Shahram Entekhabi

Shahram Entekhabi is an Iranian-born artist and architect whose work has been the subject of many exhibitions all over the world, currently living and working across Iran, Europe and Malaysia. Framed within an urban setting, Shahram’s practice diffuses the idea of the urban space being a reserve for the practice and performance of the white, middle class, hetro-sexual male. He explores these ideas via a variety of performative practices using architecture, installation and digital media.
Shahram explores society’s prejudices and suspicion of ‘the Other’ by visualizing fear and paranoia and the stereotypes constructed about ‘the Other’ owing to colour, religion or ethnicity; as well as how people participate in the ghettoization of the minority through perception, politics, propaganda and control.
Hence, Shahram chooses to highlight individuals who are ordinarily marginalized and made invisible or forced into self-ghettoization from the urban domain, such as migrant communities and their cultures, particularly communities from the Middle East and its diaspora. The question of visibility and invisibility is therefore a theme he recurrently explores within his practice.
Shahram also engages in ‘Parasite Architecture’, which questions aspects of social communication while deconstructing notions of public space and its ownership. Focusing the aspect of the transient within the idea of the informal, Parasite Architecture examines themes of migration and cultural diversity. Hence, in many places around the world, Shahram creates informal extensions to existing architectures (e.g. museum architectures) or constructs independent temporary spaces. These informal architectures are always constructed in public space (as part of the Caution performances that are documented on video available on the artist’s website) and they are always made from caution tape - suggesting ideas about safety zones and no-go areas and indicating aspects of exclusivity and inclusivity in the public space. These works deal with the concepts of performance and public space and time.

Shahram Entekhabi
Born in Beroujerd, Iran, lives and works in Berlin
Studied graphic-design at the University of Teheran, Iran
Studied architecture, urbanism, and Italian language in Perugia and Reggio Calabria, Italy
Works as independent architect on 36 residential projects and competitions in Berlin Germany
Since 2001 active in the fields of video art, photography, painting, drawings, installation, performance
2004 Exhibition architecture and exhibition designer of “Entfernte Nähe. Neue Positionen Iranischer Kunst”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Initiator and founder of art project and Festivals
2004 13 Satellites of Lahore — Performance Festival, Annemarie Schimmel-Haus, Lahore, Pakistan
2007 Abwehr - Performance Festival nearby the former border watchtower in Berlin-Kreuzberg/ Schlesischer Busch Berlin Germany
2008 Founder and artistic director of WL PROJECT | Berlin Hong Kong
2008 Metropolis Laboratory in Copenhagen, Metropolis Biennale 2007 - 2017, Denmark
2009 initiator of ’I RAN Home project’
2009 ‘Children on the run’, An art project to support children caught in crisis areas is initiated by Shahram Entekhabi and Ruth Martius, Berlin Germany
2009 UNITY project, an ongoing project by Joe Sidek and Shahram entekhabi, penang, Malaysia
Extended stays abroad
2003 Research stay in Macedonia
2004 Research stays in Amsterdam, Tunesia, Turkey
2006 Research stay in London, Birmingham, Manchester
Awards, stipends, scholarships
2004 fellowship at the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland/OH, USA (catalogue)
2006 Vasl Lahore 2006 (residency), Lahore, Pakistan (catalogue)
2007 Live Art UK Touring Commission R&D grant
2008 AIR, International Artists’ Workshop: 4X4, and residency, Hong Kong
2008 Research/creation grant in Chihuahua on behalf of Aves en la luna - CASA DEL LAGO Juan José Arreola, Mexico City, Mexico
2009 Research/creation grant of Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation & National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Kaliningrad and Moscow, Russias.

