D O C U M E N T - IA de Investigación especializada en el MIT

DOCUMENTO

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THE NIGHTINGALE’S
BUTCHER MANIFESTO

HOOsHang irani, gHOLam HOssEin gHariB, Hassan sHirVani

THE NIGHTINGALE’S BUTCHER MANIFESTO

1. The art of Fighting Cock is the art of those still alive. This cry will
silence all voices mourning at the tomb of the art of the past.

2. In the name of a new era in art, we wage our merciless attack on

all art traditions and regulations of the past.

3. New artists are children of their time and the right to live is exclu-

sive to the avant-gardes.

4. The fi rst step in any new movement results in breaking old idols.

5. We condemn to annihilation all the admirers of the past with all
its artistic manifestations such as theater, painting, the novel,
música, and sculpture, and break the ancient idols and their scaven-
ger followers.

6. The new art considers sincerity to the inner self a gateway to artis-
tic creation. It embodies all life forces and is inseparable from
a ellos.

7. New art walks on the graves of idols and of their sinister imitators,
toward the annihilation of the chains of tradition and establish-
ment of freedom of emotional expression.

Translation © 2014 arTMargins and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology doi:10.1162/arTM_a_00085
This document is courtesy of the author and the library, Museum and document Center of the parliament of Iran

129

8. New art cancels all conventions of the past and announces new-

ness as the home for beauties.

9. Art’s existence is in motion and progress. Only those artists are

alive whose thought is based on new knowledge.1

10. New art is in contrast with all the claims of the proponents of art

for society’s sake, art for art’s sake, art for whatever’s sake.

11. In order for new art to progress, all old art associations should be

destroyed.

12. All creators of artworks! Be aware that the artists of the Fighting
Cock group shall fight most strenuously with the distribution of
old and vulgar artworks.

13. Down with imbeciles.

f i gh t i n g c o c k a r t gr ou p

Gharib, Shirvani, Irani

Tr anslaTed by bavand behpoor

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130

Translator’s note: The term science could be used in place of knowledge here, as the same
word is used in Farsi for both concepts.

DOCUMENTO

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VOLUME AND ENVIRONMENT II

azad group

FIFTH EXHIBITION OF AZAD GROUP

“VOLUME AND ENVIRONMENT 2”

Guest Artists:

Hanibal Alkhas, Behzad Hatam, Mohammad Saleh Ala
17–28 Oct. 1976
Saman Gallery
Saman II Building, Elizabeth Boulevard [Tehran]

They accuse us of the following:

— The works of the artists of Azad Group are an imitation of current

art movements in the US and Europe.

— The artworks of Azad Group are irrelevant to our environment.

— Anyone can easily create similar artworks.

We reply:

How can an artwork be original or imitative?
Who can make such a distinction? According to what criterion and

conocimiento?

Can everybody claim to have the knowledge needed for making

Translation © 2014 arTMargins and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology doi:10.1162/arTM_a_00086
This document is courtesy of the author and the library, Museum and document Center of the parliament of Iran

131

[aesthetic] judgments or is it the professional critic familiar [con el]
technical aspects of contemporary art production who should do it?

The judgment of any viewer is interesting to us, for such public
judgments would reveal different aspects of artworks in relation to the
viewer.

Todavía, all artists have been waiting for years for the illuminating
words of professional critics, since all that is said in the name of criti-
cism is not critics’ words, but rather the superficial understanding of
enunciators who accuse us of imitation, and their work appears sub-
stantial simply because it is published in journals. . . .

If we look at much of our cultural activities, or those of other
naciones, from such a superficial perspective, we will come up with
disastrous results:

Por ejemplo, according to such a superficial outlook, all art, de
the miniatures of the past to Kamal al Molk’s paintings to the work of
modern artists today, are imitations of either Chinese art, the classical
art of Europe, or the new art movements of the recent decades in
Europa.

Or for instance, many of the American contemporary art move-

ments are imitations of Dadaists’ experiences or those of some other
European artists.

Or the works of Picasso, the great artist, are imitations of African

arte.

Or the artworks of Modigliani or Matisse, two of the most distin-

guished artists of the current century, are copies of our miniatures.

Tal como, there remains no master at all, since one can trace in the
work of any master his master, and according to such a viewpoint, el
world of art is imitating itself in a chain [of imitations].

Relying on a superficial understanding, such judgments would

inevitably end up in such conclusions because all sorts of “influence”
significar [nothing but] “imitation” to the one who judges.

Imitation is an interpretation with no intellectual subtlety, and in

every movement numerous imitators step forward. But history does not
recall imitators who lasted long. The influenced remains at the bottom
of the gutter.

We must not dismiss a new movement and ridicule its simplicity
as a result of fearing the appearance of imitators. Yet being influenced
is not a voluntary action that can be avoided. Those who are sensitive
are influenced by their living environment, and the living environment

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in its turn is under the influence of communication and economic
sistemas.

Which of us has a nonenvironmental behavior and is therefore able

to condemn influence? What deceives an ignorant observer is that he
chooses criteria for his empty hands, criteria that lie in the hands of
otros, the same way that he recognizes his worth only when it comes
out of the mouth of the other.

A need has brought together the members of Azad Group despite
all the differences of their artistic methods. The environmental influ-
ence has created this need in us.

The need for an intellectual play, for an investigation and for expe-
riencing a route different from their main path, for opening a window
into a different air, for smelling, tasting, digesting, and being born
anew in the same main path.

The need for self-destruction to test our criteria anew.
The need for avoiding repetition.
The need for simplicity and for approaching and approximating
whatever is in our lives—things we do not see in our intellectual soli-
tude and the value of which we ignore.

The need for hailing other horizons.

Tr anslaTed by bavand behpoor

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