Asad Raza (artist)

Asad Raza was born in 1974 in Buffalo, New York to Pakistani immigrant parents, and studied literature at Johns Hopkins University from 1992-1996 and filmmaking at the Tisch School of Arts in 1993. He also studied literature at NYU, where he helped organize the 2005 graduate student strike.{{Cite journal|date=2006-10-12|title=Yes, we are students, but we are also workers.|journal=Cinema Journal|volume=45|issue=4|pages=85|doi=10.1353/cj.2006.0049|issn=1527-2087}} From 2005-2010, Raza wrote frequently about tennis for various magazines and newspapers.{{Cite web|url=https://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/author/asad-raza/|title=Asad Raza - Straight Sets Blog - The New York Times|website=straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com|language=en|access-date=2018-02-07}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/tennis-gets-anxious|title=Tennis Gets Anxious|last=Raza|first=Asad|date=2014-09-05|work=The New Yorker|access-date=2018-02-07|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}

Asad Raza's practices encompass artistic projects, collaborations, curatorial work and his work, and he is described as "one of the most interesting crossroads figures in our sometimes rigid panorama."{{Cite web|url=http://moussemagazine.it/adrian-villa-rojas-fondazione-sandretto-re-rebaudengo-2016/|title=Adrián Villar Rojas "Rinascimento" at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin •Mousse Magazine|website=moussemagazine.it|language=it-IT|access-date=2018-02-07}}

Raza's works often respond to a particular environment in a site-specific manner. For example, in Root sequence. Mother tongue, created for the 2017 Whitney Biennial, trees in boxes were brought into the museum.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-whitney-biennials-political-mood|title=The Whitney Biennial's Political Mood|last=Schjeldahl|first=Peter|date=2017-03-17|work=The New Yorker|access-date=2017-12-27|issn=0028-792X}} Another example of this is his piece Untitled (plot for dialogue). Here, Raza installed a tennis court inside the 16th century church of San Paolo Converso in Milan.{{Cite news|url=https://www.designboom.com/art/asad-raza-converso-church-tennis-court-milan-11-10-2017|title=asad raza's orange tennis court fills a church interior|date=2017-11-10|work=designboom {{!}} architecture & design magazine|access-date=2017-12-27|language=en-US}}

Raza’s installation for Manifesta 15 works with the removal of the Three Chimneys’ window panes, giving form to the wind Xaloc (Sirocco), which crosses the Mediterranean from the African continent. The wind "blows through the space, activating long drapes of white fabric that rhythmically dance in with air: truly mesmerizing."{{Cite web |last=Elderton |first=Louise |date=11 September 2024 |title='Manifesta Goes Off-the-Grid to Take on an Over-Touristed Barcelona' |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/manifesta-15-2534685 |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=Artnet}}

In 2022, in a piece called [https://www.portikus.de/en/exhibitions/228_diversion Diversion], Asad Raza rerouted the Main River to flow through [https://www.portikus.de/ Kunsthalle Portikus] in Frankfurt. Visitors to the piece were invited to step into the water, which had been filtered. They were then offered the water to drink once it had been re-filtered and remineralised.{{Cite web |last=Danicke |first=Sandra |date=21 July 2022 |title=Asad Raza im Portikus Frankfurt: Wasser marsch |url=https://www.fr.de/kultur/kunst/asad-raza-im-portikus-frankfurt-wasser-marsch-91680792.html |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=Frankfurter Rundschau}} Writing in Artforum, Elise Shar stated that "[t]he redirected river provided a powerful antidote to conventional exhibition practice, giving rise to a display conceived as active and ever changing. Neither buoying up nor washing away the past, the piece embodied a constant remaking of materiality, connecting visitors with each other and with the whole world of living and nonliving things."{{Cite web |last=Shar |first=Elise |title=Asad Raza: Portikus |url=https://www.artforum.com/events/asad-raza-250624/ |access-date=12 September 2024 |website=Artforum}} In 2025, Diversion was named number 31 of the 100 best artworks of the 21st century by Artnews: "It was at once a mind-blowing feat and an extremely simple gesture. Beyond that, Diversion was galvanizing for the way it made survival and reconnecting with nature seem well within reach."https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/news/100-best-artworks-21st-century-1234734225/asad-raza-diversion-2022/