Selected Exhibitions 2009________________________________________
• I Am..., — The first presentation of UNITY project in Penang, Malaysia
• IRAN INSIDE OUT — curator Sam Bardaouil, Chelsea Art Museum,New York, NY, USA
• Boulevard publique – promenades et marches — curators Madeleine Amsle and Véronique Yersin, Forde - Espace d’art contemporain, Geneva Switzerland
• Topography of Happiness: Russian Wedding — The State Museum-Reserve Tsaritsyno, Moscow, Russia
• Kunst und Öffentlichkeit. 40 Jahre Neuer Berliner Kunstverein — .n.b.k. Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
• 10th Havana Biennial, 2009, — curator Blanca De la Torre García, Havana, Cuba
• Shahram Entekhabi: Share Farang — soloshow, KunstBüroBerlin, KBB Berlin, Germany
• Globalscreen — Schloss-Ringenberg.de in Germany
• "Das Böse ist ein Eichhörnchen" — Museum in der „Runden Ecke“ (Stasimuseum), LOFFT Leipzig and Werkstattmacher e.V.
• 'Das Bild des Fremden in Deutschland und Frankreich' — curator Dr. Ulrike Kremeier, Deutsches Historisches Museum (DHM), Berlin, Germany
• Middle East Video Channel — curator Khaled D. Ramadan, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China
• Excuse me, are you famous? — Invaliden1, a site-specific project, curated by Kathrin Becker for WL project Berlin / Hong Kong, Berlin Germany
• Video Work in Migratory Aesthetics — Tampere Art Museum, Tampere Finland 
Selected video presentation and festivals 2009
• Video seminar Indonesia – Berlin & Beyond, organised by Videolab, Soemardja Gallery, ITB, Bandung/Indonesia
• Video screening, curated by Kathrin Becker, Annemarie-Schimmel-House, Lahore/Pakistan
• Berlin Hot Shots. organised by VASL, Karachi, Koel Gallery, Karachi/Pakistan
• Video screening, Goethe-Institute Pakistan, Karachi/Pakistan
• V.M. Art Gallery, Berlin Hot Shots. Karachi/Pakistan
• MY FAVOURITE PASTIME /LONDON — Artprojx Space | Artists Film Club
• Asian hot shots Berlin (video art section) — gallery and project space JET, Berlin Germany

Selected Exhibitions 2008________________________________________
• 'Going the Distance' — The Fibonacci Centre, Fremantle, Australia 
• 'Étranger-Fremder en France et en Allemagne du 19e siècle à nos jours' — curator Dr. Ulrike Kremeier, Cité nationale de l´histoire de l´immigration (CNHI), Paris, France
• bedün´ ? onvän´ 3 — Short video pieces reflecting on social & gender issues in Iran — Foyer & Cinema 1, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, UK
• Video art selection — Video Art program, curated by Sabine Schütze, Preview Berlin The Emerging Art Fair , Berlin, Germany
• Cast Some Light — Screening, Aref Al-Aref Building, THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF ART - PALESTINE, Ramallah, Palestine
• MONOLOGS's videos — Galería Animal in the city of Santiago of Chile
• Absenz, An- und Abwesenheit in auf unterschiedliche Weise — Lecture and symposium in the academy of the Kuenste, Berlin, Germany
• The Third Guangzhou Triennial — Curated by Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj, Chang Tsong-zung, Khaled D. Ramadan, Guangdong Museum of Art, China
• The World is Flat — The Center of Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
• en la luna - Poéticas de la diferencia y otros lugares imaginados — curator Itzel Vargas, CASA DEL LAGO Juan José Arreola, Mexico City
• My favorite pastime — curator Kathrin Becker, ursula blickle videolounge inside the kunsthalle vienna, Austria
• Aves en la luna - Poéticas de la diferencia y otros lugares imaginados — curator Itzel Vargas, CASA DEL LAGO Juan José Arreola, Mexico City, Mexico
• Emerging Discourse – II: Performance and Mimicry — curated by Shaheen Merali space for Bodhi Art, New YorK, USA
• THE PROMISED LAND — CAM, Chelsea Art Museum ,Curated by Blanca de la Torre Garcia. New York, NY, USA
• Obscurum per Obscurius — curator Reet Varblane, cocurator Ilya Sundelevitsh, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
• PROYECTO MONOLOGS — Laboratorio Global de Monologos y Video — curator Elisa Eliash, Rome, Italy
• The World is Flat — Overgaden. Institute of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark (printed maps(
• Cast Some Light — Glasgow international (Gi) 2008, curating by Helen de Main and Maj Hasager, Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow U.K.
• Ten Workers — Embassy Projects, , Fo Tan, New Territories, HKSAR, Hong Kong
• LOOP'08 Festival "SELECTED #3, A source for videoart lovers" — The sixth videoart festival LOOP’08, Barcelona, Spain (catalogue)
• "Mahrem – A nmerkungen zum Schleier" — kunsthalle Wien, Project Space, Vienna, Austria (catalogue)
• "Shahram Entekhabi: From the Banks of a River called HOME" — Centre d'art Nei Liicht, Dudelange, Luxembourg (solo exhibition)
• Visual Foreign Correspondent issue 2 — developed in cooperation with De Balie Centre for Culture and Politics , Amsterdam., The Netherlands (solo exhibition)
• Exhibition of video triology “Dead Sattelittes" — curate by Malin Barth, Hordaland Art Center Bergen, Norway
• Parable of the Garden: New Media Art from Iran & Central Asia — curator Sarah Cunningham, College of New Jersey , Ewing, NJ, USA (catalogue)
• Performing Rights Glasgow, as part of National Review of Live Art — curator Lois Weaver, New Moves International, Glasgow UK.

