Daily Notes 2007–2010: Interview with Neda Razavipour, Dastan’s Basement, Tehran

This video accompanies Neda Razavipour’s solo exhibition and book launch “Daily Notes 2007–2010”, presented at Dastan’s Basement (September 28 – October 19, 2018).

“Daily Notes” began in a shared studio during a period marked by personal and collective upheavals. Seeking focus amid uncertainty, Razavipour turned to newspapers, selecting images and redrawing them in yearbooks day by day. With a sharpened pencil, she translated halftone news images — moments of tragedy, routine, hope, and tension — into small, delicate drawings. What started as a coping mechanism extended over five years, becoming a quiet archive of lived time.

Although the series was exhibited internationally in France, the UK, Germany, and Greece, it had never been shown comprehensively in Iran until this presentation. Revisiting boxes of past works in her new Tehran studio prompted the artist to re-engage with the drawings and compile them into a book that contextualizes the project through an introduction and three in-depth interviews with Thomas Erdbrink, Abbas Kowsari, Homayoun Askari Sirizi & and Azar Mahmoudian.

Echoing the spirit of Ardeshir Mohassess’ “Current Events,” the exhibition and publication reflect an intimate, persistent attempt to understand a rapidly shifting world — to resist passivity, to stay attentive, and to hold a fragile balance in turbulent times.