and manuscripts in art history research." Noting that carpets and rugs can also be considered as a national document in the historical history of Iran along with documents and manuscripts, he said: Arsh and Farsh are placed side by side as equivalent words. The earth is the place of the perfect man, and the carpet, as an allegory and symbol of the earth, has found a special place and is the manifestation of the Throne and the kingdom. The carpet represents the colorful garden and orchard that reminds us of Paradise.

He added: "In the documentary sources that historians consider to be able to organize their reasoned works, we come to a five-part division." Historians need to refer to "mental and intellectual sources," which is oral literature; Another is "archaeological sources and documents"; Next is the "drawing and visual sources" in which the woven carpets are placed. The carpet has three artistic, decorative, and historical values.

The next source is "written sources", which include manuscripts, travelogues, and printed books. The latest source is "Archival Documents and Resources"; That is, documents that are neither history, nor art, nor literature; But it"s all there, and over time it can turn historical documents into a reliable source.

For the art of carpet weaving, we have to refer to historical documents in two ways. Carpet documents are sometimes a source, such as a marriage contract, but it does talk about carpets.

Another type of carpet mentioned is "carpets"; A document in which zero to one hundred have introduced a carpet and their symbols, designs, and knots are genealogical. It seems that there is a need to prepare a "carpet letter" for exquisite carpets.