Selected video presentation and festivals 2008
• The City As a Stage — curator Kathrin Becker, Artprojx Space | Artists Film Club, London, UK
• 'Art is a man's name' — curator Kathrin Becker, The Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, Germany
• WL PROJECT | Berlin Hong Kong | My Favourite Pastime — curated by Kathrin Becker, Blue Lotus Gallery, Hong Kong
• e-flux video rental in Lisbon — Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Foundation Headquarters), Lisbon, Portugal
• Braunschweiger Gender Forum, symposium, workshop "Fremde Männer" — Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Germany
• TRUNK - The Nordic art video festival — Färgfabriken, Stockholm, Sweden
• Hong Kong International Artists’ Workshop: 4X4 — Sham Shui Po , Hong Kong
• One person’s Trash is another Person’s Treasure — Book presentation , PLAY_platform for film & video Berlin, Germany (Book)
• TRUNK på turné — Sundsvalls museum och Film i Västernorrland, Sweden

Selected Exhibitions 2007________________________________________
• Modern, Islamic Veiling and Secular Imaginaries — santralistanbul, Istanbul - Turkey (catalogue)
• Bare Life — Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel (catalogue)
• Comm' é amaro stu ppane — Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgium (catalogue)
• 100 Tage = 100 Videos, GL Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark (catalogue)
• Intervention — Fieldgate Gallery - contemporary art and project space, London, UK.
• Krieg der Knöpfe (War of the Buttons. Children and the World of War) — Landesmuseums, Linz, Austria (catalogue/ Book)
• Abwehr Performance Festival — Performances at the last watchtowers of the former GDR in Berlin, Germany
• LED-Wall, Zeithaus, VW Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany
• HAZARD: Performance Festival— Manchester City Centre, UK
• Commè amaro stu ppane — Centre d'art Nei Liicht, Dudelange, Luxembourg (catalogue)
• Sin cobertura. Independent Video from the Middle East— Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
• War of the Buttons. Children and the World of War — Århus Kunstbygning Center for Contemporary Art, Århus, Denmark
• IDEAL.LOOP — Espace Croisé, Roubaix Cedex 1, France

Selected video presentations and festivals 2007
• Lively Q&A - Contemporary Video Art Screening Series — with Martina Schone-Radunski, Gallery Lambton, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
• Kunstfilmtag — Kuenstlerverein Malkasten, Duesseldorf, Germany (catalogue)
• Festival Musica Experimento — Sala dei Concerti ex-Mattatoio, Piazza Orazio Giustiniani, Roma, Italy
• TRUNK07, THE NORDIC ART VIDEO FESTIVAL — CinemaRegina, Östersund, Sweden
• Optica, International Festival of Video Art — GIjón-Asturias, Spain
• PAN Screening. Opere e documenti 2005-2007, curator Marina Vergiani, project room of Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Neapel, Italy
• All That I Am. International Video Art — Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau, Chisinau, Republica Moldova
• AMAL 007 Festival, "From Middle East with Love" — Santiago de Compostella, Spain
• Art of Listening, Screening: Visual Sound — Insa Art space, Seoul, Korea
• ART RADIO LIVE, PAN | Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Italy
• "e-flux Video Rental", Centre culturel suisse, Paris
• Hors la ville, Pencum Goethe Dakar — Sélection internationale de vidéos et courts-métrages, Dakar, Senegal
• EVR BOSTON (e-flux video rental) — Boston, USA
• Vidéoclub d'artistes proposés par les critiques/artistes — Centre culturel Suisse, Paris, France
• PERFORMS— CENTRE D’ARTS plastiques et visuels, Lille, France

