Shahram Entekhabi

Shahram Entekhabi (1963) is an Iranian Artist living and working in London, Berlin and Tehran. He is active in the fields of video art, photography, painting, drawings, installation, performance art and community art.
Iranian-born artist and architect whose work has been the subject of many exhibitions all over the world, currently living and working across London, Berlin and Tehran. Shahram’s practice is framed within an urban setting and diffuses the idea of the urban space being a reserve for the practice and performance of the white, middle class, heterosexual male. He explores these ideas via a variety practices using architecture, installation and digital media. He 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 the communities from the Middle East and its diaspora. The question of visibility and invisibility therefore is a theme he recurrently explores within his practice.

He studied graphic-design at the University of Teheran, Iran in and studied architecture, urbanism, and Italian language in Perugia and Reggio Calabria, Italy. Works as independent architect on residential projects and competitions. Currently active in the fields of video art, photography, painting, drawings, installation, performance and community art. He received a 2004 fellowship at the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland/OH, USA. 2007 Live Art UK Touring Commission R&D (Research and Development grants).
• 2007 Live Art UK Touring Commission R&D (Research and Development) grant.

2006
- Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow / PL
- 'M.', Galerie Urs Meile, Lucerne / CH
- "something in common", Galerie Anita Beckers,
Frankfurt / D

2005
- "KILID", former GDR *watchtower at Schlesischer Busch, Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben e.V., Berlin / D
- "Glub", Hopkins Hall Gallery, OSU College of the Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH / USA
- "Glub Installation", Mershon Center and art , The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH / USA
- "Migratory Aesthetics", University Theatre of the University of Amsterdam / NL

2004
- "GLUB", Case Art Studio Gallery, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH / USA (catalogue)
- " i? ", PLAY_gallery for still and motion pictures,
Berlin / D

Group Shows

Selected Exhibitions 2007
- Optica, International Festival of Video Art — GIjón-Asturias, Spain
- AMAL 007, "From Middle East with Love", curator Kaled Ramadan, Santiago de Compostella, Spain
- Modern Mahrem: Islamic Veiling and Secular Imaginaries , curators Emre Baykal & Nilufer Gole — santralistanbul, Istanbul - Turkey
- Bare Life, curator Raphie Etgar — Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel
- Comm' é amaro stu ppane — Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgium
- 100 Tage = 100 Videos, GL Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 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
- 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
- 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
- ART RADIO LIVE, PAN | Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Italy
- "e-flux Video Rental", Centre culturel suisse, Paris
- 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
2006
- Krieg der Knöpfe "War of the Buttons" — Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal-Unteröwisheim, Germany
- This Land Is My Land (II/ Berlin) — Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin
- Busan Biennale - Busan Museum of Modern Art, Busan Yachting Center, Korea.
GLUB Installation and Film screening — Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar, Germany
- Appendix3a cooperative video and multimedia project by Automata and globalscreen.org, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
- 100 TAGE 100 VIDEOS — Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Germany.
- Auflösung III - Realismusstudio — Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin.
- “Nouvelles Collections” (Collection Jürg + Ruth Nyffeler), Centre PasquArt Kunsthaus / Centre d’art, Biel, Bienne / CH
- “Almost Art”, curator Osvaldo Romberg, Slought Foundation, Philadelphia / USA
- “Urban Creatures”, curator Dorothee Beinert, Pori Art Museum, Pori / FIN
- Exhibition within the context of “Magmart Festival, video under volcano”, Casoria International Contemporary Art Museum, Naples / I
- "Portraits - the view behind the make-up", Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt / D
- "This Land Is My Land", Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin / D
- "berlintendenzen", La Capella, Barcelona / E
- "voiler - dévoiler" / hüllen - enthüllen, Villa du Parc, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Annemasse / F
- "This Land Is My Land", Kunsthalle Nürnberg / D
- dLux Media Arts international, Sydney Opera House, Sydney / AUS
- Festival International de Film et Video de Creation
Cinema Empire Sofil, Achrafieh, Beirut / Lebanon

