Dates
Apr 12 – Nov 23, 2026
Opens Saturday, May 9 Abbas Akhavan represents Canada at the 61st International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia 2026 Born in Tehran and based between Montreal and Berlin, Abbas Akhavan’s multidisciplinary practice reflects on the relationships between place and history, attending to the geopolitical forces which define spaces. Akhavan’s practice ranges across site-specific ephemeral installations to drawing, video, sculpture, and performance. The direction of his research has been deeply influenced by the specificity of the sites in which he works, including the architectures that house them, the economies that surround them, and the individuals that frequent them. The concept of the garden and by extension, the spaces and species just outside the home, such as the backyard, public parks and other domesticated landscapes, have been foundational components in his work. In recent large-scale installations, Akhavan recreates cultural sites affected by international conflicts, attending to the multivalent ways in which ongoing geopolitics fight for control of historical narratives. Abbas Akhavan, born in 1977 in Tehran, has been based in Canada for the last thirty years. He currently works and lives in Montréal and Berlin. Upcoming and recent solo exhibitions include Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2026); Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver (2025); Bangkok Kunsthalle, Bangkok (2025); Copenhagen Contemporary and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (2023); Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute (2022); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2022); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2021); CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco (2019); Fogo Island Arts (2019); The Power Plant, Toronto (2018); Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2017); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2017); Mercer Union; Toronto (2015); & the Delfina Foundation, London (2012). Recent group exhibitions include the Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2024); 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022); Protocinema, Istanbul (2021), Walk & Talk, São Miguel (2020); Toronto Biennale (2019); Liverpool Biennial (2018); SALT, Istanbul (2017); Prospect New Orleans (2017); Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); & Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016). Akhavan received an MFA from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (2006), and a BFA from Concordia University, Montréal (2004). Recent residencies include Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island, Canada (2019, 2016, 2013); Atelier Calder, Saché, France (2017); and Flora ars+natura, Bogotá, Colombia (2015). He is the recipient of the Fellbach Triennial Award (2017); Sobey Art Award (2015); Abraaj Group Art Prize (2014); and the Berliner Kunstpreis (2012). Originally from Winnipeg, curator and writer Kim Nguyen is Director of Programs at the Ruth Foundation for the Arts in Milwaukee. Prior to Ruth Arts, she served as Curator and Head of Programs at the Wattis Institute and adjunct professor of fine arts at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and was Director/Curator of Artspeak in Vancouver. Nguyen has worked with a wide range of artists, including curatorial projects with Maia Cruz Palileo, Ken Lum, Lorraine O’Grady, Hồng-Ân Trương, and Akosua Adoma Owusu, among many others. In 2019, she curated Abbas Akhavan’s first solo presentation in the United States at the Wattis Institute, featuring the reconstructed lobby of the National Museum of Iraq. The installation was based on a photograph of the museum’s looting during the 2003 invasion of Baghdad. Most recently, she co-curated Ruth Arts’ inaugural exhibition, Benny Andrews: Trouble—the first major presentation of the late artist’s artwork and archives. Commissioner: National Gallery of Canada, Jean-François Bélisle Curator: Kim Nguyen