Biography

Tirdad Zolghadr is a curator and writer whose multi-disciplinary practice and theoretical preoccupations are concerned with the impact of art and culture on urban development. His curatorial work includes biennial settings as well as long-term research-driven efforts, most recently as associate curator at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2016–2020). He is the artistic director of the Sommerakademie Paul Klee, Bern University of the Arts (2016-present).

His curatorial projects include the 1st UAE pavilion, It’s Not You It’s Me, at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) and the 7th Sharjah Biennial with Jack Persekian and Ken Lum (2005). 

He is the author of TRACTION: An Applied and Polemical Attempt to Locate Contemporary Art (Sternberg Press, 2016), among others. Zolghadr is currently working on his third novel, Headbanger, which is supported by the Foundation for Arts Initiatives (FfAI). 

He earned a degree in English and Comparative Literature from the University of Geneva (1999).

Born in 1973, Zolghadr lives and works in Berlin.

SAF participation:
March Meeting 2021

Sharjah Biennial 7

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