BIOGRAPHY
Gelare Khoshgozaran (Tehran, 1986), an undisciplinary artist, investigates the legacy of imperial violence manifested in war, militarization, and borders. In their works, Khoshogozaran uses cinematographic film and video to present peripheral narratives aimed at questioning the current definitions of “home,” as well as a means to approach new conceptualizations of the idea of “belonging.” Their works have been presented at numerous international exhibitions and festivals, including Delfina Foundation, London; EMPAC, Troy (NY); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Images Festival (Toronto); MASS MoCA, North Adams (MA); and the New Museum, New York. Khoshgozaran studied photography at the University of Arts in Tehran and at the University of Southern California. They teach and carry out research at the Department of Arts at the University of California. They are members of the editorial board of X-TRA as well as editor of MARCH. A journal of art and strategy.
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WORK ON DISPLAY
The Retreat, 2023
16mm film converted to 4K video, color, sound
21:30 min
The film resulted from an “exile retreat” the artist conducted together with seven other participants, selected through an open call addressed to people whose return to their motherland was obstructed due to political causes or other circumstances. The group gathered at the Monistrol-d’Allier in the south of France, where it collectively reflected upon the relationship between mental health and the experience of political exile. One of the points of reference for the organization of this retreat was the experience of the nearby psychiatric hospital in Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole, where in the 1940s, Catalan psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles, escaping Franco’s regime, had started an “anti-detention” experience, disrupting the hierarchies among patients, doctors, and local community. Moreover, he made sure the hospital could also provide shelter to victims of political persecution.
In Khoshgozaran’s work, the idea of retreat opens up to the possibility of considering exile as a space of transnational solidarity, including the exiled people by virtue of their ability to produce knowledge, thus deactivating the image that traditionally identifies them as some sort of boogeymen.