تماس–Tamaas is a word shared between Arabic and Farsi. It is also read as επαφή–Epafi in Greek. Tamaas / تماس / επαφή, is best translated as (to) touch, a point of contact between two things, moments or bodies. It is an in between, tactile exchange of material, bodies, skins, objects, time frames and ideas.

Tamaas platform is  a quarterly online journal and space of reverberation for artists, created by artists. A platform of non-simulation and public speaking, a space for declaration of thoughts, desires and where urgencies manifest. Works by artists, studio visits, and personal journeys will be part of the initial dialogic space conceived in تماس/επαφή.

The topic discussed in every edition is open to thinkers, artists, writers, cultural practitioners and dreamers of all regions to respond and contribute via our Submissions section and until the next edition and topic is published.

Inspired by our friendship and collaboration starting in Chicago, a point of Tamaas far from our home cities of Athens and Tehran, the platform of تماس  will be the tangential space between two artists whose geographical location may be apart but their modes of making and thinking is not. In each issue we work with a group of artists and pair their projects and ideas with each other to create a third space of observation for our readers and viewers to look at the two projects as a whole.

The platform of επαφή will be growing as the artists and practitioners from various disciplines contribute and connect with each other. Once every new platform is released, our readers are invited to respond to any of the published works. The responses will be selected and published in continuation of the current issue and we will update the platform as we move forward. Artists are welcomed to contribute literary works in their preferred language, which can remain in the same linguistic space. However, so far our editors have the working knowledge of responding to Farsi, Greek, Arabic, French and English, and we are hoping to further expand our editorial proficiency and accept works in more languages. Our hope is to connect distant modes of being and making, with the hope of being felt, seen and remembered differently. Stay tuned with Tamaas, تماس, επαφή!

Our website was developed by Christian Whiting: a Chicago based musician, photographer, and web developer. His projects include not diy chi, Glances, Bbutter, and his personal film photography. He is always interested in new projects so get in touch with him if you have an idea. The logos of Tamaas were designed by Rambo Vala, who is also a contributing artist in the first issue. 

 

Sanaz Sohrabi + Marina Miliou-Theocharaki, founders and editors of Tamaas.