In 2019 Raza created the 34th Kaldor Public Art Project in Sydney, Australia. His work, entitled [http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/project-34-asad-raza Absorption], entailed the creation of 300 tonnes of "neo-soil" made from waste products and other materials found in Sydney. This filled an entire building at the Carriageworks art institution, and was given away to visitors. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the work "dramatises the differences between art and science, but it also shows us what they have in common...Artists, like scientists, are constantly pushing back the frontiers of the thinkable. By creating a work from soil, Raza is making a clear statement of ecological intent.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/kaldor-public-art-project-asad-raza-s-fertile-mix-of-art-and-science-20190507-p51kz1.html/|title=Kaldor Public Art Project: Asad Raza's fertile mix of art and science|website=www.smh.com.au|date=10 May 2019|access-date=2020-07-19}}"

Asked to create a show for CONVERSO, Raza "installed a clay tennis court in a desacralised 16th-century church in Milan"{{Cite web|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/blog/anyone-for-art-asad-raza-s-tennis-court-installation-in-a-former-milan-church-was-ace|title=Anyone for art? Asad Raza's tennis court installation in a former Milan church was ace|website=www.theartnewspaper.com|access-date=2018-02-07}} complete with flooring, lines, netting, racquets, iced jasmine tea, scent and coaches for a tennis-like game.{{Cite news|url=https://thespaces.com/2017/11/14/play-game-tennis-inside-16th-century-milan-church/|title=Play a game of tennis inside this 16th-century Milan church|date=2017-11-14|work=The Spaces|access-date=2018-01-03|language=en-US}} The piece was described as "plac[ing] the experience of play above the purely visual appreciation, as the back-and-forth of tennis exchanges produces meditative beauty through actions never to be repeated."{{Cite news|url=https://www.urdesignmag.com/art/2017/11/23/asad-raza-tennis-court-milan-church/|title=Asad Raza Installs Tennis Court Inside 16th Century Milan Church — urdesignmag|date=2017-11-23|work=urdesignmag|access-date=2018-02-07|language=en-US}}

Created for the 2017 Whitney Biennial, Root sequence. Mother tongue was composed of "26 young, often flowering trees facing the flickering light of the city",{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/arts/design/why-the-whitneys-humanist-pro-diversity-biennial-is-a-revelation.html|title=Why the Whitney's Humanist, Pro-Diversity Biennial Is a Revelation|last=Smith|first=Roberta|date=2017-03-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-02-07|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} human caretakers, and objects belonging to the caretakers, as well as a scent created by Raza's sister, the perfumer and artist Alia Raza. The piece ran for 4 months, and included a curatorial element, the Weekend Guests series, in which Raza invited choreographers, musicians, poets and scholars to conduct events inside the installation, including Manthia Diawara,{{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/Events/ManthiaDiawara|title=Asad Raza's Weekend Guests: Manthia Diawara {{!}} Whitney Museum of American Art|website=whitney.org|language=en|access-date=2018-01-03}} Moriah Evans,{{Cite web|url=http://whitney.linkedbyair.net/Events/MoriahEvans|title=Asad Raza's Weekend Guests: Moriah Evans {{!}} Whitney Museum of American Art|website=whitney.linkedbyair.net|language=en|access-date=2018-01-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506034954/https://whitney.linkedbyair.net/Events/MoriahEvans|archive-date=2018-05-06|url-status=dead}} Dan Graham,{{Cite web|url=http://whitney.org/Events/DanGraham|title=Asad Raza's Weekend Guests: Dan Graham {{!}} Whitney Museum of American Art|website=whitney.org|language=en|access-date=2018-01-03}} Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak,{{Cite news|url=http://icls.columbia.edu/events/forest-field-furrow-gayatri-chakravorty-spivak-and-asad-raza/|title="Forest, Field, Furrow" Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Asad Raza|date=2017-06-07|work=ICLS {{!}} Columbia University|access-date=2018-01-03|language=en-US}} Andros Zins-Browne,{{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/Events/AndrosZinsBrowneMay7am|title = Asad Raza's Weekend Guests: Andros Zins-Browne}} and others. The piece was shown for a second time at the Rockbund Museum, Shanghai, in September–October 2017.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rockbundartmuseum.org/en/exhibition/overview/ab0cpts|title=RAM HIGHLIGHT 2017: DISPLACE {{!}} Exhibition {{!}} Rockbund Art Museum|website=www.rockbundartmuseum.org|access-date=2018-01-03}}

