ILLUMINATO

A broad and beautiful natural landscape… It might be a desert, an area in the mountains, or a spot in the forest. The landscape looks void, but is full of life and disguised meanings. Suddenly a bright light from the distance catches the eye. After that another one…. What can it be? The reflection of the sun? What causes it? What does it mean?...

The mysterious essence of light, is the origin of many myths. The two sided gestalt of light, as a material and immaterial concept, has left its mark in many philosophical thoughts and is still prevalent in our ideas about body and soul, mind and matter. The outstanding point about the performances of this artist is that they make the viewer wonder about the relation between natural spectacles and man-made interventions in nature.

Performances of Neda Zarfsaz are works that never stop, they never suffice and have to be performed again and again and again. As an artist of performance and video art, Neda zarfsaz helps us rediscover the natural and eternal mythology in our time. Her works often embody ritual practices of sheer beauty that playfully bring form to the apparently disordered nature.

Silvia Bauer, Curator

Neda Zarfsaz

Born in 1981, Urmia, Iran

Education:

2011  MFA in Digital Media, Valand Academy of Fine Arts, Gothenburg University, Goteborg, Sweden

2008  BA in Visual Communication Design, Art faculty of Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

Solo and Duo Exhibitions:

2015  “Caught in the Game” (with Golnar Adili), Mottahedan Projects, Dubai, UAE

2013  “Between Black and White”, Mohtasham Art Gallery, Urmia, Iran

2013  “From Outside, or Otherwise” (with Claudia Djabbari), Mottahedan Projects, Dubai, UAE

2010  “Connect” (with Diana Riesco Lind), Backa Culture house, Goteborg, Sweden

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2015  “Good News from Iran”, Mottahedan Projects, Dubai, UAE

2014  “Limited Access International Festival”, Aran Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2014  “Tehran/NYC Portal Collaboration”, Lu Magnus NY and M-40 Tehran, Tehran and NYC

2014  “Good News from Iran”, Endjavi Barbe Art Projects, Pasinger Fabrik, Munich, Germany

2014  “Black Gold”, Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2013  “Chi Controlla I Controllori”, Galleria Clou, Ragusa, Italy

2013  “Open Door Project”, Fórum Eugénio de Almeid, Évora, Portugal

2013  “Surveilling the Naked City”, Atopia, Oslo, Norway

2013  “Drawing Week 1”, Homa Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2012  “Kunstort in between”, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

2012  “La Turo de Babel”, Galleri Rotor, Goteborg, Sweden

2012  “Time’s Memory, Remembrance of Objects”, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2011  “6th Iranian National Biennial of Sculpture”, Niavaran Artistic Creation Foundation, Tehran, Iran

2011  “The Winter Sighed to the Spring”, Röda Sten, Goteborg, Sweden

2010  “At the Balcony”, Galleri bob, Goteborg, Sweden

2010  “Echoes of Light”, Valand Academy’s Open House, Goteborg, Sweden

2009  “This Is Not the Title of the Show”, Gallery Rotor, Goteborg, Sweden

Art Fairs:

2013  “Small is Beautiful”, curated by Fabrice Bousteau, Abu Dhabi Art Fair, The UAE Pavilion, Abu Dhabi, UAE 

Awards:

2012  Magic of Persia in Gasworks Residency Award 2013, London/UK

2011  Adlerbertska Hospitiestiftelsen 2011, Goteborg, Sweden

2011  Honored for the Best Video Installation Piece in Digital Representation, Gothenburg University and Chalmers,Goteborg, Sweden