CV
Education
2023, PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies (Concentration in Continental Philosophy & Visual Art), University of British Columbia
2012, MFA in Visual Arts, University of British Columbia,
2007, BFA in Photography, Art and Architecture Faculty, Azad University of Central Tehran
Research
General Research
My practice operates at the intersections of philosophy, critical theory, and visual arts. It focuses on the dialectical relationships between critical theory, aesthetics, ontological analysis of language, and politics of subjectivization. As a result of this ongoing research, I highlight the completion of my PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies (UBC) with a focus on continental philosophy and aesthetics, as well as my Master of Fine Arts thesis, “Politics of Subjectivization.” The thesis explores the relationships between Alain Badiou's concept of the Event and the development of a material artistic practice capable of generating new modes of “thought” concerning the formation of politics and the Subject (situational subject), wherein both co-identify.
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My specialization in philosophy spans French critical theory, the ontological analysis of language, and existentialist philosophy, with expertise in the philosophies of Alain Badiou and Martin Heidegger. My scholarly activities include writing and translating texts (into Farsi), particularly in continental philosophy, aesthetics, and politics. These contributions include numerous essays, translations of essays by Alain Badiou and Gilles Deleuze, and Farsi translations of Badiou’s books Metapolitics and In Praise of Love.
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In addition to my cross-disciplinary artistic and scholarly practice, I have been extensively involved in teaching courses and conducting workshops in visual arts and philosophy. In Canada, I have been teaching visual art courses at the University of British Columbia and various courses in Philosophy at University Canada West. In Iran, I have taught various courses in art and humanities at Azad University of Tehran, as well as at various Art & Humanities institutes. During my graduate studies at UBC, and aside from the expansive range of graduate-level courses I undertook in the humanities and aesthetics, I also took the graduate seminar “EDST 532” (Educational Leadership), which focused on training professional teachers. I graduated from this course with an A+.
Doctoral Thesis
Title: Thought-Activism and the Poiesis of that Which is Not.
Abstract
This dissertation devises two philosophical discourses: “Thought-Activism” and “Visitor”. Thought- activism is posited as a strategic and an ontological approach to the categories of “language” and “seeing” concerning the formation of a mutually inclusive account for “action” and “thought”, i.e., acting contingent upon thought, and thinking if and only if acting. In short, thought-activism is to be thought of as where the question of “what is to be done?” is bound with that of “what is to be thought?” and vice versa. The subject-figure of the Visitor is a reconfiguration of the category of the art spectator and of the art audience into the encountering subject position of the art Visitor. The subject-figure of the Visitor is the praxis and tactical presentation of the strategy of thought- activism within the fields of art, politics, and critical thinking. The Visitor renders obsolete the characteristic triptych of art, that is artist-artwork-spectator, and subsequently replaces it with the progressive triptych of visitor-object-visitor, which rearticulates the relation that artistic practice occasions on the basis of “encountering.”
The key companion thinkers in this dissertation are Alain Badiou and Martin Heidegger. The core question of this exegesis is the contradictory unity of theory and practice formulated under the aegis of the following equation: ‘theoretically-led’ practice’ equals ‘practically- influenced theory’.
Exhibitions and Artistic Practices
Solo Exhibition
2025, “Freudian Typo”, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
2025, “Condensed Word, Displaced Flesh”, Delfina Foundation, London, UK.
* Freudian Typo is both the title of the exhibition, as well as, the name of an artistic collective composed of Ali Ahadi and Ghazaleh Avarzamani.
2023, “Alibaba Conundrum”, Griffin Art Projects, North Vancouver, Canada
* Alibaba Conundrum is both the title of the project, as well as, the name of an artistic collective composed of Ali Ahadi and Babk Golkar.
2021 (June-July), Artists In residence, “Alibaba Conundrum”, Griffin Art Projects, North Vancouver, Canada
*Alibaba Conundrum is an artistic collective composed of Ali Ahadi and Babk Golkar.
2018-2019, “گُه بله آکادمی”, “Goh Ballet Academy (Shit Yes Academy)”, Ag Galerie, Tehran Iran
2016, “This, too, is not [ ].”, Lajevardi Foundation & The New Media Society, Tehran Iran (Video Screening, Art Talk)
2012, “Warning Use By Other Than Registered Owner Prohibited By Law”, AMS Art Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2012, “Here There Nowhere, Flaccid Means Without End”, Grunt Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2007, “Off the Record”, Azad Art Gallery, Tehran Iran
Selected Group Exhibitions and Biennial
2025, “Of Wounds and Songs”, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George Canada.
