Abbas Akhavan – CV
Abbas Akhavan
b. 1977, Tehran, Iran
Lives and works in Montreal, Canada and Berlin, Germany
Education
- 2006 Master of Fine Arts, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- 2004 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Selected Solo Exhibitions
- 2025 One Hundred Years, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
- 2024 Disembody, with Rochelle Goldberg, Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver
Tête-Bêche, with Merikokeb Berhanu, Bortolami, New York, USA - 2023 Curtain Call, variations on a folly, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
Cast for a folly, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark
Omay, Djamal, Albert. hiver 1982; Lights In The City 1999, Dazibao Satellite, Montreal, Canada - 2022 cast for a folly, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
study for a garden, Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute, Scotland - 2021 curtain call, variation on a folly, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK
- 2019 They asked the fox, “Who is your witness?” He said, “My tail.”, Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver
script for an island, Fogo Island Gallery, Fogo Island, Canada
cast for a folly, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA - 2018 Folly, Vie d’ange, Montreal, Canada
Variations on a Landscape, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada
recently, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE - 2017 Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
variations on a garden, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
They hit a tree with an axe, SALT Galata, Istanbul, Turkey
variations on a garden, DRAF Studio, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK - 2016 Neighbours, with Marina Roy, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Canada
Singing Softly When No One’s Around, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
KIDS CATS AND 1 DOG, FLORA ars+natura, Bogotá, Colombia - 2015 variations on a garden, Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada
Study for a Curtain, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Artspeak, Vancouver, Canada - 2013 Study for a Glasshouse, Peel Art Gallery, Brampton, Canada
Galeri Manâ, Istanbul, Turkey
green house, Western Front, Vancouver, Canada - 2012 Study for a Garden, Delfina Foundation, London, UK
Fire/Fire, with Marina Roy, Centre A and Malaspina Printmakers, Vancouver, Canada
Beacon, The Darling Foundry, Montreal, Canada - 2011 Hawkers, Images Festival, Trinity Square Video, Toronto, Canada
Correspondences, Modern Fuel, Kingston, Canada
2nd May Day, Convenience Gallery, Toronto, Canada - 2010 Islands, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- 2009 Sitings, AXENÉO7, Gatineau, Canada
Neighbours, with Marina Roy, DAÏMÕN, Gatineau, Canada - 2008 Neighbours, with Marina Roy, VIVO Media Arts Centre, Vancouver, Canada
- 2007 Correspondences, Stratagem Pacific Consulting, Vancouver, Canada
Vacate, Storage Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2025 Gathering Ground, Tate Modern, London, UK
- 2024 Walk With Me, Alserkal Arts Foundation, Dubai, UAE
Three Tired Tigers, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE
As We Move Away From the Sun, apexart, Allan Gardens, Toronto, Canada
At the Edge of Land, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE
Survival in the 21st Century, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Les Forces du Sommeil – Cohabitations des vivants, Manif d’art, La biennale de Québec, Quebec City, Canada - 2023 Un Cane, Senza Guinzaglio, Spazio Orr, Brescia, Italy
Toward Freedom, Projet Casa, Montreal, Canada
Soft and weak like water, The 14th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea
Apparition Room, Western Front, Vancouver - 2022 Perceptible Rhythms/Alternative Temporalities, Middle East Institute, Washington DC, USA
Mettere al mondo il mondo, Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples, Italy
Entangled Life, RADIUS Center for Contemporary Art and Ecology, Delft, the Netherlands
Scents of Movement, Scents of Place, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
