Correspondences
Abbas Akhavan – 2011
“Much of [Correspondences] explores the relationship between the house and nation state, and how the trauma and systemic violence enacted upon civilians can be inherited and re-enacted within the family lineage – the home becoming a forked space between hospitality and hostility.”
Correspondences is an exhibition of select works by the artist Abbas Akhavan. For the past five years, the domestic sphere has been an ongoing area of research in Akhavan’s work. Much of it explores the relationship between the house and nation state, and how the trauma and systemic violence enacted upon civilians can be inherited and re-enacted within the family lineage – the home becoming a forked space between hospitality and hostility. Correspondences is a work produced during a residency undertaken by the artist at a conflict resolution firm in Vancouver. It offers a précis to the exhibition which proposes that modes of transmission and communication can also be the means of destruction and annihilation.
About the Artist
Abbas Akhavan—
Abbas Akhavan was born in Tehran, and currently lives and works in Toronto. His practice ranges from site specific ephemeral installations to drawing, video and performance. His recent works have focused on spaces just outside the home – the garden, the backyard, and other domesticated landscapes.
Akhavan’s work has been exhibited in galleries such as Vancouver Art Gallery and Artspeak (Canada), Kunsten Museum of Modern Art (Denmark), Le Printemps de septembre a Toulouse (France), Botkryka Konsthall (Sweden), The Third Line (Dubai, UAE) and KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Germany). Recent residencies include Foundation Marcelino Botin with Mona Hatoum (Spain), Axenéo7 and Video In (Canada), The Delfina Foundation (Dubai) and The Watermill Center (USA). Currently Akhavan is preparing for a group show at ABC Berlin Contemporary (Germany) and Belvedere Museum (Austria), with upcoming solo exhibitions at Artspeak, Peel art gallery, The Darling Foundry (Canada) and a project for Performa 11 biennial (USA). Abbas Akhavan is represented by The Third Line Dubai, UAE.