Independent Initiative
Art in Village
An Independent Social Art Movement (Est. 2008)
Founded and curated by Jalaleddin Mashmooli, transforming rural environments into interactive contemporary art spaces.
Overview
Winter 2008
In the winter of 2008, Jalaleddin Mashmooli founded "Art in Village" (هنر در روستا)—an independent social art movement aimed at decentralizing contemporary art in Iran. By taking workshops, collaborative painting sessions, and creative dialogues directly into rural communities, the project created a unique platform for artistic participation outside traditional urban galleries.
Rather than transporting rural audiences to the city, the movement reversed the direction of cultural exchange: artists arrived in villages, set up studios in courtyards, orchards, and open fields, and invited residents to make, discuss, and experience art in the places where they live.
Photography
Continuous documentation of workshops, participants, and works, forming the movement's archive.
Graphic Design
Posters, signage, and printed matter produced independently for each village edition.
Painting Workshops
Open-air studios run with children, teenagers, and adults in each host village.
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical foundations of "Art in Village" were developed through critical discussions with prominent art critics and theorists, including Hamid Sivani and Ali Asghar Gharabaghi. These dialogues explored the socio-cultural impact of contemporary art, challenging centralized institutional structures and promoting direct engagement with local, rural populations.
The framework rejected the model of art as charity or spectacle. It insisted instead on audience sovereignty—the idea that rural residents are not passive recipients of culture but active participants in defining its meaning, form, and public presence.
First Execution — Farahabad, Sari
April 11, 2008
The inaugural edition was launched in Farahabad, Sari (April 11, 2008), involving 164 children, teenagers, and families across 7 villages. Participants engaged in collective art-making, wall paintings, and open discussions, transforming public rural spaces into active creative grounds.
Studios were established simultaneously in courtyards, on village paths, and along the coastal plain, with works exhibited where they were made. The paintings, photographs, and documentation produced that day became the foundational archive of the movement and the template for every edition that followed.
Archival Legacy
Over the years, "Art in Village" expanded across multiple regions, building a comprehensive cultural archive of photographs, artworks, and field documentation that continues to serve as a vital reference for socially engaged art practices in Iran.