LOWELL — As ISIS’ wave of destruction has swept through the Middle East, it has claimed many artifacts of pre-Islamic history.
Iranian-born artist Morehshin Allahyari has been using cutting-edge 3D modeling software and printers to bring new life to those lost treasures.
Allahyari will discuss this work and her other groundbreaking projects in a public lecture Wednesday at UMass Lowell’s O’Leary Library. Her exhibition, Solid State Mythologies, is open through Feb. 28 in the University Gallery at Mahoney Hall.
Misha Rabinovich, assistant professor of interactive media at UML’s Art & Design Department and co-curator of the exhibition, said Allahyari’s “wildly creative” approach with emerging technologies is very empowering for women, who often leave science and technology fields because they feel they are not engaging the problems they care about and don’t want to support the “patriarchal system of technocratic development.”
“She’s a pioneer of this technology, and more importantly the artistic application of the technology, and as a female, we think it’s very powerful and one of the reasons we wanted to bring the show to UMass Lowell,” he said.
Allahyari approaches her work in The Material Speculation: ISIS series as a kind of feminist, sculptural response to the performative destruction of ISIS, which uses footage of its members smashing ancient artifacts and art for propaganda videos, Rabinovich said.
Using bits and pieces of information and photographs, Allahyari reconstructs lost artifacts through 3D-printed sculptures with modeling files archived on flash drives and memory cards embedded inside the objects, he said.
Allahyari’s work has an open-source element, and she’s always eager to share the research and inspiration behind it, said exhibition co-curator Caitlin Foley, a part-time faculty member of the Art & Design Department.
Other works on display explore images and ideas censored by Iran’s Islamic law, from The Simpsons to lingerie advertisements.
UML hoped to promote the speaking event sooner but the recent travel ban enacted by President Donald Trump cast a doubt on whether it would occur, Rabinovich said.
A green card holder, Allahyari was showing her work at the Transmediale festival in Berlin, Germany, at the time and it was unclear whether she would be allowed to return to the U.S., where she has resided since 2007, he said.
Following the judiciary overturn of the ban, Allahyari safely returned on Feb. 9, Rabinovich said.
Allahyari’s public lecture will be held Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in the O’Leary Library, Room 222, at the UMass Lowell South Campus. A reception will follow from 6-8 p.m. in the University Gallery in Mahoney Hall. Both events are free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Wilder Metered Lot at the intersection of Wilder and Bachelder streets.
