Abbas Akhavan

Abbas Akhavan’s (b. 1977, Tehran, Iran; lives/works: Montreal and Berlin) practice ranges from site-specific ephemeral installations to drawing, video, sculpture and performance. The direction of his research is deeply influenced by his engagement with the places in which he works—their histories and architectures, as well as the economies and inhabitants that shape them. The garden—and by extension, the spaces and species just outside the home, such as backyards, public parks and other domesticated landscapes—has been a foundational and recurring subject in his work. In recent largescale installations, Akhavan recreates cultural sites affected by international conflicts, attending to the multivalent ways in which ongoing geopolitics fight for control of historical narratives. Akhavan’s work engages with formal, material and social legacies that define the boundaries between public and private, domesticated and wild, hostile and hospitable.

Upcoming and recent solo exhibitions include Canada Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2026); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2026); Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver (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); Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2017); and Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2017). Recent group exhibitions include Tate Modern, London (2025); 15th Shanghai Bienniale (2025); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2024); 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022); Protocinema, Istanbul (2021); Liverpool Biennial (2018); SALT, Istanbul (2017); Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016).

Recent residencies include Bangkok Kunstahalle, Bangkok, Thailand (2024); Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island, Canada (2019, 2016, 2013) ; Capp Street Artist-in-Residence, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA (2019); Atelier Calder, Saché, France (2017); and The Delfina Foundation, London, UK (2012). He is the recipient of 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 Berliner Kunstpreis (2012).