Réclamer la terre, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France - 2021 So Different, So Appealing, Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Sensing Nature, Momenta Biennale at Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada
Unseeable, Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver
Dilithium, FUTURA, Prague, Czech Republic
Once Upon a Time Inconceivable, Protocinema, Istanbul, Turkey
Where We Go It Shall Be, Walk & Talk, São Miguel, Portugal
live among and turn together, Galerie La Box, Ensa Bourges, Bourges, France
A Crack in Everything, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (online), Montreal, Canada
Inventing Nature: Pflanzen in der Kunst, Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany - 2020 A Few In Many Places, Protocinema, Parc Offsite, Montreal, Canada
9.5 Edition, Walk & Talk, São Miguel, Portugal - 2019 Stone Witness, Nanaimo Art Gallery, Nanaimo, Canada
The Shoreline Dilemma, Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto, Canada
Second Hand, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE
Desertado. Algo que aconteceu pode acontecer novamente, Galeria Municipal do Porto, Porto, Portugal
I Will See It, When I Believe It, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
Unexplained Parade, Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver - 2018 Hedges, Edges, Dirt, Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA
Enchanted Bodies/Fetish for Freedom, GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy
Beautiful world, where are you?, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
A Kiss Under the Tail, Arsenal Contemporary, New York, USA
13 Ways to Summon Ghosts, Gordon Smith Gallery, North Vancouver, Canada
WHOSE LAND HAVE I LIT ON NOW?, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
Assemblages of Intimacy, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano, Milan, Italy
To clear the ground of weeds, Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA
Belonging to a Place, Art Gallery at the Embassy of Canada, Washington, DC, USA - 2017 Vacancies, Towards Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, Prospect New Orleans, New Orleans, USA
A Poet*hical Wager, MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, USA
Dream Variations, with Kristina Lee Podesva, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Canada
STAGES, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, Canada
Propped, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Canada
Belonging to a Place, Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Tamawuj, Sharjah Biennial 13, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates - 2016 I stood before the source, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Making Nature: How we see animals, Wellcome Collection, London, UK
Food, 13th Fellbach Small Sculpture Triennial, Fellbach, Germany
Répétition, Fondation Boghossian – Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium
But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA - 2015 Regarding Spectatorship: Revolt and Distant, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
Home Works 7, Beirut Art Centre, Beirut, Lebanon
In the Land of the Blind the One-Eyed Man Loses Sight, Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Berlin, Germany
Sobey Art Award, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canada
Art Eco – Art-ivism, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek Grimbergen, Grimbergen, Belgium
Art In The Age Of ... Asymmetrical Warfare, Witte de With, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Blind White, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
united nations extended – The Vienna Dialog, freiraum quartier21, Vienna, Austria
Accented, Maraya Art Center, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Common Grounds, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
For Machine Use Only, Schneiderei, Vienna, Austria - 2014 L’avenir, La Biennale de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
Furnishing Positions, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Burning Down the House, 10th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea
Résistance, Manif d'art 7, Quebec City, Canada
Utopias Constructed, Republic Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
CounterIntelligence, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Toronto, Canada
