About

Siavash Naghshbandi

(b.1987, Tehran, Iran) visual artist based in Tehran. Graduating from Animation, he began his photography career in 2006 with solo exhibitions at Nikol Gallery and Mehrva Gallery (2008) around urban culture concerns. Later on, he continued his artistic activity using other media like Animation, video, artificial intelligence, and filmmaking. Among these creative ventures are the solo exhibitions of Dastan Gallery (2019), Electric Room (2017), and Teerart projects (2019). His photographs and videos have been exhibited in exhibitions and museums, like the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (2008), the Chelsea Museum, New York (2009), Mattress Factory Museum, Pittsburgh (2019), Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona (2020), Aaran Art Gallery (2011), Azad Art Gallery (2010), Bhavan Art Gallery (2019), Hafriyat Karakoy Gallery, Istanbul (2008), Tomin Videothek, Frankfurt (2017), Hillyer Art Space, Washington D.C (2017) Affenfaust Galerie, Humburg (2018). His films have been featured in various festivals, including SEH-TANK: Cinéma, Zurich (2013), Middle East Now Film Festival, Florence (2013), Göteborg Film Festival (2013), Schkaneder Kino, Vienna (2018), Skol Art Center, Montreal (2019), Neverland Cinema, Rotterdam (2019), Oyoun Space, Berlin (2021), shortlisted for Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize, London (2018). Jury Prize - Ann Arbor Film Festival, Michigan (2021)

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS

2019 Exposed, Dastan Gallery, Tehran, Iran – Curated by Sohrab Kashani

2018 Lift, Teer Art Week, Tehran, Iran – Curated by Sohrab Kashani

2017 Inevitably Inescapable, Dastan Gallery - Electric Room, Tehran, Iran

2009 These Kiosks, Mehrva Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 Home, Home, Home, Temporary Home, Berlin, Germany – Curated by Davood Madadpoor

2021 Street View, Public Space, Maastricht, The Netherlands

2021 Noxte Vol IV, Bethanien Creative Quarter, Berlin, Germany

2021 Amber Network Festival, (Online Exhibition) a'21 LAB EXHIBITION, Oyoun Space, Berlin, Germany

2021 HerMAP Art Projects, BOZAR - Brussels, Belgium

2020 Sumac Space (Online), Villa Romana, Florence, Italy – Curated by Katharina Ehrl

2020 Urban Mapping, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona, USA – Curated by Gohar Dashti

2020 Contemporary Iranian Art & The Historical Imagination, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, CVPA Campus Gallery, Dartmouth, USA

2020 Even in Arcadia there am I, Bavan Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran – Curated by Hoofar Haghighi

2019 VOICE-OVER (IN THREE PARTS), The Other Apartment, Mattress Factory Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, USA – Sazmanab, Tehran, Iran – Curated by Sohrab Kashani andJoseph Del Pesco

2018 Wundern über tanawo, Affenfaust Galerie, Hamburg, Germany – Curated by Raphaela Roessler

2017 Urban Spaces, Hillyer Art Space, Washington D.C., USA – Curated by Gohar Dashti

2017 MixedRealities, Tomin Videothek, Frankfurt, Germany – Curated by Laura Wünsche

2015 TADAEX 05, Mohsen Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2011 Aksbazi, Aaran Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran – Curated by Haleh Anvari

2009 Iran Inside Out, DePaul University Art Museum, Chicago, USA – Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath

2009 Re-assemblage, Assar Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran – Curated by Vahid Sharifian

2009 Iran Inside Out, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA – Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath

2009 Urban Jealousy, Newyorck Gallery, Berlin, Germany – Curated by Amirali Ghassemi and Serhat Köksal

SELECTED SCREENINGS

2023 INSTANTS VIDEO, Marseille, France – Curated by Amirali Ghasemi

2022 FIVARS Virtual Reality Festival, Toronto, Canada

2022 All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, KADIST Collection, A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, China

