Rashin Fahandej
Transdisciplinary Artist / Independent Filmmaker
“Fahandej is rarely explicit, but she sets her scene with an opening sequence of a man — who appears head to toe as an undulating visual swirl, unrecognizable — speaking frankly about his life, past to present. He tells the story of a man knocking on the door when he was 12, and learning, in that moment, that this stranger was his father, returned from prison. His brief story ends almost offhandedly with his adult experience of going to jail when his own children are 7 and 3, not to be released until they’ve reached their 20s. “The main question from all of them is, ‘Why did you leave?’ ” he says, before his quivering form disperses like sand in a stiff wind. “A Father’s Lullaby” has no answer, because no answer is enough.”
I worked with composer Christian Gentry to create a live multimedia participatory improvisation. It was a 12 channel audio and 2 channel live video recording. Participants were encouraged to record their voices singing a lullaby or sharing memories. Their voices were folded into the live composition and became part a growing tapestry of a geolocated sound map.
NYU, New York, NY
Intimate Aesthetics: Methodologies for Cultivating Inclusive Participatory Spaces of Deep Reflection at CAA, a panel and conversation with my wonderful colleagues from MIT Open Documentary Lab, Andrew Demirjian, and Nadav Assor. We presented our projects and addressed the question: In an era of constant and divisive media environments, how can intimate sensory experiences create more inclusive spaces for deep reflection and actions toward positive social change and engagement?
We discussed our common interest in exploring the capacity of sound in augmented, virtual and immersive environments to bring communities together, transgress borders and expose gaps in how we frame our views; as well as our interest in cultivating phenomenological engagements with sound that create a visceral, haptic or perceptual experience for the listener/participant. The panel shared practice-based methodologies for creating participatory and collaborative environments that require public interaction to activate the artwork.
College Art Association Conference, Chicago
February 12-15, 2020
This year, I am part of the cohort of lead artists for 2020 at American Arts Incubator, with Ellen Pearlman, Gabriel Kaprielian, Lori Hepner, Wendy Levy, Santiago X
“These American artists will act as cultural envoys, using artistic collaboration to foster new relationships built upon common social values and the collective exploration of difference. They will travel abroad to collaborate with local communities in each exchange country during a month-long incubator, transferring skills in art, technology, and entrepreneurship. Through digital and new media art workshops, they will facilitate dialogue and explorations of a locally relevant social challenge.”
Installation shot from A Father’s Lullaby at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
I was proud to exhibit A Father’s Lullaby at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in fall of 2019, along with three other artists, as part of the Foster Prize. The exhibition marked several years of research, local engagement, and public installations on the issue of mass incarceration and fatherhood.
“The 2019 installment of the ICA’s biennial James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition highlighting the work of Boston-area artists will feature four individuals: Rashin Fahandej (b. 1978, Shiraz, Iran), Josephine Halvorson (b. 1981, Brewster, MA), Lavaughan Jenkins (b. 1976, Boston, MA), and Helga Roht Poznanski (b. 1927, Tartu, Estonia). This intergenerational group of artists works across media including painting, sculpture, film, and video to explore questions of place, portraiture, and belonging. Their unique and exceptional work demonstrates the breadth and ecology of contemporary art practices in Boston.”
August- December 2019
This winter, I joined other innovators in the field for the panel Pioneers in Volumetric Filmmaking. The link to the full panel can be on the Volumetric Filmmakers NYC Facebook page here.
Volumetric Filmmaking Summit, Hudson Yards, NY
December 13, 2019
As part of the public programming for A Father’s Lullaby at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, I facilitated the conversation Intervening in Mass Incarceration: Narrative to Action with an expert panel including: Mnseesha Gellman, Director of Emerson Prison Initiative and Associate Professor of Political Science; Kevin Lockhart, Boston Federal Probation Office; Danielle Rousseau, PhD LMHC, Assistant Professor in Criminology at Boston University, background in clinical forensic psychology; Jeff Smith, Supervising U.S. Probation Officer, District of Massachusetts, Nurturing Fathers program facilitator; with opening remarks by Kevin Sibley, Director of the Boston Office of Returning Citizens.
ICA, Boston
Dec 10, 2019
This event, along with a description of the project and programming is featured on Emerson Today, “VMA Professor’s ‘Poetic Cyber Movement’ Tackles Mass Incarceration at the ICA” by Erin Clossey.
I participated in the panel Access and Equity in Emerging Media, with Anya Belkina (Artist), Sarah Wolozin (Director MIT OpenDoc Lab), Sarah Zaidan (Ph.D, Professor/Practitioner) Moderated and organized by Cristina Kotz Cornejo.
Women in Film and Media Summit, Emerson College
Nov 18, 2019
I was a participant in Future Imagination Summit which brought together artists, scientists, theorists, social justice warriors, cultural and other leaders, to respond to the question: If so many are working towards a future marked by elevated beauty and authentic inclusion, why aren’t we seeing greater impact?