The Politics of Food, Delfina Foundation, London, UK - 2013 FIAC Hors les murs, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, France
AGORA, 4th Athens Biennale, Athens, Greece
Encyclonospace Iranica, Access Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Ten Thousand Suns, Satellite Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Traces of Life, Wentrup Gallery, Berlin, Germany
united nations revisited, Galerie M, Berlin, Germany - 2012 Material Information, Art Museums of Bergen Permanenten, Bergen, Norway
Reflecting on Reflection, Galeri Manâ, Istanbul, Turkey
Tools for Conviviality, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Tactics for the here and now, Bucharest Biennale 5, Bucharest, Romania
GOLD, Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria
Videoformes 2012, Clermont-Ferrand, France
SO FAR SO GOOD, Extra Extra, Philadelphia, USA - 2011 Iran via Video Current, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, USA
Performa 11, New York, USA
Seeing Is Believing, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
Changing Stakes: Contemporary Art Dialogues with Dubai, Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada
Snail Fever, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Jour de Fête, LOOP Festival 2011, The Private Space Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
About painting, Art Berlin Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
The State: Uppers and Downers, Traffic Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 2010 On n’enchaîne pas les volcans, as part of Le Printemps de Septembre, Pavilion Projects, Montreal, Canada, at Point de Fuite, Toulouse, France
A to B, MKG127, Toronto, Canada
The Traveling Show, Botkyrka Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden - 2009 Speaking Truth to Reconciliation (a project in two parts), Artspeak, Vancouver, Canada
How Soon Is Now, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada - 2008 shrink-wrapped, Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
When The Mood Strikes Us, Platform Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
Everything Should be Made as Simple as Possible, but not Simpler, Western Front, Vancouver, Canada
Orientalism and Ephemera, Centre A, Vancouver, Canada; Kenderdine Art Gallery, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada - 2007 Long Distance: Between Location & Emotion, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
About Time, II, Kunsten - Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Denmark - 2006 Strange Bedfellows, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Common Room, Belkin Satellite, Vancouver, Canada
RBC Canadian Painting Competition, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Art Gallery of Calgary, Calgary; Musee d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal; Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener; Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, Canada
Monographs
- 2022 Sophie Crichton Stuart and Morven Gregor, eds., Abbas Akhavan: study for a garden, Mount Stuart Trust, Isle of Bute, UK
- 2018 Amy Zion, ed., Abbas Akhavan, Skira, Milan, Italy
Georgina Jackson, Variations on a Garden: Abbas Akhavan, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland - 2017 Michael Buhrs and Verena Hein, eds., Abbas Akhavan, Distanz Verlag, Munich, Germany
Books and Exhibition Catalogues
- 2024 Georg Diez, Dirk Luckow, Nicolaus Schafhausen, eds., Manual for Survival, Deichtorhallen Hamburg; Hirmer Verlag, Munich Germany
Marie Muracciole, ed., Les forces du sommeil – Cohabitations des vivants, Manif d’art 11: la biennale de Québec, Quebec City, Canada - 2023 T.J. Demos, ‘War Ecology: Petropolitics, Contemporary Art, and the Middle East’, The Environment and Ecology in Islamic Art and Culture, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA
- 2022 Mark Godfrey, Mettere al mondo il mondo, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, UK
Candice Hopkins, Katie Lawson, and Tairone Bastien (eds.), Water, Kinship, Belief, Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto, Canada; Art Metropole, Toronto, Canada - 2021 Signe Theill and Peter Winkels, ‘united nations revisted’, Von der Repräsentation zur Intervention, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen, Germany
