Neda Saeedi

How can the consequences of modernisation and industrialisation on the environment and society be understood and translated sculpturally and spatially? How can certain experiences be articulated through the perspective of different groups? What words/language should we use? How can “hi-story“ transform and translate into the material and form?

My artistic research and practice evolve around long-term research, and the production of a series of installation works. I make installations that invite spectators into spatial experiences. These spaces are information translated into material and form. Their architectural design can be understood as narration. My theoretical research is never confined to one field of study; it goes from chemistry to history, sociology, or theology.

The formal and aesthetic focus of my ongoing exploration of questions mentioned above is the correlations between human beings, urban planning, architecture, and the environment: the value, materiality, power, and property of the body (human and nonhuman) concerning urban and development projects. Here the consequences of modernisation and industrialisation around the theme of land, construction, reconstruction, and deconstruction of places, areas, and the environment are examined and translated into formal/sculptural form. In my artistic practice, I aim to tell the hi-stories through objects and materials and their spatial arrangement. I am interested in historiography and the story-telling through sculptural and installation form and their materiality. In my practice, the identity of a material is of equal importance to the physical form it takes, to the extent that my choice of material becomes the content of my work.

My long-term project over the past several years has been devoted to exploring the notion of the garden _its socio-political and theological history and connotations_ the practice of segregation, demarcation, and evaluation. My focus has been on the procedure of gardens/gardening, where it juxtaposes possession/governing, accessibility/depriving ownership/dispossession.

Solo exhibitions
2025
-Es ist nicht malerisch, die Sonne im Meer ertrinken lassen, Bavan Gallery, Tehran
-Monument of oblivion, Kunst in öffentliche Raum, Klosterruine Berlin
2024

-In fire yet we trust,, Taxispalais, Kunsthalle Tirol, kuratiert von Nina Tabassomi, Innsbruck, Österreich
-Whispers across Horizons
Kunst am Bau, private Sammlung, Podere Trafonti, Toskana, Italien
-At the depth of the night, sky sees the sun
Permanent Kunst im öffentliche Raum, League Square, Prizren, Kosovo
2021
-Two Shades of Green, Einzelausstellung, Argo Factory/Pejman Foundation, Teheran, Iran
2019
-Garden of Eden Moving; Petrified Tribe, Einzelausstellung, Dastan Gallery, Teheran, Iran
Group exhibitions
2025
-Methodes of translucent, Berlinale Forum-expanded, Beton Halle, Berlin
-Caught in a Landslide, KINDL Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin
- A pathway, Zafi Gallery, Dubai
2024
-Beyond, kuratiert von Pauline Doutreluingne und Johannes Teiser, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Deutschland
-Painted Matters II, kuratiert von Pauline Doutreluingne, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Deutschland
-Greater than sums of our parts, kuratiert von Elana Aguidi und Mistura Alison, After the butcher, Berlin, Deutschland
2023

-Autostrada Biennial, kuratiert von Joanna Warsza und Övül Ö. Durmusoglu, Kosovo
-AWARE, kuratiert von Chloé Bonnie More und Morad Montazami, Villa Vassilieff, Paris, Frankreich
-Simorgh, kuratiert von Basak Senova, Crone Gallery, Berlin, Deutschland
-Jahresgaben, Kunstverein Arnsberg, kuratiert von Pauline Doutreluingne, Deutschland
2022

-Liste Art Basel, Special Guest Section, vertreten durch Pejman Foundation, Basel, Schweiz
-Villa Romana, architektonische intervention, Florenz, Italien
-5. Mardin Biennale, kuratiert von Adwait Singh, Mardin, Türkei
-Fragments from Now, Kunsthaus Dresden, kuratiert von Annelie Pohlen und Beate Echstein, Deutschland
-After Cinema, in Zusammenarbeit mit Setareh Shahbazi, Lumbung films, Documenta 15, kuratiert von Azin Feizabadi, Kassel, Deutschland
-Calm before storm, Radius CCA, Delft, kuratiert von Niekolaas Lekkerkerk, Niederlande
2021
-Witches, Taxi-Palais Kunsthalle Tirol, kuratiert von Nina Tabassomi, Innsbruck, Österreich
-State and Nature, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, kuratiert von Cagla Ilk und Adnan Misal Yildiz, Deutschland
2020

