Following an invitation from the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tehran, photographer Stefan Oláh traveled to the Iranian capital in 2019 and focused in his work on post-modernism on the Museum of Glass and Ceramics, which was rebuilt and furnished there by Hans Hollein in 1978. The Viennese architect had adapted a small palace from the Qajar period for public use using the latest conservation standards and installed specifically designed exhibition vitrines in the museum’s interior. Through Hollein’s aesthetic and museological concept, a place for antique Persian glass and ceramics was created which itself is an architectural treasure. Except for some objects exhibited in the showcases, the museum has been preserved until today without any significant changes.

In his large-format photographs, Stefan Oláh was able to approach Hollein’s architecture with a great sensitivity for atmosphere, surfaces, lighting and detailed designs. On the one hand, he has in this way succeeded in capturing the museum’s spatial context with its specific qualities of the individual exhibition rooms. On the other hand, Oláh’s photographs manage to capture the contrasts between the original palace architecture, characterized by ornamental stucco and carved wood, and the understated elegance of Hollein’s interventions with marble, glass, and chrome as an almost haptic experience. (Text: Sebastian Hackenschmidt)