installations
Der Himmel, du und ich
At the center of the installation “The Sky, You and I” lies a carpet placed on a pedestal, made from archived hair of relatives and friends. The carpet, following convention, reproduces the form of a Persian rug but omits the intricate patterns and ornaments typical of such designs.
Above the pedestal, three metal rods stand, each holding a braided strand of hair tied with a sky-blue ribbon. Every braid is marked with a year.
A tangle of cables extends toward four photographs symmetrically arranged within the space. The pictures depict the sky, crossed by high-voltage power lines that cut through the image like black lines, creating a sense of distance between the sky and the viewer. At the other end of the room, the cables lead to a television set lying on the floor, displaying a video.
Photos by Ralf Buscher
Unter der Oberfläche
sp ce, Hochschulgalerie, Kiel | 2022
The three-channel video installation “Under the Surface” examines the affective dimensions of engaging with abortion. The work explores the emotional dissonance that accompanies this experience, revealing the tension between personal agency and societal expectation. Beyond the intimate sphere, the installation reflects on the cultural and political mechanisms through which specific emotions are cultivated—or even enforced—to form collective identities and bind individuals to social norms.
Hinter der Orten, zwischen einer Begegnung
It is a coordination, a trajectory, or a guiding line — a constructed homeland, or perhaps one that does not exist.
Structures made from map fragments of places where I once settled have been etched into aluminum Dibond. The video shows the process of engraving this plate. A voice-over narrates a story in which dream sequences blur with real memories, creating a dialogue within the self.
La Madreforma oder die Schutzhülle
The four-channel video installation “La Madreforma or The Protective Shell” explores the veil in relation to its female wearer. The imagined qualities of the veil — its potential to become a protective layer, to aestheticize, eroticize, mystify, to signify truth, nakedness, and ultimately to serve as an instrument of oppression — are transformed across different works. The installation engages with the representation of the “beautiful feminine” and the subtle violence and suppression inherent within it — two opposing aspects that, in the artist’s imagery, coexist and intertwine.
Die Natur des Künstlichen
In „Die Natur des Künstlichen“ verweist Nilofar Rezai auf einen Moment der Verschiebung. Sie hat durch eine vermittelte Zusammenstellung von Objekten und Situationen ein eingefrorenes Bild neu verortet und umgestellt. Die vergessenen Früchte sind als geschätzte zerbrechliche Objekte wieder in Besitz genommen, scheinbar hingeworfen auf die gedruckte Dokumentation ihrer ursprünglichen Lage auf den Pflastersteinen, als ob sie physisch vom Mittelmeerraum in die Länder des Nordens transportiert worden wären. Die Fotografie hält ein „erneutes Wegwerfen“ unzähliger Orangen fest, die in einem großen, verloren in der Landschaft stehenden Müllcontainer liegen. Sind diese künstlichen „re-mades“ als Kunstobjekte oder als die ursprünglichen Orangen selbst zu verstehen? Könnte man wohl noch den Geruch einer Orangenschale erwischen?
Arnold Dreyblatt
Brockmann-Preis 2015, Katalog
Aufgestrichen
In two seemingly identical rooms, positioned as mirror images of each other, hang sculptures that mirror each other, each depicting a shirt. The shirt in the first room is made of plaster, while the one in the second room is cast in bronze. A photograph, used both as the invitation and as a postcard distributed to visitors during the exhibition, shows an analog image taken in Marrakech: a shirt and traditional Moroccan clothing hung in a striking composition on a window to dry. The work “Aufgestrichen” engages with déjà-vu, exploring a paradoxical emotional experience in which feelings of uniqueness and repetition emerge simultaneously.
Nan Sangak (نان سنگک)
A loaf of bread, lifelike in appearance, hangs from an on-site found butcher’s hook. Small stones are piled together on the floor beneath it. Next to the object on the wall, the name of the bread is written in Persian. It is a traditional Iranian bread, typically baked in bakeries on small stones and usually about 80 cm long. The object is fixed with epoxy resin. The title is deliberately written in the original language to confront viewers with the cultural transition in Germany.
Schützengraben
The installation consists of a wall of blue garments, constructed in the style of a trench. Behind the wall, viewers see a video projection of white dresses being washed and dyed blue.
Vimeolink!!!
Auf der andere Seite
A photograph taken in Iran hangs on the wall. The structure depicted—composed of branches, bricks, and a white cloth—is reconstructed in Germany at its original scale using materially contrasting materials such as metal, foam, and plastic.
Kette und Schuss
A Persian carpet is spread out on the floor. Around it, various types of shoes are placed, alluding to the absence of the people who might have woven it. Above, a rope is stretched, from which eight printed sheets hang. The images depict situations in which carpets were found in public spaces. The photographs were taken in Iran before the beginning of Nowruz, the Persian New Year and spring festival.
die Reisenden
During a trip to Iran, three carpets were purchased from less affluent families and brought to Germany. In the exhibition, they are displayed as artworks at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg.
On their reverse sides, videos are projected documenting the carpets’ origins. Opposite them, lying on a pedestal, is a historically valuable Persian carpet owned by the museum. What determines the value of an object — its historical background, its production, or the nature of its material? And what defines the social context, cultural understanding, and concept of art within the society in which the object exists?
Schachmatt
In an empty, white room stands a table covered in white, with two jugs of milk and twelve glasses. Despite the clear, white surface, the room is filled with a warm scent of petroleum. In this installation, black and white are set in opposition — seemingly contrasting, yet inseparably connected: white is visible, black is perceptible through smell. A complex tension arises between the visible and the sensed, challenging the viewer’s perception.
Throughout the exhibition, visitors alter the arrangement and use of the objects, allowing the space to be continuously experienced and reinterpreted.