Ramin Haerizadeh (b. 1975, Tehran, Iran), Rokni Haerizadeh(b. 1978,
Tehran, Iran) and Hesam Rahmanian (b. 1980, Knoxville, USA) have lived and
worked collaboratively in Dubai (UAE) since 2009.
They work independently and together propagating a form of collaboration
that doesn’t suppress individualism. The seeds of their language were sown as
early as 1999 in Iran. Their practice offers up a novel redefinition of the
collective, as theirs is constantly growing and contracting to incorporate
friends, writers, and artists at large. It entails the use of both low and high
art references, and freely embraces ‘what is considered marginal, wasted,
wrong, messed up, useless, and taken for granted’. Their individual practices
differ stylistically, while political and social commentary become inherently
subversive in common reflection. The exhibitions they conceive are as much
insights into their daily practice which they designate as the ritual of living
and working together.
Their immersive and multimedia installations build upon their perception
of life as a theatre while also making their process visible. Generally, their
proposals begin with the ‘creatures’ that the three artists become, both
physically and mentally, and whose very beings are the roles that are
eventually played. Placing emphasis on the importance of ‘reporting on our
time’, they wish to bring attention to the urgencies of the present moment
while opening up questions over a spectrum of subjects such as views on art and
culture, gender fluidity, and power mechanisms. ‘The conglomeration of things
actually asks us to look at what is in front of us’ comment the artists,
demanding time for contemplation. The artists seek to encourage the viewer to
recognise the reality of interdependency and the value of solidarity with
others. Therefore, they create a sense of alienation or estrangement from
reality with depersonalised individual subjects (creatures) and inhomogeneous
crafted objects. In doing so, they aim to exorcise the sentimentalism,
resulting in an emotional distance to elicit astonishment from the viewer
rather than empathy and ultimately allowing for critical analysis.
Their recent solo exhibitions include Parthenogenesis, New York
University (NYU), Abu Dhabi, UEA, HENI Project Space, The Hayward Gallery,
London, UK, SCHIRN Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany, Freye Art Museum, Seattle,
USA, Officine Grandi Ripazioni, Turin, Italy, Museu d’Art Contemporani de
Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, US,
Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.