Selected Exhibitions 2006________________________________________
• It's been a long way, baby (solo exhibition) — Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland (catalogue)
• Krieg der Knöpfe (War of the Buttons) — Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal-Unteröwisheim, Germany (catalogue)
• This Land Is My Land (II/ Berlin) — Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin (catalogue)
• Busan Biennale — Busan Museum of Modern Art, Busan Yachting Center, Korea (catalogue)
• GLUB Installation and Film screening — Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar, Germany
• Appendix3: Visual sound - a cooperative video & multimedia project by Automata & globalscreen.org — Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• 100 TAG = 100 VIDEOS — Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Germany
• Auflösung III (Realismusstudio) — Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin (catalogue)
• Voiler - Dévoiler / Hüllen - Enthüllen, curator Karine Vonna — Villa du Parc- Centre d’art Contemporain, Annemasse, France
• Labyrinth X - zu Rassismus und Ausgrenzung — Nikolaikirche, Rostock, Germany
• This Land Is My Land — Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany (catalogue)
• Berlintendenzen — La Capella, Barcelona, Spain (catalogue)
• International Artists Residency Exhibition — Vasl Art, Haveli Baroodkhana, Lahore, Pakistan
• Lost In Space. 19th Annual Images Festival — Vtape, Toronto, Canada
• dLux Media Arts international, the Middle Eastern Video Project — Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
• Something in Common (solo exhibition) — Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
• Almost Art, curator Osvaldo Romberg, — Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, USA
• Urban Creatures — Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland (catalogue)
• Nouvelles Collections (Collection Jürg + Ruth Nyffeler) — CentrePasquArt Kunsthaus/ Centre d’art, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
• Portraits - The View Behind the Make-up — Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Selected video presentations, festivals and artist talks 2006
• Middle Eastern Project , interdigitate New Media Festival, MIC (The Moving Image Centre) — Newton, Auckland, New Zealand
• Festival International de Film et Video de Creation Cinéma Empire Sofil, curator Nat Muller — Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
• EVR ISTANBUL (e-flux video rental) — PiST'te2, Istanbul, Turkey
• OBS!, A 32 pages free paper, artists project, published in Copenhagen, Denmark— publik.dk
• IdentifiXation (The place where we belong), screening — Amsterdam City Theatre, Amsterdam, Netherland
• Beckett & Company, panel discussion and artist talk — Tate Modern, London, UK
• Ästhetik der Migration, lecture — Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Weimar, Germany
• 10th International Documentary Film Festival Jihlava — Jihlava, Czech Republic
• The Artist in the World Lectures — Federation Hall, Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank Victoria, Australia
• Evening of Film Screenings — Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
• 13 Satellites of Lahore — Annemarie Schimmel-Haus, Lahore, Pakistan
• EVR BUDAPEST (e-flux video rental) — Mucsarnok-Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary
• The Built, Un-Built and the Un-Buildable, artist talk — PSi #12 /Queen Mary, University of London, UK
• Spaces, Territories & Jigsaw Feelings, screenings — Tijanjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tijanjin/ China
• Islam and video-art, lecture — University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Projections + Invitation TANK.TV (UK) — Grand Auditorium de la Médiathèque José Cabanis, Toulouse, France
• Black Deutschland, screening and panel discussion — Lichtspieltheater, Rostock, Germany
• EVR ANTWERP (e-flux video rental) — Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium
• International Film Studies Conference — Magis IP, Gradisca d’Isonzo, Italy
• Directors Lounge, screening — Galerie der Kuenstler, Munich, Germany
• Seeing and Being Seen, Artist´s Presentation — Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus, Lahore, Pakistan
• Diagnosticians, SPARK Video Canada Festival — Forest City Gallery, London

Selected Exhibitions 2005________________________________________
• Exhibition of the 10 winning videos of the festival FIAV.05 — Metrònom, Barcelona
• Modell “Verpaßte Gelegenheit”-Symptome der Überforderung, curator Sabine Winkler — Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam, Germany (catalogue)
• In the Shadow of “Heroes” — ArtEast Social organization, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (catalogue)
• Real representation/representing the “real”, curator Ulrike Kremeier — Arena/Glashaus, Berlin
• Beograd nekad i sad, curator Marko Stamenkovic — Prodajna Galerija, Beograd, Serbia & Montenegro (catalogue)
• Come Fly With Me, online-video-exhibition on www.tank.tv, London (Sept 1st-Oct 15th, 2005)
• KILID (solo exhibition) — former GDR-watchtower at Schlesischer Busch, Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben e.V., Berlin
• Glub (solo exhibition) — Hopkins Hall Gallery, OSU College of the Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus/OH, USA.
• Bologna Flash Art Show — Sofitel hotel, Bologna (catalogue)
• Glub Installation (solo exhibition) — Mershon Center and Art Gallery, The Ohio State University, Columbus/OH, USA
• Migratory Aesthetics (solo exhibition) — University Theatre of the University of Amsterdam
• Racial Europeanization, lecture by David Theo Goldberg — Knowledge Media Institute, Open University campus, Milton Keynes (UK)

