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Bodies,Languages,Truths
Video
Practice being free #1
00:43

Practice being free #1

YOU MAY STOP BY
05:00

YOU MAY STOP BY

fresh air
08:08

fresh air

May 2020, still at home, just like everyone else. "fresh air" is the second of two experimental visual art films created during quarantine exploring the body's relationship to its now overly familiar surroundings while at the same time observing the utter separation from the outside world.
AMERICA IS GREAT
07:00

AMERICA IS GREAT

WAKE ME UP
09:37

WAKE ME UP

WAKE ME UP October 7th, 2018 Corner of 23rd St & Broadway New York, NY Documented by: Kelsi Giguere I was to sit upright on the chair, amongst the passers-by, until my body, as a mechanical life, could no longer stay awake. After five hours of sitting, a young African-American stood in front of me and tried to read my action. We had a short conversation while I was sitting on the chair. After that, he shook my hand and raised me up.
SOUNDBOX
16:32

SOUNDBOX

Documentation of live performance, Oct. 2019.
sometimes art begins with a question - sometimes art ends with a question
30:00

sometimes art begins with a question - sometimes art ends with a question

Documentation of the May 1st, 2020, border-free Zoom performance.
The Artist at Home
33:02

The Artist at Home

April 2020, at home, just like everyone else. "The Artist at Home" is the first of two experimental visual art films created at home during quarantine exploring the body's relationship to its now overly familiar surroundings while at the same time observing the utter separation from the outside world.
Seeing or Not Seeing
03:00

Seeing or Not Seeing

For some time I`ve thought about how we could access the insight from the physical eye and comprehend the concept of “seeing”. Therefore, I decided to explore an experience of my idea through my eyes then share it with the public. So, for few weeks I would close my eyes for hours at a time to experience blindness and then when I reopened them, what first passed through my eyes were very simple things like spots of colors. In the process of completing this project, I worked with blind people to train them for working together as performer for a 15 days’ workshop, familiarizing with the medium of performance art, meditation (body scan technique), discussion about the concept and the event`s goal. Through the event, while audiences were coming to the space gallery, they had to pass the first part. There were 3 large monochromes of Red, Blue and Yellow on the wall. Then they could continue to the second part. In that part we had 16 stools set in 8 right across each other. Eight blind performers sat on one set of the stools, and then I sat on the first stool across from them, leaving the rest of the stools empty for the public to come join us. In this event audiences had opportunity to seat in front of each blind performer for any length of time to create a relationship with them by dialogue energy. This performance ran for three hours long.
My Story

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the moments

i`m counting the stairs

you may count your breath

i`m counting the stairs

you may count your blinks

i`m counting the stairs

you may count your heartbeats

i`m counting the stairs

you may count your hairs

i`m counting the stairs

you may count your fingers

i`m counting the stairs

you may count your steps

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the man

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the walls, streets or stop signs

i`m  counting the stairs

you may count the dead ends

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the gods

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the colors

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the rulers

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the right

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the left

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the political prisoners

i`m counting the stairs

you may count 12345678987654321

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the injured

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the killed

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the refugees

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the peas

i`m counting the stairs

you may count peace

i`m counting the stairs

you may count senses

i`m counting the stairs

you may count nonsenses

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the rich

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the broken bones

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the stairs too

i`m counting the stairs

you may count the stars

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Gallery

WE ALL ARE SAFE HERE, 2022 curated by Hector Canonge Performance Art USA: IMPROMPTUS Festival, Brooklyn, New York Photo: Yolanda Duarte

WE ALL ARE SAFE HERE, 2022 curated by Hector Canonge Performance Art USA: IMPROMPTUS Festival, Brooklyn, New York Photo: Hector Canonge

WE ALL ARE SAFE HERE, 2022 curated by Hector Canonge Performance Art USA: IMPROMPTUS Festival, Brooklyn, New York Photo: Simla Civelek

Untitled (she died for having the wind in her hair), 2022 Artist’s hair on canvas 40” x 70”

Untitled (an Iranian self-portrait), 2022 Photo: Kathryn Fjeld

Untitled (an Iranian self-portrait), 2022 Photo: Kathryn Fjeld

وَگیسُوانِ مان 2022

وَ تنِ مان 2022 Photo: Kathryn Fjeld

وَدهانِ مان 2022 Photo: Kathryn Fjeld

I AM A WO[MAN] 2022

Untitled (an Iranian self-portrait), 2022 Photo: Kathryn Fjeld

Untitled (an Iranian self-portrait), 2022 Photo: Amir Sharif

Let Me Out, performance still, 2021 West 14th Street, New York, NY AiOP Festival (Art in Odd 2021 Places: NORMAL) Photo: Sam Tarplin

Let Me Out, performance still, 2021 West 14th Street, New York, NY AiOP Festival (Art in Odd 2021 Places: NORMAL) Photo: Sam Tarplin

