“Bloomsday,” the James Joyce scholar Robert Nicholson once quipped, “has as much to do with Joyce as Christmas has to do with Jesus.” The celebrations of Ulysses every June 16—the date on which the novel is set—attract extreme ends of the spectrum of literary enthusiasm. Academics and professionals mingle with obsessives and cranks, plus those simply along for the ride. The novel is written in 1922. When Joyce started work on Ulysses a hundred years ago, he was a rather cultish figure, having recently published A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners.
Ulysses has been translated to Farsi by Manouchehr Badiee and later by Akram Pedramnia. This exhibition/event explores the enduring legacy of James Joyce, particularly Ulysses and Bloomsday. Through a diverse range of artists and media, we explore themes of everyday life, human thoughts, morality, adventure, identity and sexuality. Bloomsday 2025, is curated by Roxana/Roxy Manouchehri includes an art exhibition by 11 Iranian artists and a documentary about translating Ulysses from English to Farsi, readings, conversations and talks among established translators and writers expert in James Joyce. The curating process started in January 2025 with supports from Dayhim Art Siciety/Rischee Gallery. The schedule of this exhibition/event consists of:
- 20 to 27 June, public view at Rischee Gallery, Tehran.
- 24 June, film screening and conversation by Mohamadreza Farzad, Manouchehri Badiee, Mojdeh Daghighi, Ashkan Faramarzi and Roxy Manouchehri.
The artists contributing to the exhibition are:
Parisa Abbasi, visual artist,
Parmis Hakimi, visual artist.
Hamidreza and Arezoo Ghasemi, media artists.
Shaghayegh Vahshi, Visual artist.
Nima Delnavazi, musician/sound artist.
Aisling Sareh Haghshenas, visual artist.
Niloufar Kashi Afshar, multidisciplinary artist.
Elaheh Motamedi, visual artist.
Ghazale Bahiraie, visual artist.
Mina Hamdani, multidisciplinary artist.
For more information, please visit https://www.dayhimartsociety.com/