THE ROADS OF ABBAS KIAROSTAMI
"THE ROADS" & "UNTITLED"
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ABBAS KIAROSTAMI 1978-2003

Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
November 22 - December 9 2004

The photography exhibition "The Roads and Untitled" chronologically covers a period of artistic creation that is almost identical to Kiarostami's career as a director. From 1978 until today, the exhibition is comprised of two series of photographs, "Roads" and "Untitled". Nature is the common denominator of the two series. Trees, hills, roads and shadows from random locations of the Iranian countryside. Images proverbial from Kiarostami's films, they acquire their own absolute essence through the photographs on display at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art from November 22 to December 9.

The first series, "Roads", consists of 52 small-format black and white photographs. Isolated from topographical or geographical features, the roads in Kiarostami's pictures obtain a meditative and poetic character, like in his films, where the presence of roads and paths have a symbolic dimension.
The second series, "Untitled", consists of 30 large-format black and white photographs. He main theme here is the trees. Trunks, bare branches and tree shadows in the snowy mountains of Iran transpire a feeling of melancholy and a metaphor on the cycle of life. Trees that look nearly dead although preparing to bloom in the coming spring are metaphysical impressions of the perpetual cycle of life and death.

The exhibition has already been displayed at the Turin Museum of Cinema. Coordinating the exhibition were the Director of the Museum, Alberto Barbera, and film critic, specialising in Kiarostami's work, Elisa Resegotti. Both are coordinating this exhibition as well, which is a collaboration of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin.