Biography |
Amir Baradaran (b. 1977) is a New York-based media and performance artist. Born in Tehran and raised in Montreal, Amir Baradaran’s experience in academia and activism led him to pursue his artistic practice. Working in a variety of mediums, Baradaran engages in the realm of speculative, participatory public experiences through the exploration of notions of technology, authorship and identity. Recently, under the title FutARism, he employed Augmented Reality (AR) as a new installation medium. The experiential, conceptual and legal shifts presupposed by the advent of AR connect to Baradaran's interest in radical subjectivities, failed utopias and mysticism. Iterations include the AR installations SamovAR &The Tempest in the Teahouse (Armory Arts Week, NYC, 2012), Growing Panes (British Museum, Art & Patronage Summit, London, UK, 2012, and The BuZZZ (Miami Art Basel, 2011), Venice Augmented (54th Biennale, Italy, 2011), Frenchising Mona Lisa (Louvre Museum, Paris, France, 2011), and Takeoff (The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, 2010). For his vision of the future, Baradaran’s short video, Simple as Drinking Water, was selected as the winner of 2011 International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) video competition. Past works include Marry Me to the End of Love (2012), a performance at Arts Arena, Cité Internationale des Arts of Paris; Transient (2010), a series of video installations in New York City taxis (approx. 1.5 million viewers), and The Other Artist Is Present (2010), a guerrilla performance in four acts at The Museum of Modern Art. Baradaran's work has been featured in Art in America, Forbes, ARTNET, ARTINFO, BBC and National Public Radio. |
Exhibitions and Performances |
| 2012 |
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Marry Me to the End of Love , Arts Arena, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
ARt Gala, Augmented Reality Event (ARE), Santa Clara, California
SamovAR & The Tempest in the Teahouse , Armory Arts Week, New York
Growing Panes , The British Museum, Art & Patronage Summit, London, UK,
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| 2011 |
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The BuZZZ , Miami Art Basel, Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, Miami
Unbound, International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, Basel, Switzerland (Winner International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) video competition, Simple as Drinking Water)
Facets of Figuration , Rodman & Renshaw Art Benefit, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mantamed , Manetamed Gallery, Brooklyn
Venice Augmented, Venice Biennale, Augmented Reality installation, Italy
ARt Gala performance, Augmented Reality Event (ARE), Santa Clara, California
Benrimon Contemporary Anniversary , Benrimon Contemporary Gallery, New York
All City , Broome Street Pop-up Art Gallery, New York
FutARism Manifesto Performance , Benrimon Contemporary Gallery, New York
Frenchising Mona Lisa , Augmented Reality installation, multiple locations
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| 2010 |
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Voyeur , Boulan, Miami Art Week, Florida WeARinMoMA , Augmented Reality installation, The Museum of Modern Art, New York Transient , a series of video installations infiltrating NYC taxicabs, multiple locations New York The Other Artist is Present , Guerilla Performance, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
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| 2009 |
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Works from the Permanent Collection , Peters Street Gallery, Atlanta
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| 2008 |
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Mayor's Artists of the Year Exhibition , City Hall, Montreal, Canada Opening Group Exhibition , Besharat Gallery, Atlanta Le Phare Charity Auction , The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada Paints & Passions, Ex-Centris, Montreal, Canada
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| 2007 |
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Poetic Quarrel , Michael Banks, Montreal, Canada Group Exhibition , Galerie Naomi, Montreal, Canada
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Presentations |
| 2012 |
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Challenges of Utilizing AR as a medium , Augmented Reality Event (ARE), Santa Clara, California
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| 2011 |
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Representing the Middle East , NYU Graduate Seminar Guest Lecture, NYC
FutARism: The Possibilities of AR in Art Making, Augmented Reality Event (ARE), Santa Clara, California
Artist’s Talk on Augmented Reality , ARNY Columbia University, New York
AR and Art , Mobile Cultures and Wireless Communications Conference, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
FutARism , Convergent Media, Pace University, New York
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| 2007 |
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Sexual Representation in Cinema: Queering Muslim Bodies , The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
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| 2006 |
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Women and Development , Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Quebec, Canada Culture Shock: HIV/AIDS , Quebec Public Interest Research Group, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
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| 2005 |
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Iranian Women after Twenty Years of Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges , Congress on the Paradoxes of Citizenship: Environment, Exclusion, Equity, Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS)/Canadian Association for the Study of Development (CASID), University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Representing Muslim Bodies: Death Over "Here" and Over "There,” Racial Violence and the Color Line of the New World Order , Researchers and Academics of Color in Canada for Equity (RACE), Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Sexuality and the Diaspora, Second Generation Iranians Looking Inward: Religion, Gender and Sexuality , Iranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB), University of Maryland, College Park
Orientalism and Middle Eastern Desires, Ethics of Sexuality, School of Religious Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
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| 2004 |
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Re-Orienting the Queer and Queering the Orient , 5th Biennial Conference: Iran and the Iranian Cultural World as an "Other" in Academic and Popular Representations, International Society for Iranian Studies (SISI)/Critique Magazine: Critical Middle East Studies, Bethesda, Maryland
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| 2003 |
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Racism and Identity Formations, Seminar of Diversity, School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Resistance Against the Empire, Annual International Conference/Retreat, Alternatives Canada, Montreal
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Publications |
with Ryan, B., Brotman, S. & Lee, E. (eds.) The Color of Queer Health Care: Experiences of Multiple Oppression in the Lives of Queer People of Color In Canada. Québec: Presses de l'Université du Québec, Coll. Santé et Société, 2008
with Ryan, B., Brotman, S. & Lee, E. (eds.) Intersections: Cultures, sexualités et genres. Québec: Presses de l'Université du Québec, Coll. Santé et Société, 2006 |
Education |
Master of Art, 2008, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Bachelor of Art, 2004, McGill University, Montreal, Canada |