2005
- Exhibition of the 10 winning videos of the festival “FIAV.05”, Metrónom, Barcelona / E
- Modell "Verpaßte Gelegenheit"-Symptome der Überforderung, curator Sabine Winkler, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam / D
- “Lido" Im Rahmen von "Der neue Orient", curators von Anny und Sibel Öztürk ' Kunsthalle Düsseldorf / D
- In the Shadow of "Heroes", curators Murat bek and Sara Rasa 'ArtEasT' Social organization, Bishkek / Kyrgyzstan (catalogue)
- „real representation / representing the real“, curator Ulrike Kremeier ,Arena/Glashaus, Berlin / D
- "Beograd naked I sad", Curator Marko Stamenkovic, Prodanjna Galerija, Beograd / Serbia & Montenegro (catalogue)
- “Come fly with me”, online-video-exhibition, on www.tank.tv, London / GB
- “Memento Mori” on behalves of „Kulturland Brandenburg 2005“, Atelierhaus Panzerhalle Groß-Glienicke / D (catalogue)
- "Bologna Flash Art Show", Sofitel hotel, Bologna / I (catalogue)
- "Labyrinth X - zu Rassismus und Ausgrenzung", traveling exhibition in: Stadthalle Ludwigslust, Hagenow, Boizenburg, Dönitz, Wismar, Schwerin / D (newspaper)

2004
- "Entfernte Nähe. Neue Positionen Iranischer Kunst", Curator Rose Issa, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin / D (catalogue)
- "Not in the sky and not on the earth", Curator Emil Aleksiev, Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje / Macedonia (catalogue)
- "Schizorama", Curator Antje Weitzel, National Center for Contemporary Art/NCCA, Moscow / RUS
- "Louise Bourgeois", Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin / IRL - "La Sage-femme y Spiral Woman", Sala Municipal de Exposiciones del Museo de Pasió, Valadolid / E(catalogue)
- "just pLAy", Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles / USA
- “Las formas de la Nada: Imágenes de la ausencia en el mundo contemporámeo”, conference, CENDEAC, Murcia / E
- “The Aesthetics of Everyday Life” by Tim Beal, on the occasion of the seminar “Home, Homelands and Security”, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH / USA
- “The Aesthetics of Everyday Life”, Concordia University, Montreal, CDN
- “Food, Form and Visibility: The Aesthetics of Everyday Life”, at “Vision and Rationality” Graduate Program Abroad, Temple University, Rome / I

2003
- "seat", Permanent installation of the sculpture , in the lounge of the Video-Forum at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin / D (Seat installation)
- "The 2nd International Kansk Video Festival", Kansk / RUS
- "Fair Play. Video contest", PLAY_gallery for still and motion pictures, Berlin / D
- "models + frames 8: Überlebensstrategien für Untrainierte - The Winners Takes It All...", Curator Sabine Winkler, Kunst- und Medienzentrum Adlershof/KMZA, Berlin / D

2002
- "The 1st International Kansk Video Festival",
Kansk / RUS
- "Evolutionäre Zellen" of the group "finger", Neue Gesellschaft für Bildene Kunst, Berlin / D
- "Bush Videonight", open space, Berlin-Kreuzberg / D
- “Pop-Sound_video”, Städtisches Museum Zwickau / D
- “Stardust Deluxe. Kunstaktionen zur Popkultur”, curators Kathrin Becker & Antje Weitzel. Lisa Lounge / Villa Elisabeth, Berlin / D


Selected Video Screenings

2005
- "Panorámica", Videoarte contemporáneo de Berlín, Curator Kathrin Becker, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City / MEX
- "irgendwoanders. Screening ", International video-artist on Migration , a7.exhibition hosted by cultura,
Hildesheim / D
- "Visiting Artist, works presentation", Universität der Künste Berlin UDK, Berlin / D
- "What? me? a racist?", URZULA 6, Curator Gab.Heller, aktuelle Videokunst in der Galerie Pankow, Berlin / D
- "Do artists need to maintain sovereignty over interpretation?" Discussion in the Projektraum of the Deutscher Kuenstlerbund, Berlin / D
- "e-flux video rental", a project by Anton Vidokle & Julieta Aranda , KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e.V. KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin / D
- "GLUB and the Aesthetics of Everyday Life", Andrew D. Mellon, Durham, NC, Duke University, Franklin Center for the Humanities
- "Walled Souls"/"Circa Berlin"by Kathrin Becker and Simon Sheikh , Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen / DK (catalogue)
- "Elektronenstroeme. Real fictions und inszenierte Realitaeten im Video" by Katja Albers, Kunstmuseum
Bonn / D
- "Iranian Artist Returns with Shahram Entekhabi" , The Iranian Cultural Association of Greater Columbus, OH / USA
- "Visiting Artis, screen five of recent video productions" by Shahram Entekhabi, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH / USA
- "Humanities Week, Visiting Artist Shahram Entekhabi", Baker-Nord Center For the Humanities, Cleveland, OH / USA
- "I LOVE ART VIDÉO - 6ème édition" by Karine Vonna, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg / F

