OCAD University congratulates alum Rouzbeh Akhbari on being longlisted for the prestigious Sobey Art Award, alongside his collaborator Felix Kalmenson. Akhbari and Kalmenson make up Pejvak, their long-term collaboration since 2014.
Akhbari and Kalmenson’s collective Pejvak is one of 25 artists and art collectives longlisted for the award, the Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada recently announced. Globally recognized, the Sobey Art Award is a catalyst for the careers and work of Canadian artists.
Akhbari, who works in video installation and film, graduated from the University’s Sculpture/Installation program in 2016. According to his website, “his research-driven practice exists at the intersections of political economy, critical architecture and planning. Akhbari aims to uncover the minutiae of power that organizes and regiments the world around us through his work, which includes a delicate examination of the violences and intimacies that occur at the boundaries of lived experience and constructed histories.”
Pejvak is Akhbari and Kalmenson’s multivalent, intuitive approach to research and life, through which they have formed a convergence and entanglement with like-minded collaborators, histories and geographies.
Their collective work has been exhibited internationally at museums and galleries that include MAC VAL in Paris, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, M HKA in Antwerp, Z33 in Hasselt, and Si Shang Art Museum in Beijing.
Their films have been screened at numerous international film festivals, including the São Paulo International Film Festival, Doclisboa, Sharjah Film Platform, and Kasseler Dokfest, and they have won awards that include the Prix George at Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur in 2020.
As for the Sobey Art Award, five artists will be shortlisted from the longlist of 25. A total of $400,000 money will be awarded: $100,000 to the overall winner, $25,000 to each of the four shortlisted artists and $10,000 to the remaining longlisted artists. In addition, the five shortlisted artists will be featured in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in the fall of 2023.
In 2019, artist and OCAD U alum Stephanie Comilang was the overall winner of the Sobey Art Award, and received Canada's most prestigious contemporary art prize worth $100,000.
Many OCAD U alums have been shortlisted and longlisted for the Sobey Art Award in recent years. In 2022, Drawing and Painting grad Stephanie Temma Hier and Material Art and Design Azza El Siddique made the longlist, and Siddique progressed to the shortlist. In 2021, among the longlist were grads Jawa El Khash, Esmaa Mohamoud, Rajni Perera and collective Faraz Anoushahpour, Parastoo Anoushahpour and Ryan Ferko. Drawing and Painting grad Perera made the shortlist that year.