About Ehsan Fardjadniya:
I perceive art as a process to expose, progressively subvert or improve social and political issues. I position myself as an artist not only as perceiver and reflector but also as doer. Both because of the early experience of fleeing Iran in year 2000 due issues surrounding the publication of my caricature drawing as well as my curiosity regarding the role and function of art and art activism in society.
The combination of these two factors underlines my work, which investigates the interdependent relation between art and life. Art, in case of the publication of the aforementioned caricature, changed my life and transformed me into a political refugee who had to seek asylum in the Dutch system. This experience made me aware of power apparatuses, their mechanisms of domination, systems of racial and class exclusion and the function of satirical, critical and emancipatory art. How can the very art that brought me to this position emancipate me and other similar subjects? I aspire to explore and scrutinise the role and use of art and art activism, particularly in decoding societal mechanisms and making them dysfunctional, especially through the formation of subcultures and artistic and poetic resistance and emancipation movements. I see my work as connected to these goals as well as to my new society and community. Most of my work unfolds via performances and interventions in public space as well as social sculptures and participatory platforms and installations.