Analysis of Miniature Biennials in Iran (from 1993 to 2023)

Biennials are a festival and exhibition of artworks of contemporary artists, which is held with the aim of identifying and introducing the most significant and newest artistic phenomena and evaluating the performance of the artistic community in two-year periods. Biennials play an effective role in establishing communication between art experts and the society, which leads to the dynamism of the art community. The overall goal of biennials is to identify and evaluate the art community and its performance over a two-year period and to introduce the newest and most significant contemporary artistic phenomena. Biennials play an active role in creating an effective link and communication between the society and artists. The holding of art biennials in Iran began before Islamic Revolution; the Tehran Biennial was held for the first time in 1958 by the General Directorate of Fine Arts with the participation of 45 artists. Considering its results and consequences, the holding of this biennial can be considered the beginning of a new era in the history of contemporary art. This biennial was held with the aim of creating opportunities to examine and evaluate new works in the field of Iranian art and to familiarize the society with modern art, and with the presence of Iranian and foreign judges in an international exhibition, and the last biennial included works by Iranian, Turkish, and Pakistani artists. Although this event was held only five times, it had a clear impact on the development of Iranian art. After Islamic Revolution, with a long break, in 1991, the first biennial was held in the field of painting with the presence of 264 artists, which indicated a significant growth in terms of quantity in the field of art. However, the continuation of the process of holding biennials faced various problems that are still continued. One of the most important biennials in Iran is the Miniature Biennial because Miniature is one of the main traditional arts and a symbol of Iranian national heritage with a special importance. Therefore, events related to it must be managed and implemented with special care in order to further promote this art. Judging criteria and selection criteria have always been among the controversial issues in miniature biennials. The lack of fixed criteria, the instability of the procedure in different periods have caused disappointment and discouragement among miniatur artists, especially some young and creative artists. Also, in biennials held in Iran, unlike in other countries, we witness the dominance of the competitive part. This approach can have both positive and negative effects. The purpose of this research is to investigate the performance of miniature biennials in Iran in order to help the main organizers of this biennial by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the previous courses to organize the biennials of visual and traditional arts in an optimal way by adopting a strategic position to manage to achieve their set goals. For this purpose, the analysis of the process of holding these biennials is necessary. The main questions of this research are:1.what are the strengths and weaknesses in the management structure and implementation process of the biennials? and 2. What solutions can be offered to improve the current process? The research method is descriptive-analytical and based on document study and semi-structured interviews with elites. The results of this study showed that holding the miniature biennial in Iran has provided a suitable basis for the growth and development of the art of miniature in the last three decades, but despite holding eleven biennials, it still faces numerous structural, managerial, and executive challenges that have prevented it from achieving the desired results. The most important strengths and achievements of the miniature biennials are: providing a basis for criticism and analysis of miniature works, growth and flourishing in miniature art, an opportunity for criticism of miniature works, exchange of artists' experiences, increasing the efforts and activities of artists in the field of miniature, and improving the quality and quantity of miniature works. The most important weaknesses in the implementation process and management structure of miniature biennials are: lack of a coherent plan and precise vision, lack of unity in the way of holding and in the criteria for judging and selecting works, dependence on government institutions, lack of cooperation and consensus between the institutions in charge of holding, lack of appropriate time sequence and long breaks, lack of a specific financial mechanism. In order to solve these problems and challenges, the most important proposed solutions are: increasing the role of the miniature association, approving the statute, holding elections and electing board members by the majority of the miniature artists' community. After that, holding the biennial, determining the judging criteria, the time of holding, etc. should be carried out by the association and under its supervision.