- 2019 Brigitte Oetker and Nicolaus Schafhausen (eds.), What do we know?, Sternberg Press, Berlin, Germany
- 2018 Kitty Scott, Sally Tallant, and Sinéad McCarthy (eds.), Beautiful World, Where Are You?, Art Books Publishing, London, UK
- 2016 Susanne Gaensheimer and Anna Goetz, FOOD – Ecologies of the Everyday: 13th Fellbach Small Sculpture Triennial, Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany
- 2015 Defne Ayas, Natasha Hoare, and Mohammad Salemy, Art in the Age of ... Asymmetrical Warfare, Witte de With, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- 2013 Agora: 4th Athens Biennale, Athens Biennale, Athens, Greece
Marina Roy, Study for a Glasshouse, Peel Art Museum and Archives, Brampton, Canada - 2012 Agnes Husslein-Arco and Thomas Zaunschirm, eds., Gold: Artists in Gold - Tradition and Today, Hirmer Verlag, Munich, Germany
- 2010 Shumon Basar, ‘Value Added’, Islands, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
- 2009 Kathleen Ritter, How Soon Is Now, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Ménagerie, AXENÉO7, Daimon Gallery, Gatineau, Canada
J. J. Kegan McFadden, When the Mood Strikes Us, Platform Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada - 2008 Orientalism & Ephemera, West Coast Line, Vancouver, Canada
Alison Rajah, shrink-wrapped, Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Jane Urquhart, Carte Blanche Vol. 2: Painting, Magenta Publishing for the Arts, Toronto, Canada
Kika Thorne and Joni Murphy, Neighbours, VIVO Media Arts, Vancouver, Canada - 2007 Haig Aivazian, Long Distance: Between Location & Emotion, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
About Time, II, Kunsten - Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Denmark
Marina Roy, ‘Why Not Sneeze’, Vacate, Storage Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Kegan McFadden, ‘A Want For a Lack of Sense of Place’, Vacate, Storage Gallery, Vancouver, Canada - 2006 Anne Lesley Selcer, ‘One Use for Spectacle’, Strange Bedfellows, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Liz Park, ‘Exchanging Room’, Common Room, Belkin Satellite, Vancouver, Canada
Magazines and Periodicals
- 2024 ‘Quick Pick – Abbas Akhavan and Rochelle Goldberg at Catriona Jeffries Gallery’, Galleries West, 28 November
Karine Bouchard, ‘S’éveiller, au-delà de l’hiver’, La Presse, 12 March
Jérôme Delgado, ‘Biennale de Québec: une Manif de rêve?’, Le Devoir, 2 March - 2023 Estelle Lévêque, ‘Manif d’Art – la Biennale de Québec explore le sommeil’, La Carrefour, 22 November
Mathias Kryger, ‘Bruger Glyptoteket virkelig kunsten som en bugtalerdukke i stedet for selv at åbne muden?’, Politiken, 24 July
Birgitte Ellemann Höegh, ‘En hot, heftig og svær samtale’,Kultur, 19 July
Sabitha Söderholm, ‘En plyndret museumslobby og en søjlekolonnade udstiller Vestens tyveri af verdens skatte’, Information, 5 July
Thomas Millroth, ‘Abbas Akhavan gör konst av plundring och erövring’, Sydsvenskan, 1 July
Niels Lyksted, ‘Glyptoteket og Copenhagen Contemporary: Abbas Akhavan’, Kultur Information, 22 June
‘International artist creates theatrical placeholders for ruined cultural heritage at the Glyptotek’, Art Daily, 21 June
Andrew Tuck, ‘Behind the curtain: Abbas Akhavan’, Monocle, 13 May
Mark Jenkins, ‘In the galleries: She draws inspiration from neighborhood walks’, The Washington Post, 14 April
Will Jennings, ‘14th Gwangju Biennale review: a stage for new voices and ancient ideas’, Wallpaper, 12 April
Priya Aravindhan, ‘Re-Imagining Our Relationship to Land Through Art’, Washington Report On Middle East Affairs, 27 March
Éric Clément, ‘Femmes iraniennes… universelles’, La Presse, 16 March - 2022 Luca Del Core, ‘Mettere al Mondo il Mondo’, art a part of cult(ure), 17 December
Maximilíano Durón, ‘The Best Booths at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022’, ARTnews, 29 November 2022
Beth Williamson, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Sculpture, 27 September
Amy Serafin, ‘Reclaim the Earth, urge artists at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo’, Wallpaper*, 18 August
Susan Mansfield, 'Art reviews: Tracey Emin | Abbas Akhavan | Fantasy to Fabrication', The Scotsman, 19 July
Hadani Ditmars, ‘Nearly 20 years after the invasion of Iraq, an artist revisits the looting of the national museum in Baghdad’, The Art Newspaper, 16 June