-Memories from Now, Art Perspectives, Künstlerhaus Tacheles, Berlin, Deutschland
-New viewing, Barbara Thumm Gallery, kuratiert von Övül Ö. Durmusoglu, Berlin, Deutschland
-Für ein besseres Morgen, Bonner Bundeskunsthalle, kuratiert von Annelie Pohlen, Bonn, Deutschland
-A year without the Southern Sun, Hua International Gallery, kuratiert von Justin Polera, Berlin, Deutschland
2019

-Fragments from Now, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Deutschland
-Deadly Affairs; Environmental injustice through toxic trades, Extra City, kuratiert von Antonia Alampi, Antwerpen, Belgien
-The Long Term You Cannot Afford; On Distribution of The Toxic, kuratiert von Antonia Alampi, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, Deutschland
2018

-Lulea Biennial 2018, kuratiert von Asrin Haidary und Emily Fahlen, Luleå, Schweden
-Jurried Exhibition, Finalist des MOP CONTEMPORARY ART PRIZE, Bonhams, London, Großbritannien
-Whose land have I lit on now?, SAVVY Contemporary, kuratiert von Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung und Elena Agudio, Berlin, Deutschland
2017

-Floating Points, Raum für drastische Maßnahme, Berlin, Deutschland
-Thesis Exhibition, Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK), Berlin, Deutschland
2016

-A Heritage Transposed, Box Freiraum, kuratiert von Anahita von Plotho, Berlin, Deutschland
-New-Self-Portrait-Paradox, Ludlow38, kuratiert von Nina Tabassomi, New York, USA
-Attitudes, Bonner Bundeskunsthalle, kuratiert von Marcel Odenbach, Bonn, Deutschland
2015

-Attitudes, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Deutschland
-On Projection, Kühlhaus, Berlin, Deutschland
-20th Internationales Bremer Symposium zum Film, Die Zukunft ist jetzt, Bremen, Deutschland
2014

-Die nächste Generation V, Folkwang Museum, Essen, Deutschland
-Kombi II, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Deutschland
2013
Asias Info-Bomb, South Asian Visual Art Center (SAVAC), Toronto, Canada
Studio for Artistic Research, Düsseldorf, Germany
2012
Global Revolutions / Local Contradictions, Mindpirates Projektraum, curated by Pauline
Doutreluingne, Azin Feizabadi, Nine Yamamoto-Masson, Berlin, Germany
2011
Sharjah Biennale, in collaboration with Raffie Davtian, Curated by Suzanne Cotter and
Rasha Salti, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2025 artist residency, ISCP New York, Berlin senat
2024 Arbeitsstipendium, Berlin Senat
2023 Artist residency, Podere Trafonti, Italy
2022 Max Plank Institut, Kunsthistorische Institute in Florenz, Italy
2022 Vila Romana Prize, Florence, Italy
2022 Artistic Research Grant, Berliner Senat
2020 Arbeitsstipendium, Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn
2019 Artist residency, Delfina foundation, London, UK
2018-19 NaföG, Elsa-Neumann-Stipendium des Landes Berlin
2018 Artist Residency, Resurscentrum för konst (ArtNorth), Norbotten, Sweden
2018 Artistic Research Grant, Berliner Senat
BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
2024
Neda Saeedi Whispers, Monografie, veröffentlicht von Mousse Publishing
2024
Only birds who fly the highest can shatter the windows, veröffentlicht von Archivebooks & Villa Romana e.V
2021
Return to Neverland, veröffentlicht von Pejman Foundation