NYU Tisch School of the Arts, NY
Nov 7-8, 2019
As part of Emerson’s Teach-in on Race, I joined colleagues on the panel, Building Communication Through Art with: Johnette Ellis, Mother Mercy, Alex Charalambides, Managing Director of Mass Leap (Massachusetts Literary Education and Performance), and Moderator, Jae Williams, filmmaker and affiliated faculty, Visual and Media Arts
Emerson College, Boston, MA
October 18, 2019
I was excited and honored to join the other 2019 James and Audrey Foster Prize recipients for the Opening Reception and Artist Talk of our exhibition. With Josephine Halvorson, Lavaughan Jenkins, and Helga Roht Poznanski, we came together for a public conversation on art and life in Boston as visual artists.
Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston, MA
Sept 26, 2019
photo credit: Ken McGagh, Daily News and Wicked Local Staff
Opening Reception for Public Sound Installation
Edwards Church, Open Spirit Framingham
Framingham, MA
Sept 8th, 2019
The piece was a public sound installation that brought. together the voices of some of the men Rashin worked with, from. Lenox Street Projects in Boston. She wove together parts of their stories and songs to meditate on the affects that mass incarceration has had on these men’s experiences of intimacy, family, and love.
More background on this piece is discussed in “Framingham artist holds sound installation at Open Spirit about mass incarceration” by Lauren Young, for the MetroWest Daily News.
″(How), in a democratic society, could it be that violence is such a strong component of children being raised here?” she [Fahandej] said.
Instead of focusing on the “criminality” of her installation subjects at face value, the Framingham resident focuses on their childhood, and how the dismantling of families furthers this cycle of violence, morphing into long-term, generational consequences, she said.
Panelist for Disrupting the System, hosted by Ingrid Kopp with Tamara Shogaolu, Razan AlSalah, and Rashin Fahandej
Expanded Realities Symposium, Open City Film Festival
London, UK
Sept 6th, 2019
The session brought together a line-up of digital artists whose work looks to investigate and challenge the power structures within our society to explore the power of technology and subvert the dominant narrative.
Artist in Residence at ThoughtWorks Arts, in partnership with Scatter
Rashin Fahandej will explore volumetric filmmaking using Depthkit, expanding her practice, and enhancing possibilities for visual poetry. She will be in residence at ThoughtWorks Arts from June 10 to September 27, 2019, and her project is slated to be shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston, MA.
Rashin and her work are included in the ARTery’s Millenials of Color Impacting Boston Arts and Culture.
Rashin is featured on WBUR’s Artery, speaking about her experiences as a Baha’i immigrant and how this has shaped her work.
“I think if it wasn't [for] these experiences I probably would have not chosen to be an artist. I think I chose to be an artist because I was thinking about the power of art as a way of giving voice to social issues.”
Link to the full article here.
Recipient of the 2019 James and Audrey Foster Prize
(Boston, MA—October 19, 2018) Rashin Fahandej, Josephine Halvorson, Lavaughan Jenkins, and Helga Roht Poznanski have been named the recipients of the 2019 James and Audrey Foster Prize
Rashin joins the faculty at Emerson College as Assistant professor of Interactive and Emerging Media, in the Department of Visual and Media Arts
Sept, 2019
Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellow, 2019
As a research fellow at MIT Open Documentary Lab, in 2016, Rashin develops her use of new media technologies for A Father’s Lullaby.
Premiere of a series of documentary short films commissioned by Mayor’s Office of Art and Culture, Directed and Produced by Rashin Fahandej
IN-SIGHT BOSTON @ DUDLEY AFTER DARK
Find IN-SIGHT Boston table and join us for art activities, color maps of Boston, sound recordings, singing lullabies and voice your opinion on the Dudley Square Triangle, Judge Gourdin Park (intersection of Dudley, Shawmut, Washington and Malcolm X)
We hope to tap into personal memories and childhood experiences to create a common emotional space and to contemplate on how to address the issue of violence and its impact on our communities.
IN-SIGHT Boston table from 6-8 pm. Other activities include: Music, community resources and food from 7-8. Movie screening at 8.
IN-SIGHT Boston @ JP Porchfest
Join us for an afternoon of music and participatory art activities. Sing lullabies, paint and color maps of Boston, engage in conversations and voice your opinion. We hope to tap into personal memories of the community members and their childhood experiences to create a common emotional space in which we can contemplate on how to address the issue of violence and its impact on our society.
Boston AIR: City of Boston, Artist-in-residence program, Artist Cohort, 2015
"City names candidates for artist-in-residence program," Malcolm Gay, The Boston Globe, October 23 2015
"City of Boston Selects 11 Locals for New Artist-in-Residence Program," Olga Khvan, Boston Magazine, October 23 2015
Mayor Walsh Announces Selection of 11 Artists for Boston's Artist-In-Residence Program, www.cityofboston.gov/news, October 23 2015
Mass Art Film Society Screening and Conversation, October 28 2015
St. Botolph Club Foundation Visual Award Recipient Exhibition, 2014