2024, “Flatttpack #0”, A Three Person Exhibition Featuring Works by: Ali Ahadi, Anahita Razmi, and Peyman Shafieezadeh, Vatttan Project, London UK
2023, “Voci E Immagini Dall’ Iran: Una Nuova Rivoluzione”, Milan Image Art Fair (MIA), March 23 – 26, 2023, Milan Italy
2021, “God in Reverse: When Wisdom Defies Capture” (Physical Exhibition), Richmond Art Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia (Physical Exhibition, Upcoming)
2020, The 8th Tehran Sculpture Biennial (Invitational), Roudaki Hall, Tehran Iran
2020, “God in Reverse: When Wisdom Defies Capture” (Curated Video Screening - Online), https://www.godinreverse.com/video/set/, Richmond Art Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2019, “The Wet”, Audain Art Centre, Vancouver British Columbia
2015, “Intervals, FWAR”, Ferndale Washington
2013, “Ten Thousand Suns, Satellite Gallery”, Vancouver British Columbia
2013, “Encyclonospace Iranica”, Access Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2013, “MONOMANIA”, Trench Contemporary Art gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2013, “Hold Them Up in Good Light”, Access Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2013, “Warning Use by Other than Registered Owner Prohibited by Law”, “dadabasenyc.com: Permanent Web-based Visual Arts exhibition”
2012, “Hail to the destroyers”, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2011, “Where Nothing is in its Place Lies Disorder”, Koerner Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2011, “Picturing Intuition”, AMS Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2008, “Fanoosphoto”, Permanent Web-based Visual Art Exhibition, Tehran Iran
2007, “Art Directory of the Middle East”, web-based Visual Art Exhibition, Dubai UAE
2007, “The 4th Iranian Festival of Marine Photos”, Public Relations Gallery, Tehran Iran
2007, “The 2nd Fanoos Film & Slideshow Festival”: The short film named The Encyclopedia Of Shabdolazimica was appreciated in Creative Works section, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran Iran
2006, “Image of the Year”, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran Iran
2006, “The 2nd Annual Golestan Photography Festival”, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran Iran
Selected Recent Awards and Recognitions
2025, Canada Council for the Arts, Concept to Realization Grant.
2022, British Columbia Arts Council, Visual Arts Project Grant.
2021, Canada Council for the Arts, Concept to Realization Grant.
Residency at Griffin Art Projects (in collaboration with Babak Golkar), Griffin Art Projects, Vancouver.
2019, Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Abroad.
Faculty of Graduate Studies Award, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
2018, ISGP Research Award, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
2017, Ibn Battuta Award for Field Research, UBC, Dr. Firoz Verjee, Vancouver.
Faculty of Graduate Studies Award, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
2016, Faculty of Graduate Studies Award, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
2015, Residency at Ferndale Writer & Artist Residency, Ferndale Washington.
Faculty of Graduate Studies Award, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
2014, Faculty of Graduate Studies Award”, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
Art and Science Award, Concordia University, Montreal.
Nominated for Canada Council’s La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.
2013, Nominated for Canada Council’s La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
2012, AMS Gallery’s Annual Artist Residency, Vancouver.
2011, Elsie and Audrey Jang Scholarship in Cultural Diversity, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
2010, Faculty of Arts Graduate Award”, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
Roloff Beny Foundation Scholarship, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
2009, Art Directory of Middle East - Photography Prize, Art East, Dubai.
2007, The 4th Iranian Festival of Marine Photos, Public Relations & International Affairs of Ports & Shipping Organization, Tehran.
2006, The 2nd Annual Golestan Award, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran.
Publication
Selected Essays, Catalogues and Journals
2026, (Upcoming) Everyday Revolutions, Edited by Grant Kester, Saba Zavarei (TBA), (Book/Anthology).
2024, Rethinking the Contemporary Art of Iran, Edited by Hamid Keshmirshekan, Skira editore, Italy (Book/Anthology).
2023, Polemics, Alain Badiou, Critique of Political Economy Journal, Chapters 1 & 10 (Foreword and Translation into Farsi)
What is it to be ‘from the left’, Gilles Deleuze, Radio Zamaneh Journal (Foreword and Translation into Farsi).
2022, Re-published: Pandemic: Time for a Transversal Political Imagination, Triple Ampersand Journal (Essay).
Thought-Activism and the Poiesis of that which Is Not, University of British Columbia (Doctoral Dissertation).
2021, Art: Sensory Alibi or Discursive Argumentation? Ali Ahadi in Interview with Babak Golkar, QOQQOON Journal, Issue #6 (Interview).
Art, Discourse, and The Visitor, Ali Ahadi in Interview with Babak Golkar”, Ephemera Journal, Pansion Publication Projects (Interview).
2020, Signal Chain and the Break in its Chain of Signification, Essay on Steven Cottingham Exhibition, Alternator Gallery Publication (Essay).
