Event Post 5: Sholeh Asgary Exhibition

 


On May 30, 2025, I had the pleasure of visiting the Sholeh Asgary exhibition in a small grou with Professor Vesna. While I did not take a selfie there, I have a selfie from the sound walk that occurred directly prior and pictures from the exhibit, one of which includes my hand.

This art exhibition was really interesting. There was an Iranian rug in the center of the room with a small hill of some sort in the center which would occasionally vibrate. A microphone/flashlight combination was hung above the hill to pick up sounds that mimic Iranian waterways.

The vibrations in combination with the light almost made it seem as though the rug was moving. As an engineer, I was very interested in what the vibration mechanism was made of. 

There were also other pieces in the room. The video work shown below talked more about the water system. The imprints were very interesting. They were made by the same artist blowing through the paper to mimic Qanat topography.

I did further digging into Qanats to learn more about them. I found that Qanats were “invented by ancient Persians around 3,000 years ago; known in Farsi as kariz,”(admin_r3volv3). I also learned that “Many qanats have sub branches and water access corridors for maintenance purposes, as well as dependant structures including rest areas for the qanat workers, public and private hamams, reservoirs and watermills,” (Centre). Which is really interesting as it almost sounds like an entire underground city. I find it interesting that we learn so much about ancient Roman engineering but never learned about these waterways. I think students, especially engineering students, should learn about these in their core classes.

Works Cited

admin_r3volv3. “The Qanat System: Ancient Technology for Sustainable Water Use.” REVOLVE, 5 Aug. 2021, https://revolve.media/beyond/how-qanats-work.

Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “The Persian Qanat.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1506/. Accessed 5 June 2025.

Qanat – Atmosphere of Sound. https://soundofatmosphere.com/event/qanat/. Accessed 5 June 2025.

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