Emilie Echaroux, ‘« Réclamer la Terre », une exposition qui repense notre rapport au vivant’, Usbek & Rica, 10 June
Harvey Dimond, ‘Abbas Akhavan: Study for a Garden’, The Skinny, 09 June
Greg Thomas, ‘Et in Arcadia Artifice’, Scottish Art News, 6 June
Tom Denman, ‘A Walk in the Park: Abbas Akhavan interviewed by Tom Denman’, Art Monthly, no. 457, June
Nazanine Nouri, ‘Artist Abbas Akhavan Opens His First Exhibition in Scotland, ‘Study For a Garden’, Kayhan Life, 31 May
Veronica Simpson, ‘Abbas Akhavan – interview: ‘I like the propelled intensity towards accomplishing something’, Studio International, 30 May
Victoria Woodcock, ‘Can Art and Horticulture Grow Together? Meet the Avant Gardeners…’, Elephant, 19 May
Patrick Scemama, ‘Prendre soin de la terre’, La République de l'Art, 12 May
En Liang Khong, ‘Exhibitions, Films and Books: a Guide to Arts and Culture this May’, ArtReview, 5 May
Jane McLeod, ‘Mount Stuart Trust: Art exhibition to explore nuances of neo-Gothic mansion’, The National, 5 May
Andrea Chaves, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Canvas Magazine, May–June
Antonine Scali, ‘Reclaim the Earth, A Group Exhibition at Palais de Tokyo, Paris’, purple ART, 23 April
Amy Serafin, Reclaim the Earth, urge artists at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo’, Wallpaper*, 22 April
Ellen Greig, Abbas Akhavan, ‘Abbas Akhavan, with Ellen Greig. curtain call, variations on a folly’, Pompeii Commitments, 44, 21 April
Dimitris Lempesis, ‘TRIBUTE:Reclaim the Earth’, dreamideamachine ART VIEW, 16 April
Wallace Ludel, ‘Delfina Entrecanales, arts patron who founded the Delfina Foundation, has died, aged 94’, The Art Newspaper, 1 April
‘Delfina Entrecanales (1927–2022)’, Artforum News, 1 April
Marina Roy, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Palais 33, March
Karine Bouchard, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Le Sabord, February ‘Exhibitions of 2021’, Art Asia Pacific, 1 January
‘Exhibitions of 2021’, Art Asia Pacific, 1 January - 2021 Laura Raicovich, Mari Spirito, Laura Raicovich on Art and Museums in an Age of Protest: In Conversation with Mari Spirito’, Ocula Magazine, 8 December
Xenia Benivolski, ‘17th MOMENTA Biennale, “Sensing Nature”’, Art Agenda, 22 October
Jayne Wilkinson, ‘NATURAL CAUSES: Jayne Wilkinson on the Momenta Biennale de l’image’, Artforum, 20 October
Christopher Whitfield, ‘Abbas Akhavan: “Curtain Call, Variations on a Folly”’, ArtAsiaPacific, Octobe
Sarah Nesbitt, ‘Sensing Nature Quand la nature ressent 17th MOMENTA Biennale de l'image Tiohtià ke Mooniyang Montreal’, Flash Art, 21 October
En Liang Khong, ‘History Lessons: Abbas Akhavan at Chisenhale Gallery – Review’, ArtReview Asia, 15 October
Ulya Soley, Bir Zamanlar Kavranamayan’ın ardından, Argonotlar, 18 October En Liang Khong, ‘History Lessons: Abbas Akhavan at Chisenhale Gallery – Review’, ArtReview Asia, 15 October
Naomi Rea, ‘In London for Frieze? Don’t Miss These 7 Museum Shows, From Theaster Gates at Whitechapel to Anicka Yi’s Turbine Hall Commission’, Artnet News, 11 October
Insun Woo, ‘“Once Upon a Time Inconceivable”: A Review and a Conversation’, Global Art Daily, 15 October Lara Fresko Madra, ‘Multitemporal Sensations’, Argonotlar, 7 October
Tabish Khan, ‘The Top 6 Installation Art Exhibitions in London’, FAD Magazine, 4 October
Didier Morelli, ‘MOMENTA 2021 Centres Indigenous and Nonhumanist Notions of Nature’, Frieze, 30 September ‘Elephants Pick of September’s Essential Artists’, Elephant, 10 September
Amah-Rose Abrams, ‘Folly Good Show - Abbas Akhavan at Chisenhale Gallery’, The Quietus, 4 September
Kabir Jhala, ‘Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend’, The Art Newspaper, 3 September
Sam Gaskin, ‘Protocinema, Mari Spirito’s Art Space Without a Space, Turns 10’, Ocula, 3 September ‘Istanbul’s Protocinema celebrates 10 years with special exhibition’, Daily Sabah, 2 September
Nazanine Nouri, ‘In London exhibition artist Abbas Akhavan recreates Syrian ruins targeted by ISIS’, Keyhan Life, 1 September Yeni Kundra, ‘Once Upon a Time Inconceivable’, Art Asia Pacific, September/October
Kate Sutton, ‘THERE, THERE, Kate Sutton on Protocinema’s “A Few in Many Places”’, Artforum, September
Carolina Machado, ‘Walk&Talk 10 — To a «commonplace» somewhere on this island’, Umbigo, 31 August
