A conversation between Eva Wilson and the 2022 Frieze Artist Award Abbas Zahedi, around the core concepts of "translation and transplantation".
What happens when we think of the space of art as a living body? Abbas Zahedi became an artist by way of a medical education, a philosophy symposium in a chip shop, community organising, and "Dissociative Realism", as described in an essay by Arsalan Isa. With Eva Wilson, Zahedi explores translation and transplantation as frameworks that allow us to understand ourselves in relation to others—as life-support systems to counter the erosion of identity through trauma.
“ ” (Quotation Marks) is a book series edited by Adam Gibbons and Eva Wilson that looks at the forms and roles of publishing as and within artists' practices. “ ” hosts conversations with artists who work at the intersection of publishing and exhibition-making: through circulation, dissemination, spamming, dispersion, print, data, language, infection, fashion, networks, disturbance, myth, parasiting, and infiltration.
Abbas Zahedi (born 1984 in London) studied medicine at University College London, before completing his MA in Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins in 2019.
Abbas Zahedi's interdisciplinary practice blends contemporary philosophy, poetics, and social dynamics with sound, sculpture, and other performative media. With an emphasis on how personal and collective histories interweave, Zahedi makes connections whenever possible with those around, in proximity to, or involved with the particular situations upon which he focuses. Through a non-approximate approach, one foregrounding the multiple specificities of a cite/site and those beyond sight, Zahedi invites others into an ongoing conversation. It is through careful gestures that Zahedi's practice is enunciated.
Eva Wilson is a writer and curator based in London. She was part of the editorial team of documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens, director of Schinkel Pavillon Berlin and curator at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), Vienna. She has published widely, and, together with Adam Gibbons, is commissioning editor of the book series " ".
