SOLMAZ FARHANG: MIND YOUR SENSATIONS

Solmaz Farhang is a London-based interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans photography, video, drawing, assemblage and multimedia installation. Trained in both art and science, she is a graduate of the MA Art and Science programme at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She is also a co-founder of the art and design collective Danube Transformation Agency for Agency (DTAFA), and an Associate Lecturer at University of the Arts London.

Central to Farhang’s practice is an engagement with the boundaries of perception - both sensory and epistemological. Her work frequently enters domains of scientific research and ecological observation, using siteresponsive methodologies and found or unconventional materials. Rather than positioning herself as a specialist, Farhang embraces the position of the ‘informed outsider’, turning disciplinary limits into conceptual and material opportunities.

Above 0.74 µm (2012)

In Above 0.74 µm, Farhang employs thermal imaging - rarely used in artistic contexts - to document bodily presences and hidden environments beyond the visible spectrum. The resulting thermographic photographs explore the limitations of human perception and the constructedness of knowledge. A follow-up series of prints, produced using the alugraphie hand-printing technique, translated digital thermographic imagery into tactile, analogue form.

How to Become an Island – The Bootcamp (2024)

Farhang’s collaborative installation How to Become an Island – The Bootcamp, produced with DTAFA, positions the human body as a speculative site for ecological care. Developed along the Danube River and in dialogue with ornithologists and environmental scientists, the project responds to habitat loss by inviting participants to train - physically and mentally - to become a suitable breeding ground for the endangered Little Ringed Plover. The methodology combined site-specific research, participatory sculpture, performance, and video installation, offering an alternative mode of environmental activism grounded in affect and co-dependence.

In Therapy with North Sea (2025)

Commissioned by Absolutely Cultured in partnership with the University of Hull’s Energy and Environment Institute, In Therapy with North Sea further develops Farhang’s interest in multisensory and participatory installation. The work comprises three experiential stations - To Breathe With, To Dream Up, and To Listen To - constructed from scaffolding netting, air and gutter tubes, found marine objects, and recorded audio. These environments invited visitors to share space and reflect alongside the North Sea as both subject and collaborator. The project explores shifting ecologies of coastlines while engaging with broader narratives of climate change, resilience, and memory.


Portrait in the Lab (2013)

During a residency in the Laboratory of Limnology at the University of Vienna, Farhang developed Portrait in the Lab - a photographic inquiry into dual subjectivity. While observing the behaviour of migratory fish larvae in controlled environments, she positions herself - an artist and migrant - as both outsider and participant. The resulting photographic series documents these encounters, using the camera as an apparatus to explore visibility, alienation, and mutual influence. In doing so, the project underscores the porous boundaries between scientific inquiry and personal reflection.

Farhang’s practice does not seek to represent knowledge, but to destabilise how it is made. Through embodied inquiry, unfamiliar tools, and crossdisciplinary collaborations, she challenges fixed hierarchies between human and non-human, expert and outsider. Her work insists that art can be a site of unlearning - where intimacy, speculation, and material experimentation become methods for reimagining our entangled futures.

Images: © Solmaz Farhang, Courtesy of the Artist

Editor: Mal H