Hili Perlson, ‘How the Great Recession Prompted Curator Mari Spirito to Found a Nonprofit to Showcase the Less ‘Shiny’ Side of the Art World, Artnet News, 27 August
Laura Cumming, ‘Abbas Akhavan review - a poetic monument to folly’ The Guardian, 22 August Eddy Frankel, ‘Abbas Akhavan Curtain Call Variations on a Folly’ Time Out, 17 August
Ellen Greig, ‘Chisenhale Interviews: Abbas Akhavan’, Chisenhale Interviews, Chisenhale, 13 August
Aseman Sabet, ‘Parc Offsite: An Interview with Eli Kerr’, Espace Art Actuel, No. 128, Spring–Summer
Mark Westall, ‘Mount Stuart Trust on the Isle of Bute 20th Anniversary Visual Art Programme, FAD Magazine, 3 March - 2020 Shraddha Nair, ‘Protocinema discusses cycles of violence through hyper localised art interventions’, Stir World, 24 November
Bob Dickinson, ‘Domestic Radicality,’Art Monthly, No. 438, July–August
Eva Crocker, ‘Abbas Akhavan explores faith, theatre and architecture in script for an island on Fogo’, Visual Art News, 3 April - 2019 Helena Wadsley, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Galleries West, 27 November
Josef Jacobson, ‘Nanaimo Art Gallery presents geological-themed exhibition’, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 26 November
Anne Lesley Selcer, ‘Night falls slowly inside a photograph’, Open Space, 9 October
Jyoti Kalsi, ‘When materials speak their mind’, Gulf News, 28 September
Giovanni Aloi, ‘Abbas Akhavan: Fatigues’, Antennae, Issue 49, Autumn
Sara Raza, ‘But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Acquiring Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa’, C Magazine 143, Autumn
Marie-Ève Charron, ‘Alan Belcher accompagne les derniers jours de Vie d’Ange’, Le Devoir, 3 August
Kegan McFadden, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Canadian Art, 23 July
Amrita Singh, ‘Art Jameel’s Newest Initiative: The Second Hand Art Collection’, About Her, 21 July
‘Dubai’s “Second Hand” art show explores morphing materials’, Arab News, 15 July
Oliver Basciano, ‘The art of walking (and talking)’, Art Review, 12 July
Maddie Klett, ‘Abbas Akhavan: cast for a folly’, The Brooklyn Rail, July–August
Gareth Harris, ‘From plastic waste to indigenous heritage, old and new biennials tap into contemporary concerns and issues’, The Art Newspaper, 28 June
Naz Cuguoğlu, ‘Theater of False Ruins: Interview with Abbas Akhavan’, Art Asia Pacific, 26 June
‘Toronto Biennial of Art Announces Featured Artists for Inaugural Event’, Broadway World, 21 June
Maximilíano Durón, ‘Here’s the Artist List for the First Toronto Biennial’, Art News, 20 June
Sarah Hotchkiss, ‘At the Wattis, the Aftermath of an Invasion and a Kaleidoscope of Black Experience’, KQED, 4 June
Sara Burkhardt, ‘Gärten in Kunst, Design und Architektur’, Kunst und Unterricht, No. 433/434, June
Deena Chalabi, ‘Monuments, Placeholders, Ghosts’, Open Space, 23 May
Judith Elisabeth Weiss, ‘Konstruktionen und Dekonstruktionen des Natürlichen’, Kunstforum International, Vol. 258, January–February
Judith Elisabeth Weiss, ‘Guerilla-Gardening, Paradiesgärtlein und planetarischer Garten’, Kunstforum International, Vol. 258, January–February
Chris Andrews, ‘Folly’, Peripheral Review, 17 January - 2018 Jayne Wilkinson, ‘A Year in Contradictions’, Canadian Art, 26 December
Jesi Khadivi, ‘But a Storm is Blowing from Paradise’, Border Crossings, Issue 148
‘The Angel Is in the Details’, Border Crossings, Issue 148
Jean-Michel Quirion, ‘Abbas Akhavan, Folly’, Espace Art Actuel, 16 November
Mallory Noe-Payne, ‘“Hedges, Edges, Dirt” Now on Display at Richmond’s ICA’, Radio IQ, 6 November
Andrew Ringle, ‘New ICA exhibits capture essence of fall, engage art lovers’, The Commonwealth Times, 23 October
Anna Kovler, ‘Abbas Akhavan’s “Folly” at Vie D’ange’, Arsenal Contemporary, 29 September
Isabelle Hore-Thorburn, ‘Contemplations on the Notions of Hospitality’, Right Now, 8 August
Yaniya Lee, ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You?’, Canadian Art, 18 July
Tom Emery, ‘10th Liverpool Biennial: “Beautiful world, where are you?”’, Frieze, 17 July
John Nyman, ‘Circulations of Intimacy’, Peripheral Review, 27 January - 2017 Ben Eastham, ‘Dublin Gallery Weekend’, art agenda, 30 November
Gemma Tipton, ‘Critic’s Guide: Dublin’, Frieze, 24 November
Rosemary Westwood, ‘The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp’, Canadian Art, 23 November
