Still in ‘war mode’: Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art reopens with exhibitions about conflict

After weeks of bombardment that forced its closure and emergency measures to protect its holdings, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) has reopened with a weekly rotating post-ceasefire “Art and War” programme. The museum, which holds what is widely considered the largest collection of Western modern art outside Europe and the US—valued in the article at $3bn—has begun showing works responding to conflict, including this week three pieces from Pablo Picasso’s “Weeping Woman” series. Director Reza Dabirinezhad said the programme took shape while staff secured the collection after explosions from US-Israeli strikes on 28 February, including dismantling a planned photography exhibition and retrieving 20 loaned works from another museum in northern Tehran. The museum also reduced risk from Noriyuki Haraguchi’s Matter and Mind (1977), an installation containing more than 4,000 litres of waste oil, by removing about 80% of the oil to prevent overflow or ignition from shockwaves.

Read the full article at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events