Neda Saeedi

How can the consequences of modernisation and industrialisation on the environment and society be understood and translated sculpturally and spatially? How can certain experiences be articulated through the perspective of different groups? What words/language should we use? How can “hi-story“ transform and translate into the material and form?

My artistic research and practice evolve around long-term research, and the production of a series of installation works. I make installations that invite spectators into spatial experiences. These spaces are information translated into material and form. Their architectural design can be understood as narration. My theoretical research is never confined to one field of study; it goes from chemistry to history, sociology, or theology.

The formal and aesthetic focus of my ongoing exploration of questions mentioned above is the correlations between human beings, urban planning, architecture, and the environment: the value, materiality, power, and property of the body (human and nonhuman) concerning urban and development projects. Here the consequences of modernisation and industrialisation around the theme of land, construction, reconstruction, and deconstruction of places, areas, and the environment are examined and translated into formal/sculptural form. In my artistic practice, I aim to tell the hi-stories through objects and materials and their spatial arrangement. I am interested in historiography and the story-telling through sculptural and installation form and their materiality. In my practice, the identity of a material is of equal importance to the physical form it takes, to the extent that my choice of material becomes the content of my work.

My long-term project over the past several years has been devoted to exploring the notion of the garden _its socio-political and theological history and connotations_ the practice of segregation, demarcation, and evaluation. My focus has been on the procedure of gardens/gardening, where it juxtaposes possession/governing, accessibility/depriving ownership/dispossession.

EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS (SELECTION)
2023(upcoming)
Autostrada Biennial curated by Joanna Warsza and Övül Ö. Durmusoglu, Kosovo
2023
Simurgh, Group exhibition curated by Basak Senova, Berlin, Germany
2022
Villa Romana Inauguration exhibition, Florence, Italy
5th Mardin Biennial Curated by Adwait Singh, Mardin, Turkey
Liste Art Basel, Special Guest section represented by Pejman Foundation , Basel,
Switzerland
Fragments from Now, Kunsthaus Dresden curated by Annelie Pohlen and Beate Echstein,
Germany
After Cinema, in collaboration with Setareh Shahbazi, Lumbung films, Documenta 15,
curated by Azin Feiabadi, Kassel, Germany
Calm before storm, Radius CCA, Delft, curated by Niekolaas Lekkerkerk, Netherlands
2021
Science-Ex-Timeless travels- Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Germany
Witches, Taxi-Palais Kunsthalle Tirol, curated by Nina Tabassomi Innsbruck, Austria
State and Nature, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden Curated by Cagla Ilk and Adnan Misal Yildiz,
Germany
Two Shades of Green, Solo exhibition, Argo Factory/ Pejman Foundation, Tehran, Iran
2020
Memories from Now, Art perspectives, Künstlerhaus Tacheles, Berlin Germany
New viewing, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Curated by Övül Ö. Durmusoglu, Berlin, Germany
Für ein besseres Morgen, Bonner Bundeskunsthalle,curated by Annelie Pohlen, Bonn,
Germany
A year without the Southern Sun, Hua International Gallery, curated by Justin Polera,
Berlin, Germany
2019
Fragments from Now, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
Garden of Eden Moving; Petrified Tribe, Solo exhibition, Dastan Gallery, Tehran, Iran
Deadly Affairs; Environmental injustice through toxic trades, Extra city, Curated by Antonia
Alampi, Antwerp, Belgium
The Long Term You Cannot Afford; On Distribution of The Toxic, Curated by Antonia Alampi,
Savvy contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2018
Lulea Biennial 2018, Curated by Asrin Haidary and Emily Fahlen, Lulea, Sweden
Jurried Exhibition, Finalist MOP CONTEMPORARY ART PRIZE, Bonhams, London, UK
Whose land have I lit on now? SAVVY Contemporary, curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng
Ndikung and Elena Agudio, Berlin, Germany
2017
Floating Points, Raum für drastische Maßnahme, Berlin, Germany
Thesis Exhibition, University of the Arts Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2016
A Heritage Transposed, Box Freiraum, Curated by Anahita von Plotho, Berlin, Germany
New-Self-Portrait-Paradox, Ludlow38, Curated by Nina Tabassomi, New York, USA
Attitudes, Bonner Bundeskunsthalle, Curated by Marcel Odenbach, Bonn, Germany
2015
Attitudes, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin Germany
On Projection, Kühlhaus, Berlin, Germany
20th Internationales Bremer Symposium zum Film, Die Zukunft ist jetzt, Bremen,
Germany
2014
Die nächste Generation V, Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany
Kombi II , Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
2013
Asias Info-Bomb, South Asian Visual Art Center (SAVAC), Toronto, Canada
Studio for Artistic Research, Düsseldorf, Germany
2012
Global Revolutions / Local Contradictions, Mindpirates Projektraum, curated by Pauline
Doutreluingne, Azin Feizabadi, Nine Yamamoto-Masson, Berlin, Germany
2011
Sharjah Biennale, in collaboration with Raffie Davtian, Curated by Suzanne Cotter and
Rasha Salti, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2022 Max Plank Institut, Kunsthistorische Institute in Florenz, Italy
2022 Vila Romana Prize, Florence, Italy
2022 Artistic Research Grant, Berliner Senat
2020 Arbeitsstipendium, Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn
2019 Artist residency, Delfina foundation, London, UK
2018-19 NaföG, Elsa-Neumann-Stipendium des Landes Berlin
2018 Artist Residency, Resurscentrum för konst (ArtNorth), Norbotten, Sweden
2018 Artistic Research Grant, Berliner Senat
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
2021 Return to Neverland published by Pejman Foundation