Setareh Shahbazi is the recipient of the Wi Di Mimba Wi Prize 2024.
Born in Teheran in 1978, Shahbazi studied Scenography and Media Arts at the State Academy for Art and Design, Karlsruhe and spent the following ten years living and working between Beirut, Tehran, Cairo and Berlin, where she has been based since 2013. As of 2020, she is also artistic co-director of KHF – Künstlerhof Frohnau, Berlin.
In a statement, Shahbazi said: ‘I am immensely grateful for this precious opportunity to work with the amazing team of SAVVY Contemporary and the many people that are needed to shift languages, perceptions and visibilities. In the specific context of Germany in 2024, I would like to use the opportunity this prize offers me and borrow the tongues, eyes and ears of friends and collaborators. Together, we share the gift of carrying multiple knowledges and have the power to challenge the German language by proposing artistic and poetic extensions towards twisting the power dynamics of the “Deutschungshoheit”: to borrow a striking word, beautifully performed by singer and activist Malonda, pointing out the conflation of “Deutsch’ (“German”) and “Deutungshoheit” (“interpretative sovereignty”).’
The award, set up by the foundation AKB Stiftung and SAVVY Contemporary and open to artists of colour based in Germany, allocates a working grant of €30,000, as well as provide funds to support the making of a new artwork.
