Abbas Zahedi

Abbas Zahedi (b. 1984, London, UK) blends contemporary philosophy, poetics, and social dynamics with performative and new-media modes. With an emphasis on how personal and collective histories interweave, Abbas makes connections whenever possible with people involved in the particular situations upon which he focuses.

Education. Abbas studied medicine at University College London, before completing his MA in Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins in 2019.

Selected exhibitions. Air de repos (Breathwork), Capc Museum of Contemporary Art Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (2024-25); A time when the dogs barked every night, Woonhuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2024); Display, Ehrlich Steinberg, LA, USA (2024); Echopraxia, anonymous gallery, Mexico (2024); shifting the silence, GIANNI MANHATTAN, Vienna, Austria (2023); Holding Space, Hauser & Wirth, London, UK (2023); Holding a Heart in Artifice, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK (2023); Divided Selves, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK (2023); Horror in the Modernist Block, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2022-23); Waiting With {Sonic Support}, Frieze Art Fair London, London, UK (2022); LOADING LOADING (the inertia of practice), CAPC, contemporary art museum of Bordeaux, France (2022-23); Metatopia 10013, Anonymous Gallery, New York (2022); The London Open 2022, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2022); Beuys Open Source, Belmacz, London, UK (2021-2022); Testament, Goldsmiths CCA, London, UK (2022); Temporary Compositions, Gallery 31 Somerset House, London, UK (2021); Yarmonics 2021, Great Yarmoth, UK (2021); D.E.VALUATION, Mécènes du Sud, Montpellier, France (2021); 11 & 1, Belmacz, London, UK (2021); Governmental Fires, FUTURA, Prague (2021); In Hindsight…, Bladr, Copenhagen, Denmark (2020); Ouranophobia SW3, Chelsea Sorting Office, London, UK (2020);  How To Make A How From A Why?, Fire Station, South London Gallery, London, UK (2020); B, Belmacz, London, UK (2019); Degree Show, Central Saint Martins, London, UK (2019); The Age of New Babylon, Lethaby Gallery, London, UK (2018); Diaspora Pavilion, (ICF), Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK (2018); appetite, Apiary Studios, London, UK (2018); Diaspora Pavilion, (ICF), Palazzo Pisani a Santa Marina, Venice, Italy (2017);rb&hArts, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK (2008).

Selected interventions, projects and performances. NOCTURN [3]: it’s your turn to be, 17 Little Portland Street, London, UK (2024); Para-Phrase, Pushkin House, London, UK (2024); Always Coming Home, Matt’s Gallery, London, UK (2024); The Drop Out: Tell Them I Said No, E-WERK Luckenwalde, Luckenwalde, Germany (2024); CRISIS, Bold Tendencies, London, UK (2023); Sonic Signals, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK (2022-2023); Age of Many Posts, Barbican, London (2022); Frieze Artist Award commission, London, (2022); Sonic Support Group, with Neurofringe (2020 – ongoing); Radio Amnion, Technical University of Munich (2021); Becontree Forever, Create London (2021); Brick Lane Foundation, Whitechapel Gallery (2021); A Case of Med(dling)tation, Performance Exchange at Belmacz (2021); To The Sour Sowers, The Mosaic Rooms, London (2021); The Urgency of The Arts Assembly, Royal College of Art (2021); Soul Refresher, Brent Biennial, London Borough of Culture (2020); Long Table: Lament, South London Gallery (2020); AMRA, Spike Island, Bristol (2019); Rose & STEMM, Guest Projects, London (2019); Outset Grant Ceremony, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2019); The Boulevard, Tate Britain, London (2018); Studio Jum’ah, Tate Exchange, London (2018); #FakeBooze, Diaspora Pavilion, Venice (2017).

Awards. Abbas has been the recipient of numerous awards including, the 2024-25 Stanley Picker Fellowship, the Frieze Artist Award (2022); the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists (2021); the Serpentine Galleries’ Support Structures for Support Structures (2021); Artangel, Thinking Time (2020); Jerwood Arts Bursary (2019); Aziz Foundation Academic Scholarship (2018); and Khadijah Saye Memorial Fund Scholarship (2017).

Abbas is an associate lecturer at the Royal College of Art (London), as well as teaching at universities across the UK and abroad.