2004
- "Las formas de la Nada: Imágenes de la ausencia en el mundo contemporáneo" conference, CENDEAC, Murcia / E
- "The Aesthetics of Everyday Life" by Tim Beal, on the occasion of the seminar "Home, Homelands and Security", Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH / USA
- "The Aesthetics of Everyday Life", Concordia University, Montreal / CDN
- "Food, Form and Visibility: The Aesthetics of Everyday Life", Keynote lecture by Mieke Bal at "Vision and Rationality" Graduate Program Abroad, Temple University, Rome / I

2003
- "Different views in and out of Berlin" by Caroline Lund on the occassion of the project "In-between countries", Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte, Berlin / D
- "Einige Bemerkungen über den Nutzen wissenschaftlicher und methodologischer Filme" by Olga Egorova (St. Petersburg), Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin / D

2002
- "Pop-Sound-Video", Städtisches Museum Zwickau / D
- "Stardust Deluxe. Kunstaktionen zur Popkultur" by Kathrin Becker and Antje Weitzel, Lisa Lounge/Villa Elisabeth, Berlin / D

Video trilogy "Dead Satellites" 2007

A community is a cluster of individuals attached or linked by a unity of purpose. This unity we call a centre. Generally, at the starting point of each centre is a need to develop a new survival strategy, the need for innovation in an old, dated and fundamentalist environment. Previous centres are no longer relevant to the community needs; individuals for the most part fell disappointed and disadvantaged, disillusioned and misunderstood.

Thus a created void faces the urgency to establish a new centre point so to fulfill the newly created requirements. This is the birth of a new centre. At the same time, not every centre or a new survival recipe is capable of linking the members strongly enough, so it can establish itself as such. The closer the members are connected to the centre, the stronger the centre becomes. Since the power of the centre and collective fixation of its surrounding members are so dominant, autonomy of a single member is only possible when he/she moves away from the centre.Small communities, e.g. family units, are catapulted from the “ developing countries” and into the Economic Metropolis. We call a country of origin an “A-Centre” and the destination a “B-Centre”. As a result of post globalization and Market Imperialism, in all of the A-Centres, cultural rules and related social aspects are forced to change as a reaction, a response to the political, social, economical, and human issues in both private and public spheres.


At times, after reaching their new destination, some, even very small units develop into some kind of isolated cells. For the sake of the point we are making, it is probably better to say that they are in fact not developing but degenerating! They are neither any longer aware of the changes in their respective A-Centres - their former homelands, nor can they connect to a new situation in the B-Centres. They become what’s called the
“ dead satellites”: They insist on maintaining their inherent values safe and sound and to protect them from every intrusion by the West. Even if and when they adopt certain aspects from the B-Centre, deep inside they remain intransigent. They are stuck in a hybrid, in-between, or neither-nor status – related, though remotely to the idea about a centre which no longer exists, which may have never existed. There is no more life, movement, self-development for or inside of them – they become Dead Satellites.



Shahram Entekhabi 2007

Gallery of Contemporary Art BUNKIER SZTUKI, Krakow, Poland

Villa du Parc ( centre d’art contemporain) , Annemasse, France

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), Video-Forum, Berlin Germany

Edition 5, Erstfeld Switzerland

Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin Germany

tank.tv London. UK

The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities. Cleveland Ohio, USA

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Macedonia
private,Switzerland

shahram entekhabi , selected exhibitions , selected video screenings
Shahram Entekhabi (Artist living and working in London and Berlin), Born 1963 in Boroujerd, Iran
• 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 residential projects and competitions.
• 2001 (current) active in the fields of video art, photography, painting, drawings, installation, performance and community art.
• 2004 exhibition architecture and exhibition designer of “Entfernte Nähe. Neue Positionen Iranischer Kunst”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (catalogue).
• 2004 fellowship at the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland/OH, USA.
• 2006 Curator’s Choice architectural exhibition solutions company established with Swiss architect Philipp Von Matt.
• 2007 Live Art UK Touring Commission R&D (Research and Development) grant.

http://www.galerie-beckers.de/
http://transkultura.bunkier.com.pl/en/?p=10&i=27
http://www.edition5.org/files/objects.htm
http://www.tank.tv/
http://www.nbk.org/Video/tapelisteE.html