Visual Artists Protest in Tehran

In response to reports about the potential transfer of the Contemporary Art Museum to the Rudaki Foundation, a number of visual artists gathered in front of the museum building in Tehran on Saturday to express their opposition to this transfer. Although according to the Mehr News Agency, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance on March 11, 2016, opposed the transfer of the management of the Contemporary Art Museum to the private sector, including the Rudaki Cultural and Artistic Foundation, and emphasized the continuation of its management by the Ministry of Culture, stating that the transfer of the museum's management has been completely removed from the committee's agenda, Mohammad Beheshti, head of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, says that the ownership of the museums is not intended to be transferred, but the goal is to transfer the management of the museums. Ali Asghar Ramadanpour, a political analyst in London and former deputy in the Ministry of Culture, told Radio Farda regarding the artists' protest on Saturday that the news of the transfer of this museum has no real basis. Hossein Khosrojerdi, a painter residing in London, also pointed out the importance of the Contemporary Art Museum to Radio Farda, stating that the existence of concerns that are raised as questions and discussed is a positive matter. According to Mohammad Beheshti, the head of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, the Rudaki Foundation is not a private entity but a public, non-governmental institution belonging to the Ministry of Culture and has no private ownership.