2022 Territorial Challenges, Mohit Art Projects

2021 FIVARS Virtual Reality Festival, Los Angeles, USA

2021 INACCESSIBLE PRESENT 4.0, Oyoun Space, Berlin, Germany

2021 59th Ann Arbor Film Festival, Michigan, USA

2020 Dyscorpia 2.1, Enterprise Square Galleries, Alberta, Canada

2020 Other Ways of Watching Together, Neverland Cinema, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2019 I am a Stone, My Name is the River, Skol Art Center, Montreal, Canada

2019 Detour to Tehran, Gasteig, Munich, Germany

2018 Detour to Tehran, Schkaneder Kino, Vienna, Austria

2018 Taiwan Annual 2018 (Sazmanab’s booth), Taipei, Taiwan

2018 An Ordinary Day Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden

2017 Limited Access 7, Aaran Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2013 SEH-TANK, Cinema Subversif, Zurich, Switzerland

2013 Middle East Now Film Festival, Florence, Italy

2013 The Invisible Present, Göteborg International Film Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden

2013 The Invisible Present, Rotterdam Film Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

2021 Ann Arbor Film Festival - Jury Prize, Michigan, USA

2018 MOP CAP 2018 (Magic Of Persia Contemporary Art Prize), London, UK - Shortlisted

2008 The Third Photo Festival of Art University, Tehran, Iran - Jury Prize

2007 First Documentary Photo Festival, Isfahan, Iran - Winner of the second prize

2005 Child Photo Festival, Tehran, Iran - Winner of the third prize

TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS

2021 5th Utphotoex, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran

2019 From Studio, Kaarnamaa, New Media Society, Tehran, Iran

2018 New Media Society, Tehran, Iran

WORKSHOPS

2022 Shortfilm Fund 2021, Berlin (Online)

2021 21' Amber Network Festival, Oyoun, Berlin (Online)

2019 Ramak Fazel, Pejman Foundation, Tehran, Iran

2018 Michael Pilz, Newmedia Society, Tehran, Iran

WORK EXPERIENCES AND COLLABORATIONS

2024 “Winter in Paradise” - Shahpour Pouyan | Frist Art Museum - Nashville, Tennessee, USA | VR Creator

2024 “Brides of the Rain” | Nassaukerk – Amsterdam, Netherlands / Sulaymaniyeh - Kurdistan | Video Designer

2023 “The Passion of Now '23” | Nassaukerk – Amsterdam, Netherlands | Video Designer

2023 “Scenes of Extraction” - Sanaz Sohrabi | Film Essay | VFX & 3D Animation

2022 “Va Pensiero” | Rijksmuseum van Oudheden | Leiden, Netherlands | Video Designer

2022 “Ine Aya” Opera by Miranda Lakerveld & Nursalim Yadi Anugerah, Desa Datah Diaan (Kayan Village), Jakarta, Pontianak, Indonesia | Video Designer

2022 “Antigone’s of the Pandemic” VR-opera by Miranda Lakerveld & Siavash Naghshbandi, Westerkerk Church, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Video Designer

2021 “Ine Aya” Opera by Miranda Lakerveld & Nursalim Yadi Anugerah, Holland Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Video Designer

2019 “Turan Dukht” Opera by Miranda Lakerveld & Aftab Darvishi, Holland Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Video Designer

2008 "About Elly... " by Asghar Farhadi | Photographer in the motion picture

2006 "We Only Live Twice" by Behnam Behzadi | Photographer in the motion picture

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

2023 Here / There | VR Shortfilm | Director

2023 Dissociative Amnesia | Short Animation | Director

2023 Saba Alizadeh “Nafir (Clamour)” (Music Video) | Director

2021 Saba Alizadeh - Only Hope Breaks The Dark Waves (Music Video) | Director

2020 Pouya Ehsaei, Ariwo - QUASI (Music Video) | Editor

2007-2019 “Mr.Tayyab” | Feature Documentary Film | Director

2017 King Raam – Tehran (Music Video) | Director

2017 Bomrani Band – The Port Called Tehran (Music Video) | Director

2016 Pallett Band – This Ain’t My City (Music Video) | Director

2014-2016 10 Feature Film | Assistant Editor

2012-2017 Documentary Videos of Art Scenes in Tehran | Director

2012 Bomrani Band "Good Childhood Days" (Music Video) | Co-Director

 

Last update: 2025-07