A workshop with Dr Sara Raza on how we develop ideas and knowledge by working with materials. Taking Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s art as our starting point, we explore how art, materials and craft come together through the concept of material intelligence.
Date: 18 November 2026
Time: 11:30–17:00
Venue: Moderna Museet, exhibition galleries and Verkstad 2
Language: English
Places available: 15
Participation: Free. Advance registration is required.
Registration: Email Michele Masucci at michele.masucci@kkh.se
About the workshop
Taking the work of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian as its starting point, this study day on Material Intelligence explores the relationship between artistic practices, embodied knowledge, craft and materiality. Monir’s engagement with geometry, mirrors and perception resonates with Sufi understandings of the imaginal as an intermediary realm in which spiritual meanings acquire sensible form, providing a context for an exploration of material intelligence and the the imaginal in the material.
Moving between contemporary artistic practice, art history, architecture and craft traditions, Material Intelligence examines forms of knowledge that emerge through the hand, repetition, gesture, technique and encounters with materials.
Bringing Farmanfarmaian’s practice into dialogue with Dr Sara Raza’s ongoing curatorial research into material cultures and embodied wisdom, developed through Hikmah, the inaugural exhibition of the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the study day centres craft as an evolving form of knowledge. In doing so, it approaches materials as both conduits for expression and active participants in the production and transmission of knowledge.
The study day includes a curatorial tour of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Tehran/New York with exhibition curator Asrin Haidari and Programme Curator Alexander Kateb, followed by an afternoon lecture by Dr Sara Raza and discussion exploring material intelligence through artistic, architectural and craft practices.
Schedule
11:30–12:30 – Curatorial Exhibition Tour of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Tehran/New York with curator Asrin Haidari and Programme Curator Alexander Kateb.
12:30–14:00 – Lunch Break
14:00–15:30 – Lecture: Material Intelligence with Dr Sara Raza exploring material intelligence, and the relationship between artistic and craft practices, bringing Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s work into dialogue with Raza’s ongoing curatorial research developed through the exhibition Hikmah.
15:30–15:45 – Break
15:45–17:00 – Discussion: Material Intelligence in Art and Craft reflecting on the themes of the study day considering how knowledge is produced through materials.
The study day is organized in collaboration with the Centre for Art and the Political Imaginar, together with The Royal Institute of Art andy HDK Valand. More about CAPIm (https://capim.se/en)
Read more about Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Tehran/New York at Moderna Museet.
About Dr Sara Raza
Dr Sara Raza is an award-winning curator, art historian and author specializing in global art and visual cultures from postcolonial and post-Soviet perspectives. She is the founder of Punk Orientalism Studio, New York, a Core Critic and faculty member at Yale School of Art, and Chief Curator at Large at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) Tashkent, where she served as the inaugural Artistic Director and Chief Curator. She is the author of Punk Orientalism: The Art of Rebellion (Black Dog Press, 2022).
Dr Raza has curated exhibitions and projects for biennials, festivals and museums, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Rubin Museum of Art, Galleria d’Arte Moderna and the 55th and 61st Venice Biennales, among others. She holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature and History of Art and an MA in 20th-Century Art History and Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London. She undertook MPhil and doctoral research at the Royal College of Art, London, and completed her PhD at Middlesex University, London.
