Abbas Akhavan

Abbas Akhavan’s (b. 1977, Tehran, Iran; lives/works: Montreal and Berlin) practice ranges across site-specific ephemeral installations to drawing, video, sculpture, and performance. The direction of his research has been deeply influenced by the specificity of the sites in which he works, including the architectures that house them, the economies that surround them, and the individuals that frequent them. The concept of the garden—and by extension, the spaces and species just outside the home, such as the backyard, public parks, and other domesticated landscapes—have been foundational components in his work. In recent large-scale installations, Akhavan recreates cultural sites affected by international conflicts, attending to the multivalent ways in which ongoing geopolitics fight for control of historical narratives. Through his work, Akhavan engages with formal, material, and social legacies that shape the boundaries between public and private, domesticated and wild, hostile and hospitable.

Upcoming and recent solo exhibitions include La Biennale di Venezia (2026); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2026); Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver (2025); Bangkok Kunsthalle (2025); Copenhagen Contemporary and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (2023); Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute (2022); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2022); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2021); CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco (2019); Fogo Island Arts (2019); The Power Plant, Toronto (2018); Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2017); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2017); Mercer Union; Toronto (2015); and the Delfina Foundation, London (2012). Recent group exhibitions include the Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2024); 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022); Protocinema, Istanbul (2021), Walk and Talk, São Miguel (2020); Toronto Biennale (2019); Liverpool Biennial (2018); SALT, Istanbul (2017); Prospect New Orleans (2017); Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016).

Akhavan received an MFA from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (2006), and a BFA from Concordia University, Montréal (2004). Recent residencies include Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island, Canada (2019, 2016, 2013); Atelier Calder, Saché, France (2017); and Flora ars+natura, Bogotá, Colombia (2015). He is the recipient of the The Hnatyshyn Foundation Mid-Career Award for Excellence in Visual Arts (2025); Fellbach Triennial Award (2017); Sobey Art Award (2015); Abraaj Group Art Prize (2014); and the Berliner Kunstpreis (2012).