Arash Nassiri

Fundació Suñol and Han Nefkens Foundation present at Nivell Zero a solo show by Arash Nassiri (Tehran, 1986) featuring different video displays that refer to the entertainment industry techniques. The subject of the show is inspired by events that use light for entertainment.

The exhibition includes the screening of Tehran-geles, a fictional vision of Tehran, set within the urban landscape of Los Angeles. Through an aerial journey, we discover an architectural transposition of the two cities. While flying over the boulevards of L.A., personal migrant testimonies echo the collective story of the Iranian capital. Downtown, the buildings are saturated with neon signs pulsating with voices that take us on a hallucinatory trip. 

Parallel to the science fiction genre, where the present is projected into the future, this short film projects the past of Tehran onto the Western present. The production of this short film generates an audiovisual migration, where aerial shots of Los Angeles merge with videos filmed in Tehran and later transported by plane, as well as interviews recorded via Skype from different cities around the world.

Coming days is a series of screens display the reflections of neon on buildings using the old theater technique of holography. Here the effects are created live, on site. Two screens and a glass panel are used to project the image of neon signs onto Los Angeles buildings. This installation reproduces the superposition of signs from Tehran on top of the Los Angeles cityscape.

In the courtyard, three LED panels built and attached to the foundation architecture display animations of fireworks and light shows. The animation used was sourced from shops that use obsolete video animation for the backgrounds of store advertising. Designed to catch peoples’ eye while walking or driving, these animations are shown without any accompanying messages.

The exhibition is part of the 2016 Loop Festival.

Born in 1986 in Tehran, Arash Nassiri works and lives in Paris. He graduated from the National School of Arts (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts-Décoratifs de Paris) in 2012, he also graduated from Le Fresnoy, National Studio of Contemporary Arts in 2014. During his curriculum he also followed the National School of Fine Arts (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris) in 2007 and the University of the Arts of Berlin where he lived in 2010.

He showcased his work in France and abroad during various exhibitions, such as at the Biennale de Lyon in 2015, the Panorama exhibitions in 2013 and 2014, and the Venice Architecture Biennale in the exhibition From the object to the city organized by the National School of Arts in 2010. In July 2014, his work was featured in the cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles.

Arash Nassiri also benefited from prizes like the Grand Prize of video art of Cote Court Pantin 2014 and the Prize Studio Collector.