Tumulus

Tumulus
Iman Tash

Curated by Nima Nikakhlagh
 
March 3 – 29, 2025
 
Opening Reception: Tuesday, March 4, 4 – 6 pm
Screenings during the reception:
Yourd (51 min) 4:15 pm
Unripe Date (38 min) 5:15pm
 
Gallery Talk during HFA Days: Thursday, March 27, 4 pm, refreshments to follow
Speakers:
Iman Tash, artist and filmmaker
Kevin Anderson, ethnographic filmmaker
Nima Nikakhlagh, curator

Herter Art Gallery is delighted to present Tumulus, a multimedia exhibition by Iranian independent documentary filmmaker and multimedia artist, Iman Tash.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Topology, conceptually and philosophically, explores notions such as space, connectedness, and continuity. In areas of mathematics, topological properties remain constant during deformations, twisting, and stretching of objects. However, tearing is not included in this rule. The topology of contemporary art refers to the properties of "contemporary art" and “contemporaneity” that remain constant and preserved throughout the various transformations of the instances of this concept.

Formalizing the normative dimensions, Tumulus connects death and life, past and present. By making the aforementioned tangible, this multimedia exhibition draws a fine line between history and culture, discussing political interrelationships between rituals and people. Within Tumulus viewers find documentary/experimental film, video, and digital collage. Duality, belief, and radicalism are among the concepts that lie beneath the subtext of this multimedia exhibition.

Yourd, Clot, Unripe Date featured in the West Gallery: while focusing on the lives and experiential skills of nomads, Tash’s medium-length documentary film entitled Yourd illustrates the pivotal role of women, not only in the nomadic economy, but also as preservers of the community's historical cultural identity (traditions, rituals, and arts). Clot, his feature length experimental documentary, is a manifestation of living in duality which, in his words, “is always the outcome of the co-existence of libertarian instincts and repressive structures in dictatorial societies and religious fundamentalism.” The film itself is a call to investigate essential subjects such as identity, power, and resistance. Unripe Date, as a non-narrative audio-visual experience, represents unfinished life where the achievements of established industrialism and capitalism—isolation, exploitation, and false hope—are contrasted with victory and success.

Tash's digital Dis-embodied series mounted in the East Gallery introduces his ambiguous and complex collages in which a surrealistic and mysterious expression addresses historical and cultural crises of his homeland.

Artist Bio:

Iman Tash, who works and lives in Tehran, is an Iranian independent documentary filmmaker and multimedia artist, working across mediums such as graphic design, digital collage, photography, and video. His work explores the historical themes of Iran through the lens of art and culture. Throughout his career, Tash has worked on more than thirty short and feature-length documentary films as a producer, director, and editor. Tash’s art practice is a combination of traditional and digital techniques that critically address social, political, and cultural issues, while employing historical references. His documentaries have been screened nationally and internationally, and featured at numerous television and festival programs. As a graphic designer and collage artist, creating nonrepresentational images that blur the boundaries between reality and fantasy to engage the audience for contemplation and observation is the main characteristic of Tash's work.

Link to the screening schedule throughout the exhibition: Herter Art Gallery Screening Schedule

The exhibition has been funded by the UMass Arts Council and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

Gallery Hours:
Mon – Fri: 11 AM – 4 PM
Sat: 1 PM – 4 PM
(Closed on Sundays and state holidays)