Selected video presentations, festivals, and artist talks 2005
• What? Me? A Racist?, curator Gab Heller, screening — Künstlerhaus Saarbrücken, Germany
• Screening on the ocassion of the exhibition “Lido. — Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany
• Jigsaw feelings. Videoarte contemporáneo de Berlin, curator Kathrin Becker, screening — Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico D.F.
• Irgendwoanders, international video-artist on migration — a7-exhibition hosted by cultura, Hildesheim, Germany
• Visiting Artist presentation — Universität der Künste (UdK), Berlin
• What? Me? A Racist? Aktuelle Videokunst in der Galerie Pankow/URZULA 6, curator Gab Heller, screening — Galerie Pankow, Berlin
• Do Artists Need to Maintain Sovereignty Over Interpretation? discussion— Projektraum Deutscher Kuenstlerbund, Berlin
• EVR BERLIN (e-flux video rental) - a project by Anton Vidokle & Julieta Aranda — Kunst-Werke Berlin/ KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin
• GLUB and the Aesthetics of Everyday Life, lecture by Andrew D. Mellon — Franklin Center for the Humanities, Duke University, Durham/NC, USA
• Walled Souls. Screening on the occassion of the exhibition “Circa Berlin”, selected by Kathrin Becker & Simon Sheikh — Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, Denmark (catalogue)
• Elektronenströme: Real Fictions und Inszenierte Realitäten im Video, curator Katja Albers, screening — Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany
• Iranian Artist Returns. Artist´s Talk with Shahram Entekhabi — The Iranian Cultural Association of Greater Columbus/OH, USA
• Visiting Artist Shahram Entekhabi. Screening of 5 recent video productions — The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland/OH, USA
• Humanities Week. Visiting Artist Shahram Entekhabi — Baker-Nord Center For the Humanities, Cleveland/OH, USA
• GLUB and the Aesthetics of Everyday Life, lecture — John Hope Franklin Center Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
• I LOVE ART VIDÉO - 6ème édition, curator Karine Vonna, screening — Musée d’art Moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg, France

Selected Exhibitions 2004________________________________________
• GLUB (solo exhibition) — Case Art Studio Gallery, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland/OH, USA (catalogue)
• Entfernte Nähe. Neue Positionen Iranischer Kunst, curator Rose Issa — Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (catalogue)
• Not In the Sky and Not on the Earth, curator Emil Aleksiev — Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Macedonia (catalogue)
• i? (solo exhibition) — PLAY Gallery for Still and Motion Pictures, Berlin
• Schizorama, curator Kathrin Becker— National Center for Contemporary Art/NCCA, Moscow
• La Sage-femme y Spiral Woman — Sala Municipal de Exposiciones del Museo de Pasió, Valadolid, Spain (catalogue)
• Just pLAy — Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles

Selected video presentations, festivals and artist talks 2004
• Las formas de la Nada: Imágenes de la ausencia en el mundo contemporáneo, conference — CENDEAC, Murcia, Spain.
• Screening within the context of the exhibition “Louise Bourgeois” — Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland.
• The Aesthetics of Everyday Life, lecture by Tim Beal within the seminar “Home, Homelands and Security” — Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland/OH, USA

Travelling Exhibitions 2004/2005/2006
• Labyrinth X , traveling exhibition in: Stadthalle Ludwigslust, Hagenow, Boizenburg, Dönitz, Wismar, Schwerin, Rostock; Germany (newspaper)

Selected Exhibitions 2003________________________________________
• Seat, installation of the sculpture in the lounge of the Video-Forum — Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin
• The 2nd International Kansk Video Festival — Kansk, Russia
• Fair Play video contest — PLAY Gallery for Still and Motion Pictures, Berlin
• Models + Frames 8: Überlebensstrategien für Untrainierte - The Winners Takes It All..., curator Sabine Winkler — Kunst- und Medienzentrum Adlershof/KMZA, Berlin
• Different views in & out of Berlin. On the occassion of the project “In-between countries” — Haus der Demokratie & Menschenrechte, Berlin
• Einige Bemerkungen über den Nutzen wissenschaftlicher und methodologischer Filme, curator Olga Egorova, screening — Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin

Selected Exhibitions 2002________________________________________
• The 1st International Kansk Video Festival — Kansk, Russia.
• Evolutionäre Zellen of the group “finger” — Neue Gesellschaft für Bildene Kunst (NGBK), Berlin.
• Bush Video Night — open space, Berlin-Kreuzberg.
• Pop-Sound-Video, screening — Städtisches Museum Zwickau, Germany
• Stardust Deluxe. Kunstaktionen zur Popkultur, curators Kathrin Becker — Lisa Lounge/Villa Elisabeth, Berlin