{{Short description|Canadian visual artist}} '''Abbas Akhavan''' is a Montreal-based visual artist.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title = Abbas Akhavan|url = http://canadianart.ca/artists/abbas-akhavan-bio/|website = Canadian Art|access-date = 19 January 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160118235828/http://canadianart.ca/artists/abbas-akhavan-bio/|archive-date = 18 January 2016|url-status = dead}}</ref> His recent work consists of site-specific installations, sculpture, video, and performance, consistently in response to the environment in which the work is created.<ref name=":0" /> Akhavan was born in Tehran, Iran in 1977. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University in 2004 and his Master of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia in 2006.<ref name=":0" /> Akhavan's family immigrated to Canada from Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title = Toronto-based artist Abbas Akhavan awarded 2015 Sobey Art Award|url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/toronto-based-artist-abbas-akhavan-awarded-2015-sobey-art-award/article27024009/|website = The Globe and Mail|access-date = 2016-01-22|publisher = the Globe and Mail|last = Adams|first = James|publication-date = 2015-10-28}}</ref> His work has gained international acclaim, exhibiting in museums, galleries and biennales all over North America, Europe and the Middle East.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Artist's bronze casts of plant samples from Tigris River valley suggest merciless churn of history.|url = https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/visualarts/2015/09/10/abbas-akhavans-variations-on-a-garden-at-mercer-union.html|newspaper = The Toronto Star|date = 2015-09-10|access-date = 2016-01-22|issn = 0319-0781|first = Murray|last = Whyte}}</ref> He is the recipient of the Kunstpreis Berlin (2012),<ref name=":0" /> the Abraaj Group Art Prize (2014),<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title = Abbas Akhavan Wins Dubai's Abraaj Group Art Prize – Canadian Art|url = http://canadianart.ca/news/abbas-akhavan-abraaj-prize/|website = Canadian Art|access-date = 2016-01-22|language = en-US}}</ref> and the Sobey Art Award (2015).<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title = 2015 Sobey Art Award|publisher = Art Gallery of Nova Scotia|year = 2015|isbn = 978-1-55457-673-9|location = Halifax, Nova Scotia|pages = 35–44}}</ref>
== Career == Domestic spaces, as negotiated between hospitality and hostility, have been an ongoing area of research in Akhavan's practice.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title = Mercer Union {{!}} Abbas Akhavan: variations on a garden|url = http://www.mercerunion.org/exhibitions/abbas-akhavan-variations-on-a-garden/|website = www.mercerunion.org|access-date = 2016-01-19}}</ref> His works are created in direct response to the situation he finds himself working in, whether that might be a specific structure, institution, geographic region, or community. His recent work has moved past the confines of home to the surrounding areas, including an examination of domesticated landscapes.<ref name=":0" /> Akhavan has exhibited work at the Western Front in Vancouver,<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title = Ontario – Abbas Akhavan|url = http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/ontario-abbas-akhavan-1.3289026|website = www.cbc.ca|access-date = 2016-01-22}}</ref> the Delfina Foundation in London,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|title = Delfina Foundation — Exhibition: Abbas Akhavan|url = http://delfinafoundation.com/whats-on/exhibition-abbas-akhavan-study-for-a-garden/|website = delfinafoundation.com|access-date = 2016-01-22}}</ref> the Bergen Museum in Norway, and ABC Art Berlin Contemporary. Kathleen Ritter writes about his site-specific audio project ''Landscape: for the birds'' at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2009: "an extension of Akhavan's previous projects, where he has, for example, placed a pile of shoes at the foot of a gallery's door, hung a white sheet from a gallery's window, planted a live wall of hedges inside a gallery and blocked off a gallery's entrance with a wall of sandbags resembling a military blockade. The installations reinterpret the gallery entrance as a site of special significance, drawing attention to the threshold between expected and unexpected sites of cultural activity."<ref>{{Cite book|title = How Soon Is Now|last = Ritters|first = Kathleen|publisher = Vancouver Art Gallery|year = 2009|isbn = 978-1-895442-74-8|location = Vancouver|pages = 27–28}}</ref> "Akhavan's art is a thoughtful, and at times mournful, interrogation of our habits of perception, underscoring the provisional nature of our understanding of the world around us."<ref>{{Cite web|title = Abbas Akhavan: Sobey Finalist Slideshow – Canadian Art|url = http://canadianart.ca/features/abbas-akhavan-sobey-finalist-slideshow/|website = Canadian Art|access-date = 2016-01-22|language = en-US}}</ref>
=== Awards and honours === Akhavan was awarded the Kunstpreis Berlin in 2012<ref name=":0" /> and the Abraaj Group Art Prize in 2014.<ref name="auto"/> In 2015, Akhavan won the $50,000 Sobey Art Award, given to an artist under 40 whose work has been displayed in a public or commercial art gallery.<ref name=":7" /> The Sobey Art Award's six-member curatorial panel said in a statement that they "wanted to underline the generosity and empathy at play in Abbas's work", and that "through a fugitive practice that resists fixed meaning, Akhavan reasserts that power and engagement are always relevant subjects for examination."<ref name=":3" />
