A Life in the Work of Others with Abbas Zahedi

 Creativity doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Every artist and creative practitioner has a thousand people to thank for inspiring and informing their own work. Flipping the traditional format of the artist talk on its head, A Work in the Life of Others invites guest speakers to expand on the constellation of influences and encounters with other people’s creative output, that has fundamentally shaped their own practice, ambitions, and ethos. Join us for a celebration of these powerful moments in which art and creativity change the way we think, perceive and act in the world. 

Abbas Zahedi’s practice weaves together sound, sculpture, writing, and performance to explore the intersections of care, grief, and collective experience. With a background in medicine and a deep engagement with sonic and ecological inquiry, his work creates spaces for reflection, dialogue, and connection. Whether through immersive installations, participatory soundscapes, or crossdisciplinary collaborations, Zahedi investigates states of liminality—both personal and societal— where transformation and new possibilities emerge. His recent projects extend his inquiry into the ways sound, material, and communal rituals can shape our understanding of healing and resilience. By engaging with social and historical contexts, Zahedi’s work challenges conventional boundaries between art, care, and lived experience, offering new modes of connection across disciplines and geographies.