Farhad Ahrarnia

 Vahid Chamani

 Barbad Golshiri

 Sahand Hesamiyan

Abbas Kowsari

 Mahmoud Bakhshi Moakhar

 Newsha Tavakolian

Sheena Wagstaff said: “The Jury was impressed by the broad scope and sheer diversity of extraordinary new work being created by young Iranian artists. We are thrilled to know that this inaugural year of MOP CAP is the first of a long term commitment to giving prominence to the remarkable creative energy that infuses contemporary art by Iranian artists, seven of whom we have selected as Finalists.” There will be an exclusive preview of a selection of the Finalists’ work at the Basement Gallery & Total Arts Gallery, Dubai on Sunday 12 April 2009. An exhibition of works by the seven Finalists will be exhibited at the Royal College of Art in London from 15-17 October 2009. Since it was launched in September 2008, more than 130 emerging Iranian artists have been nominated for the Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize (MOPCAP). For the 2009 Prize, over 500 images of artwork were submitted across four categories: painting, photography, sculpture and new media. Entry to the Prize is by nomination by a panel of 47 experts in contemporary Iranian art and culture from around the world. The MOPCAP Jury is made up of 12 distinguished artists and curators from the international art world.

The Finalists were chosen from the MOP CAP Shortlist of 34 artists:

Iman Afsarian ,Maria Ahmadi-Emdadian ,Parastoo Ahoan ,Farhad Ahrarnia ,Samineh Amel Sayah, Maryam Amini ,Homayoun Askari Sirizi, Roshanak Bahramlou ,Mahmoud Bakhshi Moakhar, Sepehr Bakhtiar ,Tara Behbahani ,

Vahid Chamani, Hossein Cheraghchi, Ala Dehghan ,Ala Ebtekar, Ramin Etemadi Bozorg, Barbad Golshiri, Rodin Hamidi ,Sahand Hesamiyan, Amir Hussein Zanjani ,Katayoun Karami ,Simin Dokht Keramati ,Abbas Kowsari ,Shohreh Mehran ,Mohammad Mosavat, Mehrdad Naraghi ,Koushna Navabi, Nicky Nodjoumi, Fereydoun Omidi, Raha Raissnia ,Mamali Shafahi, Shahram Karimi & Shoja Azari,Negar Tahsili ,Newsha Tavakolian

MOP CAP Jury :

Stuart Comer, Curator of Film, Tate Modern, London

 Kamran Diba, Architect/Funding Director of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Rose Issa, Curator

 Y.Z. Kami, Artis

t Abbas Kiarostami, Artist

Axel Langer, Curator, Museum of Rietberg Zurich

 Shirin Neshat, Artist

Julia Peyton-Jones OBE, Director, Serpentine Gallery, London

Venetia Porter, Curator of Islamic Art and the Contemporary Middle East, British Museum

Alireza Sami Azar, Former Director, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art

Parviz Tanavoli, Artist

Sheena Wagstaff, Chief Curator, Tate Modern