Alireza Labeshka and Parisa Hakiminia (Iran) – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

(born 1986) – is the director and curator of the Raf Art Gallery in Tehran, Iran, with a particular interest in the issues of globalisation and new possibilities of curating Iran’s contemporary art. Labeshka has curated exhibitions in art galleries in Iran and in other countries, e.g. the USA, Portugal, and South Korea. His theory-based curatorial work expands the understanding of the Iranian contemporary art discourse and constantly investigates the modes of hybrid identities in third-world or colonised countries like Iran. By offering residency to art professionals, curators and artists, as well as by holding workshops or discussion panels at his art gallery, Labeshka develops international curatorial exhibitions for new generation audiences who are eager to see the intersection of the contemporary critical theory and art, and he has managed to introduce the Raf as an alternative space on Iran’s art scene. His publications comprise various articles, interviews and art reviews for several Iranian art magazines like Golestaneh, and for exhibition catalogues of many Iranian artists, as well as other censored and web distributed writings. In his resume, Alireza Labeshka also mentions the experience of working as an art theory instructor and artist for a number of photography exhibitions.

(born 1989) – is an architect and art manager based in Tehran. She graduated from the Kashan Architecture University. She is a member of the Ham-Sayeh Architecture and Urban Planning Group focusing on three main subjects: Tehran’s public domain and its relationship with democracy, Tehran art spaces in the context of buildings adaptation, sociological study of Tehran’s neo-classical wave in architecture. Parisa Hakiminia has also designed many exhibitions as part of the Raf Projects where she is also a renovator and interior designer of the gallery building in cooperation with DiMatti Studio. She also published architecture photographs in art and architecture magazines Mokkab and Sharestan. Now she’s working on the project entitled Highways like Snakes which studies the rapid growth of highways in Tehran, destruction of old buildings leading to corruption of urban memories.