ALA EBTEKAR WAS born in Berkeley in the late 1970s, shortly after his parents emigrated from Iran. He was raised on hip-hop and got his early art education as a graffiti artist. When he traveled to Iran in the late '90s, Ebtekar studied traditional Persian miniature painting but was more strongly drawn to the popular practice of coffeehouse painting. During much of the 19th and 20th centuries in Iran, coffeehouses served as social centers where people ate, talked, argued about politics, and cultivated their artistic practices. Storytellers recounted ancient epic tales, from which artists painted scenes that were then displayed on the café walls. For "Elemental" at Intersection for the Arts, Ebtekar has reconstructed one of these coffeehouses with several of its defining attributes. Benches line the gallery, which is adorned with cushions, hookahs, samovars, and backgammon boards. Paintings of heroes fighting tigers hang on the walls, along with photographs of bare-chested wrestlers proudly posing together. Ebtekar has covered these relics with a wash of white paint that gives the scene a ghostly quality and evokes a historical sense that this culture's time has passed. Throughout the installation he has added artifacts of hip-hop culture that he modified with a Persian flair: Adidas sneakers with colored ribbons instead of laces, a boom box with decorative patterns painted on the speakers, a denim jacket with a painting on the back that's reminiscent of both hip-hop and Persian design. Through this conjoining of hip-hop and coffeehouse cultures, Ebtekar articulates his eccentric personal experience. He also sees an affinity between the two as populous, democratic cultures in which people have come together to educate themselves and foster community. But the installation also raises interesting questions Ebtekar doesn't seem to be entirely conscious of. Whatever its origins, is hip-hop still a populous culture, or has it become a mass-produced commodity with street cred? Does the appeal to more traditional cultures reveal unexplored democratic possibilities, or does the image of community invoked idealistically disavow the realities of modern life rather than address them? The exhibition walks a thin line between historical self-consciousness and nostalgia while examining cultural inheritance. Wed.-Sat., noon-5 p.m., and Tues., by appointment, 464 Valencia, S.F. (415) 626-2787. (Clark Buckner)