PaykanArtCar is a non-profit organization based in Florida, US. The organization has purchased a car, now also called the PaykanArtCar, and intends to let different Iranian activist artists paint it annually as an art project, meant to highlight various political issues and repressed communities in Iran. The car is an Iranian

Paykan The Paykan ( fa, پيکان meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro (formerly called "Iran National") between 1967 and 2005. The car was very popular in Iran from its introduction until its discontinuation. It ...

, gifted in 1974 by Shah

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran , image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg , caption = Shah in 1973 , succession = Shah of Iran , reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979 , coronation = 26 October ...

of Iran to

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

, dictator of Romania. It was bought at an auction in 2021 for €95 000. The

art car An art car is a vehicle that has had its appearance modified as an act of personal artistic expression. Art cars are often driven and owned by their creators, who are sometimes referred to as "Cartists". Most car artists are ordinary people with ...

was first exhibited in October 2021 at the

Oslo Freedom Forum Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) is a series of global conferences run by the New York-based non-profit Human Rights Foundation under the slogan "Challenging Power". OFF was founded in 2009 as a one-time event and has taken place annually ever since. On ...

in Miami, held by the

Human Rights Foundation The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting and protecting human rights globally, with an emphasis on closed societies. HRF organizes the Oslo Freedom Forum. The Human Rights Foundation was founded in ...

(HRF). The first artist to paint the car was

Alireza Shojaian Alireza Shojaian ( fa, علیرضا شجاعيان; born 1988) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian-born French Painting, painter and visual activist. Early life and education Shojaian was born in Tehran to a Muslim family; he began to draw at an earl ...

, an exiled Iranian. Shojaian, who had never used an

airbrush An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that atomizes and sprays various media, most often paint but also ink and dye, and foundation. Spray painting developed from the airbrush and is considered to employ a type of airbrush. History U ...

before, took inspiration from the story of

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a wel ...

, a legendary Persian hero, the art of 20th century Iranian artist Hossein Qollar-Aqasi, and connected them to the 2021 murder of the gay Iranian Ali Fazeli Monfared, as well as the executed Iranian wrestler

Navid Afkari Navid Afkari Sangari ( fa, نوید افکاری سنگری; 22 July 1993 – 12 September 2020) was an Iranian wrestler who was sentenced to death and executed in Shiraz after having been accused and convicted of murdering a security guard duri ...

. The organization received the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the HRF, who said that the car was "a daring piece of art that advocates for human rights and dignity in Iran." The car has been exhibited in Canada and Brussels, Belgium. It was meant to be shown at AsiaNow, an art fair in Paris, but the invitation was revoked. A representative of AsiaNow stated that "The problem is neither the artist nor the project, but the organization supporting this project, which uses the L.G.B.T.Q.+ cause for priority reasons that are other than purely artistic, and which endanger the safety of the people working with us on our Iranian platform." It is planned that the second installment of the PaykanArtCar will be painted by a female Iranian artist, and focus on women’s rights in Iran. PaykanArtCar was founded by

Mark Wallace Mark David Wallace (born December 31, 1967) is an American businessman, former diplomat and lawyer who has served in a variety of government, political and private sector posts. He served in several positions during the Presidency of George W. ...

, American ambassador to the United Nations 2006–2009, and Hiva Feizi, the organization's executive director.

References

External links

*{{official, https://paykanartcar.com/
PaykanArtCar: A Driving Force Against Human Rights Abuses Tours Canada
sponsored article at ''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countri ...

'', with pictures
Car Virtual Video
video by PaykanArtCar
Prize winning car art with a message to Iran
2022 interview with Hiva Feizi on

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

Non-profit organizations based in Florida LGBT art in the United States Human rights activism LGBT political advocacy groups in Florida 1970s cars Art vehicles Human rights in Iran LGBT rights in Iran

See also

References

External links