Joshua Leon and Abbas Zahedi facilitate an open conversation about artistic practice, an iteration of their collaborative project Kounsel.
Kounsel (Abbas Zahedi & Joshua Leon) invite you to an open conversation On Absence.
In this conversation, the artists will explore how to research, think, and make with absence, treating it as a material substance within contemporary art practice, as a subject found in the archive, and understanding it as a tool to highlight institutional infrastructures.
Prompted by Leon’s exhibition, The Missing O and E, the conversation will be held in the exhibition space of Chisenhale Gallery, where the show is currently installed. The ambition of this conversation is to open up conceptual artistic discourse to an intimate public, creating space for intervention, disagreement, and joy through conversation.
Abbas Zahedi (b. 1984, London, UK), studied medicine at University College London, before completing his MA at Central Saint Martins in 2019. Abbas blends contemporary philosophy, poetics, and social dynamics with performative and new-media modes. Selected exhibitions include: Holding a Heart in Artifice, Nottingham Contemporary (2023); Metatopia 10013, Anonymous Gallery, New York (2022); The London Open 2022, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2022); Postwar Modern, Barbican, London (2022); Testament, Goldsmiths CCA, London (2022); Temporary Compositions, Gallery 31 Somerset House, London (2021); Yarmonics 2021, Great Yarmoth, UK (2021); D.E.VALUATION, Mécènes du Sud, Montpellier (2021); 11 & 1, Belmacz, London (2021); Governmental Fires, FUTURA, Prague (2021); In Hindsight…, Bladr, Copenhagen (2020); Ouranophobia SW3, Chelsea Sorting Office, London (2020); How To Make A How From A Why?, Fire Station, South London Gallery, London (2020); Degree Show, Central Saint Martins, London (2019); The Age of New Babylon, Lethaby Gallery, London (2018); Diaspora Pavilion, (ICF), Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2018); appetite, Apiary Studios, London (2018); Diaspora Pavilion, (ICF), Palazzo Pisani a Santa Marina, Venice (2017); rb&hArts, Royal Brompton Hospital, London (2008). Abbas is an associate lecturer at the Royal College of Art (London), as well as teaching at universities across the UK and abroad.
Joshua Leon is a writer, poet, and artist based in London. Selected exhibitions include: Itinéraire Fantôme, CAPC, Bordeaux (2024); Presque Partout, 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, Metz (2024); ARCHIVE AS..., Kunstverein München, Munich (2023); Revision, PEER Gallery, London (2022); POST, Barbican, London (2022); Expo en boîte, 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, Metz (2022); Governmental Fires, FUTURA, Prague (2021); Loose Routes Along the Familiar, Madonna del Pozzo, Spoleto (2021); Attendance(s) Close to the Close, Daily Practice, Rotterdam (2020); The Same Tendency, Summer Hall Place, Edinburgh (2019); and Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2018).
Access: The event will be taking place at Chisenhale Gallery. Chisenhale Gallery has flat access with an all-genders, fully accessible toilet. This event will be seated. Please note there is music in the exhibition. Earplugs and ear guards are available for visitors to use. Microphones will be used by all speakers during the event.This event will be documented for marketing and archival purposes. Please visit our Access and Facilities page for more information prior your visit.
We are committed to ensuring our events are accessible for all. Please contact [email protected] to discuss your access needs. We will endeavour to meet all requests where possible. Please be advised that requests should be made two weeks in advance of the event.
