The Functionality of Art Galleries as Meeting Places in Tehran

Narciss Sohrabi Mollayousef (1, 2)

1 UC Irvine - University of California [Irvine]
2 LADYSS - Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces

"Art gallery is a space for presentation of artworks. Today, ‘gallery tour’is a term, whichis not strangeamonggallery owners, artists, and middle-class youth of Tehran.The aim of this study isto investigate the functionalities of art galleries in Tehran as a space for meetings, hangouts, and artistic visiting. According to the prepared questionnaire, somequestionsasked participants in theopening of the exhibitionswhether art galleries can be considered assemi-public space, public space or a place for meetings. Statistical analysis showed howIranians use an art galleryas a place of meeting. Results revealedthatwomen visited galleries more frequently compared with men. Furthermore, people whose job is not in the field of art and those who live in traditional and ancient neighbourhoodsprefer to visit galleries on weekends. Artists also use the galleries as a space for random and job-related meetings. Younger people tend to visit the galleries just for artworks. Finally, almost all theinterviewees older than 30 years declared that they use space in galleries for hangouts." (source éditeur)

Mots clés: art galleries; meeting place; hang out; public space; Tehran; semi-public

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Etudes de l'environnement; Architecture, aménagement de l'espace; Géographie; Sociologie

Narciss Sohrabi Mollayousef. The Functionality of Art Galleries as Meeting Places in Tehran. IMESC, 2018, Working Papers, 3 (2018), pp.2-12. ⟨halshs-02063116⟩