biography

Kasra Goodarznezhad draws on experiences of discontent in both Tehran and Toronto to depict moments of release. His work offers the potential for either hope or profound disappointment, and the audience is often left unsure of which they are meant to feel. He works with media pulled from the worlds he inhabits - the fog, strobe and lights of an after-hours club; the sweat of those evading arrest during a fiercely-contested protest; or the digital tools of memory and recall for those left dispossessed. 

Dissatisfied with rigidity, Kasra sees the city as a site of potential resistance and renewal.  His artistic production attempts to narrativize moments in time. Whether on a rooftop in Iran where protestors have come to gather, or standing before 72 hanging tulips helpless before a series of motorized fans, audiences are left to linger on the larger reality from which these moments are drawn.

As a curator, he prefers art and artists that offer the potential for release. Coherence is rarely the desired end, but rather the entropic potential latent in difference. Kasra curated 41 works in a tight space over two days as part of the Carnival of Algorithmic Culture. Rather than offer a single, coherent theme, each attendee was obligated to make their own meaning from a chaotic dialogue of voices. 

As an organizer, he manifests new ways to undermine the hegemony of oppressive structures. Some efforts persist while others release violently allowing energies to be leveraged elsewhere. Kasra founded KOMITE which conducted intense activity over four years before disbanding as quickly as they had formed. 

Kasra holds a BFA in Integrated Media from OCAD University in Toronto. He has been working as an artist, musician, and curator since 2011 and has exhibited work in Canada , Berlin, Napoli, Milan, Reykjavik, London, and Bristol. Galleries and locations include Trinity Square Video (CA), MUTEK (CA), Nuit Blanche (CA), Kunstquartier Bethanien (DE), SÍM Hlöðuloftið (IS), Pervasive Media Studio (UK), and msdm (UK).

contact@cassraa.com