Shahram Entekhabi is an Iranian-born conceptual artist, curator and architect whose work has been the subject of many exhibitions all over the world, currently living and working across Iran, Europe (Berlin). Framed within an urban setting, Shahram’s practice diffuses the idea of the urban space being a reserve for the practice and performance of the white, middle class, hetro-sexual male. He explores these ideas via a variety of performative practices using architecture, installation and digital media.
Shahram explores society’s prejudices and suspicion of ‘the Other’ by visualizing fear and paranoia and the stereotypes constructed about ‘the Other’ owing to colour, religion or ethnicity; as well as how people participate in the ghettoization of the minority through perception, politics, propaganda and control. Hence, Shahram 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 communities from the Middle East and its diaspora. The question of visibility and invisibility is therefore a theme he recurrently explores within his practice.
Shahram also engages in Parasite Architecture, which questions aspects of social communication while deconstructing notions of public space and its ownership. Focusing the aspect of the transient within the idea of the informal, Parasite Architecture examines themes of migration and cultural diversity. Hence, in many places around the world, Shahram creates informal extensions to existing architectures (e.g. museum architectures) or constructs independent temporary spaces. These informal architectures are always constructed in public space (as part of the Caution performances that are documented on video available on the artist’s website) and they are always made from caution tape - suggesting ideas about safety zones and no-go areas and indicating aspects of exclusivity and inclusivity in the public space. These works deal with the concepts of performance and public space and time.
Born in Beroujerd, Iran, lives and works in Berlin , Studied graphic-design at the University of Teheran, Iran , Studied architecture, urbanism, and Italian language in Perugia and Reggio Calabria, Italy