Pandemic: Time for Transversal Political Imagination, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge Magazine (SDUK), Issue #7, Tilting, Blackwood Gallery (Essay).
2019, Teer Art Week Book, Shit Yes Academy (Book/Anthology).
2017, A Metaphoric Approach to a Metonymic Displacement, Photography Magazine (Essay).
2014, Membering and Remembering: Collectivity and the Question of Meaning, Essay on Babak Golkar’s Exhibition: Dialectic of Failure, West Vancouver Museum Publication (Essay).
Three Metamorphosis of Spirit in Reverse: On Control and Semantic Institutions, Essay on Payam Mofidi’s Exhibition: Cohesive Disorder, Asar Art Gallery Publication (Essay).
2011, Talk, Iranian Journal of Visual Arts, Self Portrait Special Issue, Issue #3 (Interview).
VASA Newsletter, AHVA Press, Issue #2 (Interview).
2007, The 4th Iranian Festival of Marine Photos: Two photographs and an exhibition essay, Ports & Maritime (Book/Anthology).
2006, The 2nd Annual Golestan Award, Exhibition Book: One photograph and an exhibition essay (Book/Anthology).
Books, Anthologies, and Catalogues
2024 (Due out), Shit Yes Academy (Goh Ballet Academy), Exhibition Book with a Collection of Essays by Gareth James, Mohammad Salemy, Matt Browning and Ali Ahadi, Ag Galerie Press, Tehran (Iran)
2024, Rethinking the Contemporary Art of Iran, Edited by Hamid Keshmirshekan, Artist: Ali Ahadi, “Societal and Cultural Resonance”, p.92-93, Skira editore, Italy (2024) –– (Book/Anthology)
2019, “Shit Yes Academy (Goh Ballet Academy)”, Ali Ahadi, Teer Art Week 2019 Book, Tehran Iran (Book Anthologies)
2007, “The 4th Iranian Festival of Marine Photos”, Exhibition Book: Two photographs and an exhibition essay published, Ports & Maritime, p. 73-74, Tehran – (Book Anthologies)
2006, “The 2nd Annual Golestan Award”, Exhibition Book: One photograph and an exhibition essay published, Silver Sculpture, p. 14-15, Tehran – (Book Anthologies)
Critical Reviews and Essays on my Works
2024, “Alibaba Conundrum at Griffin Art Projects”, (Review of Alibaba Conundrum Exhibition at the Griffin Art Projects), Ido Radon, Peripheral Review Journal, February 2024.
2023, “Let’s Get Messed Up: The shock of sex, power and subversions of what we hold dear crackle and pop in a provocative new art show”
(Review of Alibaba Conundrum Exhibition at the Griffin Art Projects), Dorothy Woodend, The Tyee, March 10, 2023.
2023, “L’hégémonie de la langue anglaise à la loupe du duo Alibaba Conundrum”, Amélie Lebrun, La Source, Vol 23, No 16 – 7 au 21 mars 2023
2023, “Alibaba Conundrum: New exhibition turns critical eye on global dominance of English language and Christianity”, Nick Laba, North Shore News, Febuary 9, 2023
2021, by Leigh Tennant, “A nutter essay (peership)”, QOQQOON Journal, Vancouver, Canada
2020, by Gareth James, “Here’s Shit in Your Eye”, Essay on Ali Ahadi’s Solo Exhibition, Shit Yes Academy (Goh Ballet Academy), Ag Galerie Press, Tehran Iran
2020, by Matt Browning, “Taking a Signifier, Making a Signifier”, Essay on Ali Ahadi’s Solo Exhibition, Shit Yes Academy (Goh Ballet Academy), Ag Galerie Press, Tehran Iran
2020, by Mohammad Salemy (Alphabet Collection), “Maquillage & Semiopticon: An Epistemological Study of Lace & Mirrors”, Essay on Ali Ahadi’s Solo Exhibition, Shit Yes Academy (Goh Ballet Academy), Ag Galerie Press, Tehran Iran
2018-2019, by Sara Sasanee, “The Arrival of Excrement”, Review of Ali Ahadi’s Solo Exhibition, Shit Yes Academy (Goh Ballet Academy), Iranart Online, Iranart.ir
2013, by Kevin Griffin, “Encyclonospace Iranica: Say Goodbye to the White Cube”, The Vancouver Sun, http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/09/29/encyclonospace-iranica-say-goodbye-to-the-white-cube/
2012, by Cayley Malo, “Ali Ahadi, Here There Nowhere, Flaccid Means Without End”, Decoy Magazine, Vancouver British Columbia, http://decoymagazine.ca/here-there-nowhere-flaccid-means-without-end-2/
2012, by Mohammad Salemy, “Language and the Eventuality of the Avant-garde”, Hail to the Destroyers, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, p. 3-5
2012, by Mohammad Salemy, “Cyclical Rejection & Viral Transformation A literal reading of Ali Ahadi’s recent work Warning Use by Other than Registered owner Prohibited by Law”, http://dadabasenyc.com/projects/warning-use-by-other-than-registered-owner-prohibited-by-law/
2012, by Ahmad Tabrizi, “On Here There Nowhere, Flaccid Means Without End”, Grunt Gallery Journal, Vancouver
Selected Jurying, Conferences, Curatorial, Scholarly, and other Public Practices
2024, Keynote Speaker (Paper Delivery) and Panel Discussion, ‘The Secular Visitor: A Discourse on the Contradictions of Space and Art with Life, “Thought-Activism” and the Work of Art”: A Lecture by Ali Ahdi’, Sarasar Institute, Tehran, Iran.
