ABOUT US
Gaah Production Art Space was established in 2012 by Sanaz Rafii and Soheil Rostami.
They embarked on the construction of this art space located 20 kilometers away from Tehran.
This project involved the development of a visual art workshop, a music studio, and a garden adorned with a diverse array of fruit and non-fruit-bearing trees. This locale, now recognized as P A A Y G A A H, underwent meticulous crafting over a four-year period, requiring dedication and time.
Gradually, P A A Y G A A H attracted other young artists in search of a nurturing environment to cultivate their creative endeavors. Consequently, in 2015, we officially registered G A A H A R T in Iran. Alongside our artistic pursuits at P A A Y G A A H, we also curated events and art exhibitions both on-site and abroad.
P A A Y G A A H operates as an autonomous artist-run space. Given its considerable distance from Tehran, the primary focus remains on production and artistic endeavors.
Since 2012, our initiatives have included the organization of art events and exhibitions, musical performances, and providing support to emerging artists in realizing their creative projects.
Our approach is rooted in pragmatism, emphasizing collaborative efforts among artists. We advocate for proactive engagement as a catalyst for change, championing independence, and the pursuit of knowledge, research, and endeavors aligned with our passions.
- The Beginning of a long journey - The structure of our workshop is on the ground - waiting to stand
- The first tree we planted
- the structure on its feet
- The structure is getting completed
- The structure is getting completed
- The structure joints
- A room for making music
- patience is vital to make your own home
- Temporary ceiling made of plastic - We continued construction under this ceiling
- Final roof made of metal - White is beautiful
- These beautiful flowers are called "Lady Banks' rose" but word by word translation of their name in Persian is "Yellow waterfall" - Their name suit them indeed - In spring you will be amazed by their beauty.
- We made the big gate - The entrance of PaayGaah is made of second hand woods - We recycled them to our gate
- A big window to be made in this spot - The bedroom view
- A big mess , moving the stuff to the workshop - finally we started working on our projects after organizing this big mess
- The first exhibition at PaayGaah and our first group exhibition - Titled "Momentum Nov 4th 2016" - Please visit https://paaygaah.com/en/memory.html for more information
- little by little they grow - Spring time is always wonderful - When the trees wake up from their long winter time sleep - they always wake up beautifully
- We shaped the garden gradually - every year we bring soil, shape a part of the land and plant trees - the soil of our village is salty and not good for planting - we learned a lot in the process of planting and growing trees - Not only in Gardening but in life too
- One of PaayGaah guardians - co-existing with friendship and kindness - The best companion of mankind indeed
- The music room and "Tabrizi" trees
- "Tabrizi" trees grow fast and they break the wind - they can be planted with little space next to each other
- Babak came to PaayGaah -He is a great person and has a wonderful soul - we had a nice evening and a nicer jam session with him
- A beautiful Jam session - Kave on Guitar acoustic, Hoda plays "Kooze", Esfand Sings and parviz on Sax - Soheil is producing sounds here
- We change the function of workshop space from time to time - according to our projects and residents required space , the function of space changes
- Working process - "Perception" piece is being made by Sanaz
- Sheida was the first young artist who came to PaayGaah - She was working on her project titled "Lost" - We became dear friends since then- Sheida is now(since 2019) studying in
art & design university of Linz.
- The work had two pieces made from wood, plaster, resin and the second part was a virtual image projected on a wolf figure she made from mdf. Please visit
https://paaygaah.com/en/kaargaah.html to see her final work.
- Soheil in working process- PaayGaah is a good place to focus and think- Away from pollution, crowdedness and craziness of Tehran, Silence is endless here.
- Arash is a poet and filmmaker- He came to PaayGaah for a short visit and used the silence for writing a poem.
- "Without Words" was the pre-show of "Interstice - Without Words" international group exhibition which was performed in the end of 2018- There was video screening and the participant artists presented their installations in the pre-show.
- Ellen Vårtun(Norwegian visual artist) was one of the participant and her work was a performance piece titled "The Magic Bullet"- She performed in two days during the pre-show week
- Ellen Vårtun performing "The Magic Bullet" in "Without Words" pre-show - December 2018
- "Too Late to clean" video art by Salla Valle(Finnish visual artist)- She is one of the participating artists of "Interstice - Without Words"
- "Outside" video art by Beny Wagner(German visual artist) in "Without Words" pre-show
- "Ell Sol" Catalan guest artist - preforming in "Without Words" pre-show- He is very passionate and his music shows his strong emotions very well
