Biography

Nafis Fathollahzadeh is an artist and researcher from Iran, based in Berlin. Fathollahzadeh works at the intersection of artistic research, video art and photography. 

They were a fellow researcher in the Rosa Luxemburg scholarly program on Authoritarianism and Counter strategies and affiliated with EUME: Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin. They are art director and co-editor of Momentography of a failure, a multidisciplinary artistic and urban research platform for collaborative thinking, artistic collaborations, digital mapping, and publishing.
Fathollahzadeh was awarded the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Fotografie prize for their project Momentography of a failure. They were the recipients of DAAD International Scholarship for Artists.

CONTACT

[email protected]

EDUCATION

2015 – 2018: MFA Photography Studies and Practice, Folkwang University of Arts, Essen, Germany.

2006 – 2011: Bachelor of Arts, Visual Communication Al-Zahra University, Tehran, Iran.

PRIZES/GRANTS

2023: Dieter-Ruckhaberle-Förderpreis, Berlin, Germany.

2022: Research stipend for visual artists, Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin, Germany.

2021-22: Postdoc Research Fellowship, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, International Research Group On Authoritarianism and Counter Strategies, Berlin.

2021-22 : Research Fellow, Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe (EUME) Program, Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin.

2020: Artist scholarship, Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

2020: Presentations of contemporary visual art, Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin, Germany.

2019: Education Prize for Momentography of a failure project, Deutsche Geselschaft für Fotografie, Germany

2015-2018: DAAD Study Scholarships for Foreign Graduates in the Fields of Fine Art, Germany

PUBLICATIONS

2023 [Upcoming]: Upheaval on the clouds, Visual Handbook of Authoritarianism, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

2022: Momentography of a failure [Translocal], Berlin, Germany

2021: Momentography of a failure [Addis ababa], Archive books, Berlin.

2019Über alle Berge, Zeit Magazine, Germany.

2018: Momentography of a failure [Kurdistan]

2018: Momentography of a failure [Tehran]

2012-2015: Shargh newspaper, Tehran, Iran.

FILM:

2023: Khabur, Documentary, 30′.

LECTURES/SEMINARS

2022: FORMAT lecture series, Güterbahnhof Bremen – Areal für Kunst und Kultur, Germany.

2022: New Faces of Authoritarianism in the Global South, Course for Unlearning practices, Center for Comparative Research on Democracy at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

2022: CAPS conference, Panel: Countering Authoritarianism Through Knowledge: Alternative Methodologies, Sources, and Approaches On and From the Middle East and North Africa, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Berlin, Germany.

2021: Knowledge Production During Revolutionary Times: Reflections From, In, and On West Asia and North Africa, Al/Berlin, Germany.

CURATION

2022: CONTESTING AUTHORITARIANISM: Perspectives from the South, Bi’bak Sinema, Berlin, Germany

2022: Momentography of a failure (Translocal), Atelier automatique, Bochum.

2022: Momentography of a failure (Translocal), Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin

EXHIBITIONS

2022: Momentography of a failure (Translocal), Atelier automatique, Bochum

2022Momentography of a failure (Translocal), Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin

2020: GHOSTS, TRACES, ECHOES: WORKS IN SHIFTS, Akademie der Künste der Welt,Cologne, Germany.

2020: Momentography of a failure [Addis ababa], Fotoraum Köln.

2019: „Eye-land”, wannseeforum, Berlin.

2018: Studio: eine urbane Inszenierung, Gublia Galerie, Essen.

2018: „Exchanging Perceptions-Art for change“, Quergalerie; Berlin.

2017: „Zwischenhalt“, Folkwang Museum, Essen

2017: „Anwesend“, Folkwang Museum, Essen

2014: „Invitation to Waltz“, Group Photo Exhibition, Silk Road Gallery,Tehran, Iran.

2014: Image of the Year Photo Festival, Artist’s House, Tehran, Iran.

2013: Iranian Contemporary Photography, Ahwaz Contemporary Art Museum, Ahwaz, Iran.