2023, Panel Discussion, (Paper Delivered), “I think therefore I am, said Descartes. ‘I think I am, anyway’, Replied the monster, ‘what do you think of my being?’”, Ali Ahadi, Alibaba Conundrum Artist Talk & Panel Discussion, Griffin Art Projects, April 2023
2021, Nominator, The Annual Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize, The Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver, Canada
2021, Keynote Responder & Panel Participant, “Object-Oriented Ontology and its Aesthetics: An Introduction with Graham Harman”.
Invited to take part in a panel discussion as a responder to the keynote speaker, the philosopher Graham Harman, Pejman Foundation, Tehran, Iran (Online).
Keynote Speaker: Graham Harman.
Responders: Ali Ahadi, Niki Young, Jon Cogburn, and Arman Farahmand.
2021, Artist Talk: “History of Instibotomy”, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2021, Peer Assessor, for Visual Arts Assistance Grants, BCAC (British Columbia Arts Council).
2020, Research Consultant for Dr. Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani, Associate Professor in the department of World Languages and Literature, Simon Fraser University.
2020, Panelist: “The Notion of ‘Normal’ in the Light of Covid-19 Pandemic”, Panel Discussion, with Jean Swanson (Vancouver City Councellor) and Rozhin Emadi (Activist), Vancouver, Canada (Online)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_1WoPVQyPI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2_fVINYXFy-WQj0x642omHnDRm8_J9XPVOBRcwNVnXQSBJsV1YR4PSCsM
2020, Panelist: “Re-reading Guy Debord’s Psychogeographical Tactic in the Age of ‘Integrated Spectacle’”, Panel Discussion, Bidar Institute of Art and Literature, Tehran, Iran (Online)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUp0BQH7ayg&t=1205s&fbclid=IwAR02vHt9japTbel3sbyLOtBx7A6WDosGHC7-s8ZrS-uQOEhdrWZ-XDuEkAA
2020, Artist Talk: “Seeing is Nothing Other than Saying”, Artist Talk, Bidar Institute of Art and Literature, Tehran, Iran (Online) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC8CquHvM2o&t=148s&fbclid=IwAR3EI2T98zes2_4hKV4YOpytvAHJHgha7UTQz3EImrZ8lStxrKNV0V5bMwI
2020, Jury: The Humanities and Social Science Conference 2020, The Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS), Culture and Media, University of British Columbia, (Invited to be a part of the judge panel).
2018-2019, Panelist: Panel Discussion and Critique Session on “Goh Ballet Academy (Shit Yes Academy)” Exhibition by Ali Ahadi, with Attendance of Homayoun Sirizi, Dr. Navid Naderi, Milad Rostami and Ali Ahadi, Organized and Invited by Kaarnamaa Art Magazine, Tehran, Iran
2017-2018, Board Member: Member of the Board of Directors at Vancouver’s Grunt Gallery.
2016, Artist Talk: “This, too, is not [ ].”, The Lajevardi Art Foundation, Tehran, Iran
2016, Artist Talk: “Also not a pipe, Ali Ahadi.”, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2015, Artist Talk: “What’s the good of this?”, Artist Talk, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2014, Conference (As responder to Keynote Speakers): “Incredible Machines: Digitality and the Modern System of Knowledge at the Threshold of the 21st Century”, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Vancouver British Columbia
(Contributed a paper as responder to keynote Speakers, Reza Negarestani, Daniel Sacilotto)
http://incrediblemachines.info/respondents/ahadi/
2013, Curatorial Commitee: “Member of the curatorial and the exhibition selection committee”, Grunt Gallery, Vancouver British Columbia
2011, Symposium: “No Rules: Negotiating Art and Deregulation”, Art & Education Symposium, Cooper Union, New York USA