With ›A Bug’s Life‹, Fluentum presents the Berlin-based artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany during Berlin Art Week 2026.
Do you have a daily ritual that gives you structure or inspiration?
Unfortunately, these past months have been too chaotic to have any other ritual than a chain of black coffee until I get overcaffeinated.
What would you do if time, money, and other resources were no object?
I would collect art.
Has there been a book that fundamentally changed your perspective—and why would you recommend it?
Don DeLillo’s ›White Noise‹ for its futuristic description of our present time. Also formally how he uses the reader’s inner voice against us in some moments, or how the typography of some words acts as holes in the surface of the pages… and of course the grand finale of the story for you to discover.
What do you wish you had known earlier?
The friends and colleagues whom I met these past years in Berlin.
Where do you recharge your batteries?
It used to be Tehran, but walking in the Alpilles mountains in the South of France, where Cézanne or Van Gogh used to spend their days, has become some sort of a consolation these past years. I think the geology is quite anachronistic and brings an otherworldly quality to the strolls you can take.
Is there a work of art you would love to have in your home?
I would build a viewing room and play on loop, one after the other, ›Apex‹ und ›Slowpex‹ by Arthur Jafa.
Which exhibition venue in Berlin inspires you?
The architecture of Haus am Waldsee and Schinkel Pavillon are so peculiar that each show has to answer the use of the space in its own specific way. I’m always curious to see how artists and curators approach this.
What fascinates you about Berlin?
How some neighborhoods can feel and be built so right, and how others can feel so wrong—sometimes in a good way, but many times in a disappointingly bad one. I would say the gap between the two can be hard to comprehend.
What’s one item you couldn’t live without?
My hair conditioner. I grew my hair around Covid and went through a lot of trial and error to find the right one. This was my version of not sending photos of bread to my friends during that time.
What keeps you going?
I was recently invited by Yalda Afsah and Dane Komjen to present my work to their students at Hamburg University of Fine Arts. After the presentation, I was a bit shocked that the word that kept popping up during the hour-long conversation, whether it was about ideas, technical things, or methods, was survival.
Which personality would you like to have a conversation with—and what would you talk about?
I would love to get back to my grandmother in Tehran at the moment and hear for the hundredth time her family lore about her mother: how she fled Russia at the turn of the 20th century for Iran. Supposedly they traveled by horse through the snow on a harsh winter… I am not sure how much of it is true but she tells it so well that I’m always a sucker for hearing it again.
What do you look forward to when your working day comes to an end?
Getting back to my partner and child in our flat. 🙂