Aidan Dunne, ‘A show that looks at the secret life of plants from Babylon’, The Irish Times, 14 November
Martin Blättner, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Kunstforum International, Vol. 250, October–November
Mitch Speed, ‘Performance Art Blows Open the Prairies, in “Stages”’, MOMUS, 14 September
Kaya Genç, ‘With site-specific interventions, SALT Galata explores its potentialities’, Daily Sabah, 2 June
Nicholas Forrest, ‘Q and A: Christine Tohmé on the Superb Sharjah Biennial 13’, Blouin Artinfo, 17 April
Mohammad Salemy, ‘Making waves towards post-art: Act I of Sharjah Biennial 13’, Ocula, 15 April
Kat Herriman, ‘Modernism, Voyeurism, and a Sentient Parrot: Highlights from Dubai Art Week 2017’, VICE Creators, 10 April
Claire Wilson, ‘Between hospitality and hostility: Iranian artist Abbas Akhavan at DRAF Studio London’, Art Radar Journal, 14 February
Chris Fite-Wassilak, ‘Dispatches: London’, Frieze, 9 February
Marina Fathalla, ‘A (future) archive of a since disappeared land’, Kapsula, January - 2016 Justin Hopper, ‘Hello, World: Making Nature at Wellcome Collection’, The Learned Pig, 20 December
Oliver Moody, ‘Foxed! The weird world of zoology bares its teeth’, The Times, 12 December
Adam Sherwin, ‘Taxidermy artist scatters dead animals at Wellcome Collection’, iNews, 30 November
Ismail Fayed, ‘But a Storm is Blowing: Art contending with memory and tragic contexts’, Mada Masr, 25 October
Bansie Vasvani, ‘A Survey of Art from the Middle East and North Africa Puts Geometry Before Politics’, Hyperallergic, 19 September
Emma Holter, ‘Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African Art at the Guggenheim Museum’, Art Versed, 13 September
Georgina Jackson, ‘The Body in Ruins: Abbas Akhavan’s Study for a Monument’, Afterall Journal 42, Autumn–Winter
Carmela Thiele, ‘FOOD – Ökologien des Alltags’, Kunstforum International, Vol. 241, August
Holland Cotter, ‘The Guggenheim Is Going Global. Kind Of.’, The New York Times, 25 August
Caroline Roux, ‘But a Storm is Blowing in from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa’, The Telegraph, 13 August
Yasaman Alipour, ‘But a Storm is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa’, The Brooklyn Rail, 11 July
Lily Tekseng, ‘“But a Storm is Blowing from Paradise”: Guggenheim UBS Map Middle East and North Africa’, Art Radar Journal, 26 June
Andy Battaglia, ‘Exhibitions: Anxiety on show at the NY Guggenheim's new Mena exhibition’, The National, 23 June
Rahel Aima, ‘Paradise Lost: Middle Eastern Art at the Guggenheim’, Art in America, 21 June
John Haber, ‘War with No End’, Haber Arts, 29 April
Julia Roberge Van Der Donckt, ‘Toward an Anti-Speciesist Aesthetic?’, Esse 87, Spring–Summer
Bill Clarke, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Modern Painters, January
Gabrielle Moser, ‘Every Artwork Is a Trap’, Canadian Art, Winter - 2015 Oliver Basciano, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, ArtReview, October
Marina Iordan, ‘It’s a Kind of a Domesticated Wilderness: An Interview with Abbas Akhavan’, Jadaliyya, 14 April
Martin Blättner, ‘Common Grounds’, Kunstforum International, Vol. 232, April–May
Rachel Bennett, ‘Instigating Methodologies’, Canvas Magazine, March–April
Bryne McLaughlin, ‘Build and They Will Come: Caroline Andrieux and the making of an art scene’, Canadian Art, Spring
Gina Badger, ‘Unsettled Objects (The Alchemy of Dispossession and Display)’, Switch On, The Power Plant, 4 February
Murtaza Vali, ‘La Biennale de Montréal’, Artforum, February - 2014 Bryne McLaughlin, ‘Manif d’Art Critiques Capitalism—But To What End?’, Canadian Art, 5 June
Gabrielle Moser, ‘Critics' Picks: CounterIntelligence’, Artforum, 24 January - 2013 Amy Fung, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Art Papers, May–June
Anthony Downey, ‘Domestic Nature: Abbas Akhavan in Conversation with Anthony Downey’, Ibraaz, 29 January
Justin Jaeckle, ‘Abbas Akhavan: Study for a Garden’, Art Review, January–February
Martine Rouleau, ‘Abbas Akhvana, Study for a Garden’, Esse 77, Winter - 2012 Michael Hampton, ‘Human Nature’, Art Monthly UK 362, December–January
Mohammad Salemy, ‘Architecture and De-measurement in Abbas Akhavan’s work’, Arte East, Winter
Mark Rappolt, ‘Abbas Akhavan in Conversation with Mark Rappolt’, Delfina Foundation, 7 November
