Nairy Baghramian

Nairy Baghramian was born in 1971, in Isfahan, Iran.[1] She relocated to Germany in 1985 as a teenager.[1][4] She attended Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin).[4]

Baghramian captures fleeting human poses in traditional materials such as marble and steel.[5] Inspired by dance classes she took as a child, Baghramian recalls her teacher speaking of the need to break down human movement into discrete elements.[3][5] Her work depicts abstract forms of bodies or body parts, often contemplating the brokenness or "prosthetic" relationship between the body and its environment.[6][7] In the Guggenheim video, Baghramian explains that sometimes she builds on the idea of "looking at something and feeling pity for it."[3] In addition, her work creates an interplay between the work itself and the spaces in which it exists.

For the Berlin Biennial she collaborated with ninety-eight-year-old designer Janette Laverrière to create a set for her furniture design.[8][9]

In 2017, Baghramian's exhibition, Déformation Professionnelle was on display in the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst.[10] This exhibition is the culmination of the artist's 18 sets of works from 1999 to 2016.[10] Déformation Professionnelle exhibits the artist's oeuvre while alluding to existing works in her field. By using sculpture elements and photography in a site-responsive practice, she questions the traditional views towards the relationship between the human body's gestures and their functions.[11]

In 2021, Baghramian received the 2022 Nasher Prize presented by the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas.[12] She was later a member of the jury that selected Senga Nengudi for the Nasher Prize in 2023.[13]

• 2019: SOFT POWER, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, United States;[14]
• 2017: documenta 14, Athens, Greece, and Kassel, Germany;[15]
• 2017: Déformation Professionelle, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria;
• 2016: S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium;
• 2015: Nairy Baghramian: Hand Me Down, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico;
• 2014: Sonae/Serralves Project 2014: Nairy Baghramian, Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal;
• 2014: Nairy Baghramian: French Curve/Slip of the Tongue, Bluhm Family Terrace, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States;
• 2014: Nairy Baghramian: Off the Rack, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany;
• 2013: Retainer, Sculpture Center, Long Island City, New York, United States;
• 2013: Nairy Baghramian: Fluffing the Pillows (Moorings, gurneys, Silos, Mops, News Rack, Railing), MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, United States;
• 2012: Nairy Baghramian: Class Reunion, The Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada;
• 2012: Fluffing the Pillows, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

• 2022 - Nasher Prize, Dallas Texas;[12]
• 2020 - Hugo Boss Prize;[16]
• 2016 – Zurich Art Prize, Zurich, Switzerland;[17]
• 2014 – Arnold-Bode Prize, Kassel, Germany;
• 2012 – Hector Prize, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany;
• 2007 – Ernst Schering Foundation Award

• Kostas Prapoglu (20 September 2016). "Nairy Baghramian". The Seen.
• Kevin McGarry (28 January 2013). "Nairy Baghramian at Sculpture Center". T Magazine.