=== Residencies === * Foundation Marcelino Botin with Mona Hatoum (Spain),<ref name=":4" /> * Le Printemps de Septembre (France)<ref name=":4" /> * Trinity Square Video (Canada)<ref name=":4" /> * Western Front, and Fogo Islands (Canada) (2019, 2016, 2013)<ref name=":4" /> * The Watermill Center (USA)<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jeffries |first1=Catrioina |title=Abbas Akhavan |url=https://catrionajeffries.com/artists/abbas-akhavan |website=Catriona Jeffries |access-date=5 March 2026}}</ref> * The Delfina Foundation (Dubai, UAE & London, UK)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Life |first=Kayhan |date=2022-05-31 |title=Artist Abbas Akhavan Opens His First Exhibition in Scotland, ‘Study For a Garden’ |url=https://kayhanlife.com/authors/artist-abbas-akhavan-opens-his-first-exhibition-in-scotland-study-for-a-garden/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=KAYHAN LIFE |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":4" />
=== Exhibitions === * ''Variations on a Garden'', Walker Art Gallery, Minneapolis, USA (2026)<ref>{{cite web |title=Abbas Akhavan: Variations on a Garden |url=https://walkerart.org/calendar/2026/abbas-akhavan-variations-on-a-garden/ |website=Walker Art |access-date=5 March 2026}}</ref> * ''One Hundred Years'', Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (2025)<ref>{{cite web |title=Time Made Strange: Abbas Akhavan at the Belkin Art Gallery |url=https://momus.ca/time-made-strange-abbas-akhavan-at-the-belkin-art-gallery/ |website=Momus |access-date=25 February 2026|date=2025-11-26|last=Witt|first=Andrew}}</ref> * ''Survival in the 21st Century'', Hall of Contemporary Art, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany (2024)<ref>{{cite web |title=Survival in the 21st Century |url=https://www.deichtorhallen.de/en/ausstellungen/survival-in-the-21st-century/ |website=Deichtorhallen |access-date=5 March 2026}}</ref> * ''Curtain Call, variations on a folly'', Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-16 |title=Copenhagen Contemporary Exhibition Program 2023 |url=https://www.mynewsdesk.com/dk/copenhagen-contemporary/pressreleases/copenhagen-contemporary-exhibition-program-2023-3224262 |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=Mynewsdesk |language=en}}</ref> * ''cast for a folly'', Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-16 |title=Nearly 20 years after the invasion of Iraq, an artist revisits the looting of the national museum in Baghdad |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/06/16/abbas-akhavan-vancouver-contemporary-art-gallery-iraq-war |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events}}</ref> * study for a garden, Mount Stewart, Scotland (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Williamson |first=Beth |date=2022-09-27 |title=Abbas Akhavan |url=https://sculpturemagazine.art/abbas-akhavan/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=Sculpture |language=en-US}}</ref> * ''Variations on a Folly,'' Chisenhale Gallery, London (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abbas Akhavan: curtain call, variations on a folly - Announcements - e-flux |url=https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/406302/abbas-akhavancurtain-call-variations-on-a-folly/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=www.e-flux.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Frankel |first=Eddy |title=Review: Abbas Akhavan at Chisendale Gallery |url=https://www.timeout.com/london/art/abbas-akhavan-curtain-call-variations-on-a-folly |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=Time Out London |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cumming |first=Laura |date=2021-08-22 |title=Abbas Akhavan review – a poetic monument to folly |language=en-GB |work=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/aug/22/abbas-akhavan-chisenhale-gallery-london-curtain-call-variations-on-a-folly-review-palmyra-syria |access-date=2023-03-07 |issn=0029-7712}}</ref> * ''cast for a folly,'' CCA Wattis Institute (2019)<ref>{{Cite web |last=McFadden |first=Kegan |title=Abbas Akhavan |url=https://canadianart.ca/reviews/abbas-akhavan/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=Canadian Art |language=en-US}}</ref> * ''Variations on a Landscape'', Power Plant Gallery (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-07 |title=Abbas Akhavan "variations on a landscape" at The Power Plant, Toronto — Mousse Magazine and Publishing |url=https://www.moussemagazine.it/magazine/abbas-akhavan-variations-landscape-power-plant-toronto |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=www.moussemagazine.it |language=en-US}}</ref> * ''Variations on a Garden,'' Mercer Union, Toronto (2015)<ref name=":1" /> * ''Burning down the house,'' Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2014)<ref name=":4" /> * ''Variations on a Garden'', Galerie Mana, Istanbul (2013)<ref name=":4" /> * ''Study for a Glasshouse'', Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (2013) * ''Turkey Green House'', Western Front, Vancouver (2013)<ref name=":4" /> * ''Study for a Garden'', Delfina Foundation, London (2012)<ref name=":5" /> * ''Material Information'', Bergen Museum, Bergen, Norway (2012)<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|title = Exhibition in London: Abbas Akhavan's "Study for a Garden"|url = http://www.payvand.com/news/12/oct/1015.html|website = www.payvand.com|access-date = 2016-01-22}}</ref> * ''Tactics for Here & Now'', Bucharest Biennale, Bucharest (2012)<ref name=":4" /> * ''Tools for Conviviality'', Power Plant, Toronto (2012)<ref name=":4" /> * ''Beacon'', Darling Foundry, Montreal (2012)<ref name=":4" /> * ''Phantomhead'', Performa 11, New York (2011) <ref name=":4" /> * ''Seeing is Believing'', KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2011).<ref name=":4" /> * ''About painting'', ABC Art Berlin Contemporary, Berlin (2011).<ref name=":6" />
== References == {{Reflist|33em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhavan, Abbas}} Category:Canadian installation artists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Canadian sculptors Category:Canadian contemporary artists Category:Canadian video artists Category:Canadian performance artists Category:Artists from Toronto