Elias Redstone, ‘London Underground, Cultural Exchanges’, The New York Times, 26 October
Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, ‘Bucharest Biennale 5’, Artforum, October
Anja Bock, ‘Abbas Akhavan: Beacon, Darling Foundry’, Art Papers, October
Ashley McLellan, ‘Tools for Conviviality: Social Works’, Canadian Art, 2 August
Fran Schechter, ‘Tools Rules’, Now Magazine, 19 July
Murray Whyte, ‘Tools For Conviviality at the Power Plant’, The Star, 17 July
Sholem Krishtalka, ‘Convivial Confrontations’, The Toronto Standard, 9 July
Hadani Ditmars, ‘Abbas Akhavan: Home Fronts’, Canadian Art, Spring
Joni Murphy, ‘Abbas Akhavan: Up, Down and In-between’, Canadian Art, 10 May - 2011 Cathryn Drake, ‘Playing with Fire’, Artforum, 12 December
Dina Ibrahim, ‘Abbas Akhavan’, Art Asia Pacific, 14 June
Robert Labossiere, ‘An Interview with Abbas Akhavan’, Reading Art, 24 May
Cathryn Drake, ‘Back to the Future’, Artforum, 22 March
Hadani Ditmars, ‘Abbas Akhavan: Home Fronts’, Canadian Art, Spring - 2010 Liana Schmidt, ‘Abbas Akhavan Studio Visit’, Mercer Union, 24 November
Sara Mameni, ‘Foiled Islands: Abbas Akhavan at Third Line Gallery, Dubai’, Fuse Magazine, September
Jen Hutton, ‘Critic’s Picks’, Artforum, July
Alia Al-Sabi, ‘Preview: Abbas Akhavan: MAPPING’, Bidoun 20, Spring
Jyoti Kalsi, ‘Entwined Worlds’, Gulf News, 21 May
John Gravois, ‘In Reduced Circumstances’, The National, 12 May
Charlie Neyra, ‘The Great Wall of Dubai’, Khaleej Times, 7 May
Kelly Nosari, ‘Abbas Akhavan: Islands’, Daily Serving, 5 May
Nyree Barret, ‘Dubai’s Gilded Cartographer’, Time Out Dubai, May
May Barber, ‘Islands’, Panoptikon, May
Randy Lee Cutler, ‘Truth and Consequences’, Fuse Magazine, Vol. 33, No. 1 - 2009 Kathleen Ritter, ‘VIVO Media Arts Centre’, Esse 65, Winter
Kathryn Schmidt, ‘Immigration & Domination, For the Birds’, Intermedias Review, March - 2008 Sigrid Dahle, ‘When the Mood Strikes Us’, Borders Crossings 108, December
Nicholas Brown, ‘Out there: Abbas Akhavan visited by Nicholas Brown’, Art Gallery of York University, 17 September
Randy Lee Cutler, ‘Orientalism: just another day in paradise’, Fuse Magazine, Vol. 31, No. 4
Aaron Peck, ‘Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, but Not Simpler, Canadian Art, Fall
Miriam Jordan and Julian Jason Haladyn, ‘Orientalism & Ephemera’, C Magazine 99, Autumn
Clint Burnham, ‘Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, but Not Simpler’, Artforum, 27 June
Kristina Lee Podesva, ‘The Molotov Pigeon: Abbas Akhavan’s Correspondences’, Bidoun 14, Spring–Summer
Alison Rajah, ‘Thwarting the Royal Road’, Fillip, Vol. 3, No. 2
Published Writing by the Artist
- 2011 Abbas Akhavan, ‘Makeshift Objects’, Zamân 4, Winter
- 2010 Abbas Akhavan, ‘Artist Project: what is above is as that which is below…’, C Magazine 108, Winter
- 2007 Abbas Akhavan and Marina Roy, eds., Helen’s Cookbook, Helen Pitt Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Residencies
- 2022 PRIM-Dazibao production-dissemination residency, Montreal, Canada
Thomas Dane, Naples, Italy
Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute, Scotland - 2019 Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island, Canada
Walk&Talk, São Miguel, Portugal
Capp Street Project, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA
- 2017 Atelier Calder, Saché, France
- 2016 Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island, Canada
- 2015 FLORA ars+natura, Bogotá, Colombia
- 2013 Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island, Canada
Western Front, Vancouver, Canada - 2012 Delfina Foundation, London, UK
- 2011 The Watermill Center, New York, USA
Delfina Foundation, Dubai, UAE
Trinity Square Video, Toronto, Canada - 2010 Fundación Marcelino Botin, with Mona Hatoum, Santander, Spain
Point de Fuite, Toulouse, France - 2009 The Apartment Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
AXENÉO7/DAÏMÕN, Gatineau, Canada - 2008 VIVO Media Arts Centre, Vancouver, Canada
- 2007 Stratagem Pacific Consulting, Vancouver, Canada
Awards
- 2016 Fellbach Triennial Award
- 2015 Sobey Art Award, Sobey Art Foundation
- 2014 The Abraaj Group Art Prize
- 2012 Berlin Art Prize – Jubilee Foundation 1848/1948, Berlin, Germany
Artist Prize Finalist, Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts, Toronto, Canada - 2011 Art Partners in Creative Development, Vancouver, Canada