it’s our pleasure to welcome Niloufar Shirani to our subnetAIR program 2025!
As every year, a mixture of local and international artistic positions has been sought out. The selected project proposals and persons are characterised by ambitious objectives and thematic relevance.
The jury’s decision was to give one subnetAIR slot to Niloufar Shirani because „she is convincing through her unique use of porcelain “as an infinite information source” in her project proposal Zahhak/Rudiment. Persian mythology and the timeless materiality of porcelain will meet video, sound and scientifically generated MRI images observing the physical brain, reflecting how we store data or loose information: biologically, physically and historically. By juxtaposing anatomical forms like the coccyx—a vestige of evolution—with imagery of brains affected by Alzheimer’s, the artist weaves a compelling dialogue about decay, memory, and human fragility.“
Niloufar Shirani on her project:
Ceramics, an ancient material, also plays an important role in science and technology in the modern world – be it in the shell of spacecraft or in medical prostheses. In the past, ceramics served as a medium for preserving writing and information on tablets, repeatedly crossing the boundary between art and science. As someone who is intensively involved with ancient Eastern themes, I can see a powerful connection between contemporary technology, ceramics as a material and meaningful historical concepts. This connection expands and enriches both fields. One example of this synergy is my project ‘Rudiment’, an installation that combines ceramic sculptures with video and clay elements and creates a contemporary interpretation of the human and animal body through anatomical forms.
It offers a contemporary interpretation of the ancient Persian myth of Zahhak, who is depicted in the story as a dragon-like king, who eats the brains of young humans. The project aims to reinterpret old mythological concepts through anatomical and scientific forms. Brain deterioration and the loss of
information are current problems that affect both humans and computer systems and are becoming increasingly important in the digital age.
Niloufar Shirani, born 1985 in Isfahan (Iran), graduated in Fine Arts (Painting and Sculpture) at the Universities of Tehran, Koblenz and Munich and is a laureate of CEU Loves Art, Art Award (Third Prize) 2023- The Club of Female European Entrepreneurs, LFA Förderbank Bayern 2020, DAAD scholarship holder 2018 and Polish Culture Ministry 2016. Shirani lives and works in Munich, Germany.
Picturecredit: Niloufar Shirani
subnetAIR26 will be calling this summer and deadlining on October 31st 2025.
subnetAIR Exhibitions:
2022 Medien.Kunst.Realitäten – Katalog
2018 possible bodies – Katalog
2015 Klanghypothesen – Katalog
subnetAIR 2016 -2022:
# Jana De Troyer – documentation
# Martina Fröschl – documentation
# Scarlett Yang
# Corrie Francis Parks (MediaART Stadt Salzburg) – documentation
# Chun Shao – documentation
# Katsuki Nogami – documentation
# Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka – documentation
# Nora Jacobs (MediaART Stadt Salzburg) – documentation
# Lukas Gwechenberger – documentation
# Stefan Tiefengraber – documentation
# Stefano Mori – documentation
# Simon Whetham – documentation
# Silvia Rosani and Tom Jacques – documentation
# Vera Sebert – documentation
# Michaela Schwentner – documentation
# Mac Krebernik – documentation
subnetAIR Ausstellung: possible bodies (2018) – Katalog
# Lale Rodgarkia-Dara – documentation
# Simon Faulhaber
# Georg Scherlin – documentation
# Iulia Radu
# Nicolò Cervello
# Robert B. Lisek – documentation
# Kanari Shirao – documentation
# Laura Splan documentation
#Antoni Raijekov – documentation
# Young Suk Lee – documentation
# Danny Bracken
# Lucie Strecker
2015subnetAIR Ausstellung: Klanghypothesen (2015) – Katalog
# Myriam Bleau
# Robert Praxmarer – documentation
# Nikolas Psaroudakis – documentation