Ayan Reyaei

Works

DEEVAN*Sorts of SilenceThe Empty is FullNon-ExhibitionTo the other sideBrainfoodTHERE-THERESteps UntoldConstruction CollagesMy Lips LevelOpen EndingThis is a Banana!Opening is OpenedPlay-Space-PlayIran’s Oil for saleNot enoughOne Fist of SoilBreak DownThe God who forgetsA wall, a door and some windowsPlate of riceTo my te.rr.or.istWhite is the new goldDrawing



Catering



Workshops

Public SensesWorld war in my bodyCrafting Manifesto6 Steps to the ParadiseAufruf zum Akt!Re-Accct!


CV
Contact

Non-Exhibition
Splace-Linz
2023

In 2022&2023, alongside the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran, I began organizing a group, protests, and activist actions in Linz. For two years, I deliberately refrained from creating any artwork or exhibition to "be the voice of Iranian women." I held a critical perspective toward activist art, questioning whether such works genuinely supported the movement in Iran or merely rode the wave of media attention, capitalizing on the open doors of galleries.  

I believed that if I were to create any artwork in this context, its true audience would be in Iran. Producing images for European curiosity about Iran or recounting the regime's horrors felt misplaced within the frame of activist work. Instead, I sought to resist the urge to confine the revolution to the aesthetics of art.  
In *Non-Exhibition*, following one of the protests we organized in Linz, I invited participants to an art space where a blank canvas awaited. Rather than presenting a finished piece, I encouraged everyone to fill the empty canvas with their slogans, desires, and messages—an open-ended, collective act without a definitive conclusion or end. It was simply a milestone in an ongoing process, a space to allow the revolution to breathe and resist being framed or defined while it was still alive.  

This act was an echo of the streets, calling us to return to them. I refused to contain an ongoing revolution within a gallery. Instead, I sought to nurture its energy, letting it flourish and rise within us as a living force.