How to run an art space in Iran

A conversation between Lara Khalidi, Sohrab Kashani, and Denisse Vega de Santiago reflected on embodied forms of archiving and the emotional residue left in and around institutions. Revisiting the 2014 exhibition Father Can’t You See I’m Burning? (de Appel Curatorial Programme, 2013–2014), co-curated by Khalidi during her time at de Appel, the discussion moved across time and geography, from de Appel to contemporary practices in Mexico City and Tehran. Together, the speakers explored how memory, care, and absence were held, echoed, or transformed through engagements with space, institutions, and personal histories. The conversation was moderated by Denisse Vega de Santiago.

A quiet intervention by Sohrab Kashani within de Appel’s library, where a slideshow of bookshelves from a now-closed art space in Tehran was projected onto the library shelves, layering one archive onto another and tracing what remained, what was lost, and what resisted disappearance.

An evening of presentation and video screening examined alternative forms of space-making through the practices of Sazmanab and Rabt, two artist-run initiatives rooted in Iran, focusing on the often invisible labor, strategies, and collective infrastructures that sustain such spaces. Presented by Sohrab Kashani, the program combined a talk reflecting on the histories, curatorial approaches, and organizational challenges of these platforms with a screening of video works by Iranian artists from Iran and the diaspora, curated from the Sazmanab Video Library. Alongside the event, selected publications and materials from the Sazmanab Digital Archive were made accessible at Casco’s library in dialogue with the exhibition Hidden Arts: What do we make when no one sees us.

Sazmanab Virtual Museum has just launched and can be accessed via sazmanab.org/virtual. Sazmanab Virtual Museum is a virtual museum accessible through web browsers and virtual reality devices, enabling access to Sazmanab’s past programming across its different venues.

Sohrab Kashani took part in Friday Forum: Contemporary Art from Iran, a day-long forum held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and inspired by the Epic Iran exhibition. The forum focused on contemporary art and cultural practices from Iran, with sessions examining oil and its legacies, urban space as a site of creativity, and digital platforms for international collaboration, bringing together artists, curators, and researchers based in Iran and across the diaspora.

Sohrab Kashani took part in The Superhero Summit at the Centre Pompidou in 2019, organised by Kadist. As part of the programme, he gave a talk reflecting on Sazmanab’s latest edition, Sazmanab ⧚ Water Dept. and The Other Apartment.

Sazmanab took part in Grand Tour d’Italia 2019 as a featured international curatorial platform based in Tehran. The project positioned Sazmanab within a network of ten international institutions engaging with thirty Italian artists, highlighting its long-term role in supporting artistic practice through exhibitions, residencies, and public programmes, and in fostering cultural exchange across borders. Grand Tour d’Italia 2019 was promoted by DG Contemporary Creativity and Urban Regeneration of MiBACT and curated by NOS, and included studio visits and programme activities in Italy, notably at MAMbo Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna and the Accademia di Belle Arti L’Aquila.

A panel discussion on artist residencies and artistic mobility brought together Maryam Bagheri (Kooshk Residency), Ceemin Golshan (Aria Residency), Samira Hashemi (Va space), and Sohrab Kashani (Sazmanab, Pejman Foundation: Kandovan), moderated by Ashkan Zahrai. The conversation addressed the role of residencies in shaping artistic practice, focusing on mobility, exchange, and the conditions that enable sustained artistic development.

A panel discussion on independent artist-run spaces in Tehran brought together Amirali Ghasemi (Parkingallery, New Media Society), Sohrab Kashani (Sazmanab), and Sadra Wejdani (BonGah), moderated by Ashkan Zahrai. The conversation focused on the role and significance of non-profit, artist-led initiatives in Tehran, with each participant presenting their own space and practice while reflecting on sustainability, autonomy, and the challenges of working outside institutional frameworks.

Sohrab Kashani took part in the IRAN 101 seminar: Contemporary Iranian Art and Culture in 2018, contributing to a talk and panel discussion on alternative art scenes and platforms at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). The session focused on artist-run initiatives, independent infrastructures, and modes of self-organization within contemporary Iranian art.

Sazmanab at Electric Room is an archival installation that revisits ten years of Sazmanab through objects, publications, and fragmented video documentation, unfolding a non-linear portrait of the platform’s history and presence.

Sohrab Kashani took part in a panel and presentation at the Digital Art Center Taipei in 2018, focusing on Sazmanab’s use of digital infrastructures and new media within the contexts of West Asia and South Asia.

Sohrab Kashani spoke at Taiwan Annual 2018, presenting perspectives drawn from artistic, curatorial, and artist-run practices developed through Sazmanab and related projects. The talk reflected on alternative models of organizing, archiving, and collaboration, addressing how artistic practices respond to shifting political, social, and institutional conditions while creating spaces for exchange, experimentation, and collective knowledge production.

Sohrab Kashani took part in Understanding the Codes, a workshop at BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels focused on setting up artistic collaboration between Europe, Iran, and Armenia. Organised by Flanders Arts Institute, Mondriaan Fonds, and BOZAR, the workshop explored practical, cultural, and structural frameworks for transnational collaboration, addressing questions of access, translation, and working across different institutional and political contexts.

Sohrab Kashani presented Sazmanab at Nest in The Hague as part of the Mondriaan Fonds’ first Visitors programme. The presentation reflected on Sazmanab as an artist-run platform, focusing on its curatorial approaches, international exchanges, and the role of alternative infrastructures in sustaining artistic practice across different political and geographic contexts.

Sohrab Kashani took part in the Res Artis Conference in Tehran in 2016, speaking on the panel Funding the Field, held at Mohsen Gallery. The panel brought together speakers from organisations in the region and abroad to discuss support structures for artist residencies, available funding opportunities, and the tools and guides accessible to the field. The discussion also addressed barriers and challenges in creating truly reciprocal and collaborative funding approaches. Alongside Kashani, the panel included Jaïme-Faye Bean (ArteEast, US), Angie Cotte (Roberto Cimetta Fund, France), Marie Le Sourd (On the Move, Belgium), and Philipp Dietachmair (European Cultural Foundation, Austria).

Sohrab Kashani delivered a lecture at Stanford University reflecting on alternative art spaces and practices in Iran, with a focus on Sazmanab’s methodologies, infrastructures, and forms of collective work. The lecture was introduced by Dr. Abbas Milani and Ala Ebtekar and was sponsored by the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University as part of the Art, Social Space and Public Discourse initiative.

Sohrab Kashani gave a talk at Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco, organised by Et al. The presentation focused on Sazmanab and its approaches to alternative space-making, international exchange, and sustaining artist-run initiatives across different political and geographic contexts.

Sohrab Kashani gave a lecture at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), reflecting on Sazmanab and broader questions around alternative art spaces, artistic practice, and cultural production in Iran. The lecture was organised by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies at UCI.

YARAT Contemporary Art Centre hosted a talk by Sohrab Kashani titled Sazmanab: Establishing a Link With the Outside, in which Kashani reflected on the development of Sazmanab as a not-for-profit art space in Tehran. The talk focused on Sazmanab’s programming over the years, with particular attention to its international collaborations and residency programs, tracing how the space built sustained relationships with institutions, museums, galleries, and curators beyond Iran since its founding in 2008.