After a proposal by Anahita Bathaie, Laurent Mareschal and Tami Notsani, a promotional poster for a movie that doesn’t exist «The Little Black Fish» after a story by Samad Behrangui will be installed on the facade of the MK2 Cinema, Quai de la Loire, Paris XIX ème, during the White Night (Nuit Blanche) on 5 October 2013, from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am. The poster (4x3 meters), will be painted by Saied Bathaie, former painter of posters for the Iranian cinemas, for the first time since 1989 and out of Iran, he will be back to his former job.

Partners and patrons of the project: Mairie de Paris, Mairie du 19ème, MK2, Mairie d'Ivry-sur-Seine, La Découpe, Galerie Fernand Léger, Marin Beaux-Arts

Blog of the project:

http://lepetitpoissonnoir.blogspot.fr

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Site specific simulation of the location for the poster (first scetch) "Le petit poisson noir", on the facade of MK2 cinema

THE PROJECT

We have discovered this text through a performance of Anahita Bathaie in 2003. Ten years later we have found a new way to raise interest in this politically engaged text of a universal scope

This tale «The Little Black Fish» was written by a contemporary Iranian writer Samad Behrangi, assassinated during the reign of Iran’s Shah in 1967 when he was 28 years old.

The story is told by an old fish. He speaks to his 12 000 children and grand-children. He discribes the trip of a little black fish who leave the tranquillity of his river to venture into the world. With wisdom and courage, the little black fish will go far.

The story was widely considered as a political allegory, and was forbidden in Iran before the revolution (the Iranian revolution in 1978) by the political regime of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. This allegory is more than ever relevant.

Through this unusual project, the artists Anahita Bathaie, Laurent Mareschal and Tami Notsani, chosed to introduce to a wider audience this contemporary ‘ De la Fontaine’s fable ‘and redescover a job disappeared nowadays (painter for movie’s posters). This proposal highlights a rebellious text which costs life to its author. The painter, a bit like the hero of the story left his native country to settle in France.

We’d like to intrigue the public and blur the border between life and fiction and thus create a context that encourages the viewer to question himself: Is it really a new movie?

Presentation of the artists

The artists, met at ENSBA in Paris exhibit regularly in France and abroad (Centre Pompidou, Paris ; Victoria & Albert Museum, London ; MuCEM, Marseille) and have been awarded numerous residencies, scholarships and prizes.

Anahita BATHAIE, born in 1973 in Teheran (Iran), lives and works in Paris.

Through performance, video and multiple medias, she develops a work centred on body and language. She ties her plastic gestures with political and social questions.

Text about Anahita Bathaie’s work

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Anahita Bathaie, image extracted from the video: Loop, 2007

Laurent MARESCHAL, born in 1975 in Dijon (France) lives and works in Paris.

« In his videos, installations and performances, Laurent Mareschal uses unexpected ways. During movement of symbolic contexts, a simple gesture becomes a support to a political confrontation, a game turns into a desperate fight against time, a convivial meeting around an ephemeral installation brings out the historical narratives. Between commitment and subtlety his projects draw their strength from the experience of those who share it. » Text by Anna Olszewska, exhibition curator, 2011

http://l.mareschal.free.fr

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Laurent Mareschal, detail of the installation Beiti, 2011 made out of spices.

Tami NOTSANI, born in 1972 in Haifa (Israel), lives and works in Paris and Israel.

« Her photographs show a familiar universe, subject to inevitable changes in time, the landscapes change, people change of appearance, the similarities of the landmarks overlap. The idea of identity and its relationship with History becomes fundamental, especially in her recent performative installations inside which viewers are invited to take part. » Text by Anna Olszewska, exhibition curator, 2011

http://tamiN.free.fr

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Tami Notsani, Untitled, 2009, colour photograph, 100x100 cm

Saied BATHAIE, born in 1944 in Teheran (Iran), lives and works in Paris.

Since he was 10 years old, his interest for Art but also the urge to make a living draw him to work, parallel to his studies in a letters and painting’s studio. After he was graduated, he registered to university, at the evening classes, to continue studying graphic.

In 1963, he was employed by “GOLDEN AS” studios which distributed every national and international movies in Iran. He became responsible for titrations of hand painted movie posters and eventually begun to paint part of them.

In 1966, Saied opened his own movie poster’s studio and managed to obtain contracts with Warner, Walt Disney, MGM, Universal and so on.

At the beginning of Iran-Irak’s war in 1981, two cinemas in Teheran are touched during a bombing, since then cinemas are no longer revenue.

Bathaie’s family decided to quit Iran for France. In 1989, result of back and forth between the two countries, Saied Bathaie decided to close his studio to settle down definitely in France.

(cf. complete biography on the blog: http://lepetitpoissonnoir.blogspot.fr/)

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Movie poster of The SecondPath by Hamid Rachani realised by Saied Bathaie, 1984

THE LITTLE BLACK FISH