The Second Biennial Exhibition of Iranian Handicrafts, in which some 600 pieces of handiwork are on display, is currently underway here at the Arts Academy.
The festival–s secretary, Abdolmajid Sharif-Zadeh said at a press conference that the biennale aims to introduce Iranian arts and promote national identity through handicrafts.
—The young generation should be made familiar with national handicrafts and the event seeks to achieve this goal,š he said.
On holding exhibitions in foreign countries on a reciprocal basis, he said that plans have been drawn up and will be announced soon.
Sharif-Zadeh said that Iran–s Handicrafts Organization regularly organizes seminars in which foreign specialists in the field of handicrafts and traditional arts deliver lectures on their research findings.
He said that the eastern nations and African states have so far held art exhibits in Iran and that cultural exchanges with foreign countries would develop further.
Modernity, he pointed out, has created a gap between the young generation and traditional arts adding that globalization poses a challenge to the diversity of traditional arts from different nations.
The High Council for the Youth, Iran–s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO), Ministry of Science, Research and Technology are expected to contribute to holding traditional art exhibits, he said.
Handicrafts by 250 artists in the field of Mo–araq, engraving, ornament, sculpture, tile painting, pottery and the Persian rugs are on display at the event which will continue until October 17.
A seminar will be held on the sidelines of the event in which six experts will deliver lectures. Ten workshops will also be conducted for young visitors.
Sharif-Zadeh said that 60 artists took part in the first biennale in 2002 compared to the 250 artists from across the country taking part in the current round of the event.
He said that an exhibit of handicrafts by the youth will be held next year.
Meanwhile, head of Saba Cultural House Mohsen Zare– said that the center is planning to hold exhibits of calligraphy, centenary of Iranian sculpture, painting biennale, and poster biennale.
He said that music and drama is part of traditional arts and the center will include the two branches of arts in subsequent events.

Some 3,000 artworks are on display in 80 pavilions at Tehran Expo Art.

TEHRAN, Sept. 28--An exhibition-cum-sales of Tehran's artistic works is currently being held here at Vahdat Hall and will continue until October 11, reported IRNA.
The event's news center announced that more than 3,000 artworks in the fields of painting, photography, sculpture and calligraphy are on display in 80 pavilions organized by gallery owners.
The exhibition, which is known as Expo Art Tehran in the artistic circles and is said to be Tehran's first art expo, has the potentials for being upgraded to the international level.
Tehran exhibition-cum-sales of artworks is a venue for presenting and selling artworks and is organized along the same lines as events in other countries including Expo New York.
The exhibit is sponsored by the Center for Visual Arts and Planning Council of the exposition, which includes a selected group of gallery owners, Roudaki Foundation and Tehran Municipality's Cultural Artistic Organization.
According to Majlis ratification, governmental centers and organs, particularly the banks, have been obliged to earmark a certain percentage of their capital and developmental budget for purchasing art works.

More than 700 types of chrysanthemums will be displayed in the event.

KHOMEIN, Markazi, Sept. 28--The Third Chrysanthemum Festival will be held in Mahallat in late November with the participation of a group of ambassadors based in Iran.
Announcing this, Governor of Mahallat, Markazi province, Shokrollah Hassan-Beigi told IRNA that the event will feature the exclusive capabilities of the town in the cultivation and production of decorative plants and flowers. Coordination has been made to host ambassadors and diplomats from 50 countries at the festival, he pointed out.
—More than 700 types of chrysanthemums of various colors and forms will be displayed in the event,š he said.
The official further stated that through the efforts of experts at the National Center for Flower Research, diverse strains of chrysanthemums have increased to 700 types from eight types in the past three years.
Mahallat is the most important center for flower cultivation in the country and accounts for one third of the revenues earned from flower export.

TEHRAN, Sept. 28--Nine Asian films will be screened in the Asian Children–s Film Festival which will be held in Isfahan from October 3-8.
Children films from Iran, China, South Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, India and Turkey are participating in the 19th round of the festival.
Iranian films at the event include “Album– by Reza Heidarnejad and “Childish Fight– by Abolqassem Talebi while “Running Toward Home– from Singapore, “Road To Home– from South Korea, “Blind Camel– from India, “Glowworm and Light River– from Japan, “Firefighters– from Sri Lanka, “Paper Missile– from China, “Hajar, Great Man, Little Love– from Turkey are the other films due to be screened in Isfahan.

TEHRAN, Sept. 28--A seminar themed 'Mysticism, Religious Experience and Dialogue Among Religions' sponsored by the Instructors' Training University (Tarbiat Modarres University) in cooperation with the International Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations will be held here on October 11-12.
Given the growing interest in spirituality, scholars today have profoundly focused on concepts such as mysticism and religious experience, ISNA reported.
On the other hand, the issue of dialogue among the religions has attained an extraordinary significance since the idea of 'Dialogue Among Civilizations' was initiated.
The two-day gathering has been organized with the aim of exposing the role of mysticism in Dialogue Among Civilizations as well as evaluating and developing the theories in the field.

TEHRAN, Sept. 28--In the first round of excavations in Isfahan–s Shahdej Fort located beside the architectural remnants from the early Islamic era, archeologists have come across two children–s leather shoes which are believed to date back to 1,200 years ago.
According to Cultural Heritage News agency, a group of experts on archeology and maintenance works began their research a month ago to identify the architectural remnants and determine the antiquity of Shahdej Fort, the sole ancient fort in Isfahan.
Director of the excavation team, Fariba Saeedi, said, —During the excavations in the southern flank of the fort, we came across to two children–s shoes belonging to the age groups 3-4 and 5-6.š
Due to the depth and dryness of the place they were recovered, they remained undamaged, she said, adding that the shoes, which are pale brown, have lost their original shape but their soles, upper parts and even the strings on them have endured.
A group of experts intend to restore the shoes to their original form, she noted.

TEHRAN, Sept. 28--A veteran Iranian composer, Fereydoun Shahbazian in an interview with the Persian daily Bonniefilm discussed the status of music which were produced both before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He noted that in the pre-revolution days composers created music in various categories including national, local, Radif, orchestral and pop and a large number of pieces were produced.
—Unfortunately, in the post-revolution era, compositions were limited to epic songs and the songs were composed only for special occasions until recent years and the progress of national music was driven to standstill,š he regretted .
In the early years of the Islamic Revolution, there was no chance for musicians to produce songs and most of the productions were either martial songs or those for the youth, he added.
—Of course, national and local music emerged gradually while other branches of music remained untouched. Therefore, no progress has been made in national music after the Islamic Revolution except for film soundtracks which was brought about by the progress in Iranian cinema industry. Many young musicians are currently involved in this sector as well as in the other branches of music,š noted Shahbazian.
Asked about his opinion of singers who compose the songs themselves, he said that it is not acceptable for every singer to compose songs themselves. —Composing music requires special artistic skills though gaining access to music is fortunately easy. Producing a music work requires skills and when low quality songs become prevalent in the society, the people cannot recognize the quality and they take them as acceptable and sometimes even welcome it.š
Answering a question about why the people welcome low quality songs, he said that the reason is that they are not aware of the quality and they had not heard high quality music. —We should provide the people with good music, first and then expect them to distinguish between good and bad quality in music,š he said.
Shahbazian is a veteran composer of Iranian music. He is well known for composing songs for albums of different traditional and pop singers, film music and music for TV serials.