Collective Trauma and Future Fantasies

Art and visual culture, artistic creativity and art activism have played a significant role in protesting against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and amplifying the voices of millions of Iranians seeking self-determination. Resisting arts have fostered international solidarity, created diasporic re-collectivity and inspired fantasies of an alternative future for Iran. Since the beginning of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in September 2022, artistic forms of protest have raised public awareness on the streets, through mass and social media, and at festivals and exhibitions, both inside and outside Iran.

This volume investigates how visual and performing arts have resisted the oppression, divisive propaganda, severe censorship and mass surveillance in Iran, while inviting Iranians to share their traumas, imagine alternative futures and broaden their perspectives through rereadings of Iran’s contested history. The interdisciplinary contributions by established scholars, emerging researchers, independent writers and artists bring together insights from artivism and (visual) protest cultures, democracy studies, diasporic aesthetics, trauma research, memory studies and futurism. Together, they examine how artistic practices contribute to processes of resistance, remembrance and future-making across Iran and its diasporas.