Let Me Out, performance still, 2021 West 14th Street, New York, NY AiOP Festival (Art in Odd 2021 Places: NORMAL) Photo: Sam Tarplin

Let Me Out, performance still, 2021 West 14th Street, New York, NY AiOP Festival (Art in Odd 2021 Places: NORMAL)Photo: Sam Tarplin

Let Me Out, performance still, 2021 West 14th Street, New York, NY AiOP Festival (Art in Odd 2021 Places: NORMAL) Photo: Sam Tarplin

Let Me Out, performance still, 2021 West 14th Street, New York, NY AiOP Festival (Art in Odd 2021 Places: NORMAL) Photo: Sam Tarplin

An Image of Confusion, performance still, March 2021 Photo: Kathryn Fjeld After 149 migrants (including children) were surprisingly escorted onto the U.S. Paso del Norte bridge and handed off to Mexican authorities, I covered my head with a mirrored cube and stood still on the crosswalk.

I am one, but I am one + one + one + one..., 2019 Art-Life piece (silent strike in protest to rejection of the FREE CAGED CHILDREN project) University of Massachusetts Amherst Photo: Sam Tarplin

I am one, but I am one + one + one + one..., 2019 Photo: Sam Tarplin

I am one, but I am one + one + one + one..., 2019 Photo: Sam Tarplin

Created in response to the bigotry, racism, and xenophobia made acceptable by the Trump administration and its violent immigration policies. Dear NOT American-American (detail), participatory performance-installation, 2019

"Dear NOT American-American, compels the American audience to consider their identity with an ethnicity heretofore ‘unseen’: uniquely ‘American-American.’ … Only hyphenated, ‘impure’ Americans are invited to make their mark on the canvas built in the aspect ratio of the dollar bill.” Young Min Moon

Dear NOT American-American, participatory performance-installation, 2019 wherever i may be, the sky is mine (group exhibition) Curated by Young Min Moon Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts Amherst

At a time of escalated military tensions between the U.S and Iran, my daughter and I (an Iranian family), and our neighbors (an American family), walked throughout NYC and stood still in different places. At each stop, we would leave our free hands open for the audience as an invitation to join the action. August, 2019, New York, NY Photo by an audience member: Lucia Bekes

Wake Me Up, performance still, 2018 Corner of 23rd St & Broadway, New York, NY Photo: Kelsi Giguere

Wake Me Up, performance still, 2018 Corner of 23rd St & Broadway, New York, NY Photo: Kelsi Giguere

Wake Me Up, performance still, 2018 Corner of 23rd St & Broadway, New York, NY Photo: Kelsi Giguere

Wake Me Up, performance still, 2018 Corner of 23rd St & Broadway, New York, NY Photo: Kelsi Giguere

The Sound of the Wind, sculptural installation, 2018 (post-rejection piece of I’ll dance with you in the wind) ALTER/ALTAR (group exhibition) Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts Amherst Photo: Kelsi Giguere

The Sound of the Wind (detail), sculptural installation, 2018 Photo: Kelsi Giguere

The Sound of the Wind, sculptural installation, 2018 Photo: Kelsi Giguere

The Sound of the Wind, sculptural installation, 2018 Photo: Kelsi Giguere

The Sound of the Wind, sculptural installation, 2018 Photo: Kelsi Giguere

The Sound of the Wind (detail), sculptural installation, 2018 Photo: Kelsi Giguere

The Sound of the Wind (detail), sculptural installation, 2018 Photo: Kelsi Giguere

Contact

Nima Nikakhlagh is a multidisciplinary artist, native to Iran, who arrived in the United States in 2014. He is currently living and raising his daughter in Western Massachusetts. His practice concerns itself with socio-political power dynamics, political resistance, and non-violent action approached in a poetic manner. Notably, he studied photography and film with Abbas Kiarostami over the course of several years and recently received his MFA in Studio Arts from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Nima's works have appeared/been performed in Tehran (two consecutive years at the annual Performance Art Festival Thirty Performances, Thirty Artists, Thirty Days 2013, and 2014); San Francisco Art Institute (2016); AiOP Festival (Art in Odd Places 2021: NORMAL) in New York City; the International VIDEOFORMES Festival (2022) in Clermont-Ferrand, France; the Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery in Torino, Italy (2022); Art Active Gallery in Passau, Germany (2022); Wild Out Video Festival in Taiwan (2022); PAUSA: IMPROMPTUS (a live performance program) in New York City (2022); and Fine Arts Gallery in Landmark College, Vermont. He recently published his first literary-performative book Bodies, Languages, Truths. Nima is presently a Lecturer and Director of the Herter Art Gallery at UMass Amherst. 

Contact:
nimanikakhlaghstudio@gmail.com

© 2023 Nima Nikakhlagh

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