Projectsssss — Ayan Rezaei

Ayan Reyaei

DEEVAN*
Performance- Kunstraum Memphis- Linz
2024

DEEVAN* represents ‘queer citizens’ worldwide - people with a migration background whose identity - like that of Deevs - is characterized by ambiguity. Beings who are exposed to a mechanism of ‘fear of the unknown’, perceived as distant and inaccessible, while their thoughts and identities remain unknown, alien and unreachable.

DEEVAN* operates on the boundaries between cultures, navigating the complexities of uncertainty and change. In this ambiguity, the project deals with profound questions about existence, belonging, and social contradictions. DEEVAN* aimed to create a “space” for those who “do not fit”—for fractured identities—while opening discussions about otherness. The project was not about introducing something new or highlighting divisions within society. Instead, it pursued to think outside the boxes: origin as a box, skin color as a box, gender as a box, immigrants labeled as victims, felons or heroes as a box, and even “normal” as a box.

Through an absurd loop in a performance, DEEVAN* challenged the established without creating a replacement. It rejected the need to define or confine. DEEVAN* didn’t aim to fix or destroy; it simply aimed a space for openness, emergence, chaos, and becoming.

Naming queer citizens* as DEEV* is an effort to rejuvenate language— to invent new terms that allow for more nuanced, complex, and deeply humanized definitions,and I believe there are many more words yet to be created.

DEEVAN*

Kunstraum Memphis

DEEVAN* Exhibition

Ānn Verein

Sorts of silence

in Progress

The empty is full

Artistic Research-Multi Media Installation
2023

The aspects of modern heritage in
Otto-Wagner-Spital Vienna
The Placeless Academy - Philomena+ Benghazi/ Casablanca/ Vienna

Recalling, connecting, and visualizing elements of “empty space” of Steinhof are the essential aspects of my proposal: the concept of “the empty is full.” In the organization of clinic rooms, a distinctive order was followed, classifying patients based on sound levels as loud, semi-loud, or quiet, which determined their assigned spaces. This classification ensured that each patient occupied an appropriate environment. Furthermore, beyond the buildings, the surrounding environment took on a distinct character as the various sounds intertwined and merged. Hence, the space between the buildings is far from empty; it is imbued with narratives and evidence. The waves of these sounds transcended walls and connected people residing within. Consequently, the empty space in Steinhof remains inseparable from its history, forming an unbreakable.

“MODERNITIES OUT OF PLACE” Philomena+
2023

The work points out the space between the buildings of the Steinhoff complex. To address the heritage, not just as valuable artistic objects, but a space which contains historical significance. This space is far from empty; it is imbued with narratives and evidence. The waves of these sounds transcended walls and connected people residing within. The empty space in Steinhof remains inseparable from its history, forming an unbreakable bond with the buildings, and becoming one.

Modernities out of place

Philomena+

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.

To the other side
Intervention
2022

Urban tarshbin.

Main destinations of EU export of waste

Waste Exports from World

Brain Food
Food with zero waste
2022

As part of the Kongress der Wissenden, I developed a food concept designed to be eaten by hand. The dishes were served in flatbreads shaped like bowls, and the remnants of the food created a delicious paste, allowing the bowl itself to be eaten entirely. All the food was vegetarian and made with Bio ingredients.

KDW.Kongress der Wissenden

THERE_THERE
Intervention - Linz
2022

Amidst quarantine, the city assumed an even more distant quality, and we transformed into virtual voyagers. Anywhere that was off-limits became a canvas for our imagination.

Our understanding of the world is inherently tied to the “Perspective” through which we perceive it. We exist in “parallel cities” — divergent interpretations of urban spaces. This project seeks to portray the untapped dimension of inhabiting space for a eye-to-eye encounter. I aimed to explore levels beyond accessibility, highlighting the severely limited experience of urban space. Consequently, the intention was to scrutinize the unnoticed, the unfamiliar, and the unexplored

Photos by Jessica Freivolt

(Not) Here (Not) There
DARV_Steps Untold 1.0 Treasures Performance - Linz
2021

As part of the project, I collaborated with choreographer Constantin Georgescu to develop a performance centered on my relationship with the city of Linz. Through our discussions, the concept evolved to focus on the embodiment of the public sphere, attachments to the city, and the perception of Linz as an "untouchable" and distant entity. This exploration led to the emergence of three key steps: touching, being touched, and touching the touch.

DARV_Steps Untold

Constantin Georgescu

Construction Collages
Concrete-found objects
ongoing

The project began in 2017, when I started working on a construction site. The experience of hands-on, physical labor and building with my own hands sparked an interest in exploring the construction process as an art form within architecture. It involves not only materials and methods but also the people, stories, and countless hidden details that come together to create something lasting beyond the lives of everyone involved in building it.

During construction, I found inspiration in the elements often concealed within walls and roofs, or those discarded along the way. The forms, materials, colors, and unexpected juxtapositions in this concrete collage became my focus and fascination.

My Lips Level
Intervention - Tehran
2021

I’ve marked the level of my lips in Tehran Downtown. The neighborhood in which women existence are being censored the most in the public sphere. In addition, the resistance and most protest against oppression of the regime initiate from this part of the city. The place in which, for the first time, I as well protested for freedom.

The project aims to mark the female body, and provokes the question of the interaction between women body and the urban spaces.

The project participated in a group exhibition in cultural space rotor Graz “FOR... Dancing on the Street“ 2023.

Artistic Research-Multi Media Installation 2023

“MODERNITIES OUT OF PLACE” Philomena+ 2023

Artistic Research-Multi Media Installation
2023

“MODERNITIES OUT OF PLACE” Philomena+
2023