The Home Show was a hybrid artistic and curatorial exhibition held in Raza's own apartment.{{Cite news|url=https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/asad-raza-home-show-392498|title=Asad Raza's 'Home Show' Is in His Apartment—artnet News|date=2015-12-14|work=artnet News|access-date=2018-01-03|language=en-US}} For the show, he asked thirty artists he knew to contribute objects, instructions, rituals: Carsten Höller contributed "a dream-activating toothpaste" and Rachel Rose edited all of his possessions.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wallpaper.com/art/artist-producer-asad-raza-stages-an-art-show-in-his-one-bedroom-new-york-apartment|title=Home grown: Asad Raza stages art show in his one-bedroom NYC apartment|last=Magazine|first=Wallpaper*|date=2015-12-11|work=Wallpaper*|access-date=2018-02-07}} Raza also included items from family members and his life. Raza gave a tour to each visitor for the show's five weeks, executing the instructions and rituals each day.{{Cite news|url=http://artobserved.com/2015/12/new-york-asad-razas-home-show-on-view-through-december-20th-2015/|title=New York – Asad Raza's "Home Show," on View Through December 20th, 2015|access-date=2018-02-07|language=en-US}}

Schema for a school takes the form of "an experimental school"{{Cite news|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/tino-sehgal-azealia-banks-shed-programs-1217633|title=The Shed's Director on How Azealia Banks and Tino Sehgal Will Make Us All More Civilized {{!}} artnet News|date=2018-02-06|work=artnet News|access-date=2018-02-07|language=en-US}} that considered new models for teaching and learning, through a series of relevant thoughts and actions drawn from sociology, philosophy, cooking, choreography, literature, and other forms of awareness. Raza was influenced by Dan Graham's Schema (1966), a work that describes its own attributes according to strict rules every time it is reproduced.{{Cite news|url=http://www.biennialfoundation.org/2015/05/the-programme-for-the-31st-biennial-of-graphic-arts-ljubljana-will-feature-over-40-projects-by-international-and-local-artists/|title=The programme for the 31st Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana will feature over 40 projects by international and local artists. - Biennial Foundation|date=2015-05-10|work=Biennial Foundation|access-date=2018-01-03|language=en-US}} Schema is an adaptive protocol, a responsive script, and its form is a model for the pedagogical schemata the school will use. The school first took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2015, with further iterations at the Villa Empain in Brussels and Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2016, and it is next scheduled for New York's The Shed in 2018.{{Cite news|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8098406/the-shed-prelude-concert-series-arca-azealia-banks|title=The Shed, NYC's Newest $500M Performing Arts Center, Announces Pre-Opening Concert Series|work=Billboard|access-date=2018-02-07}} 

Raza's project animated the streetlights running up a hillside promenade in Ljublana's, playing a visual song visible from many parts of the city. Coming on with the streetlights at dusk and running until dawn, the piece lasted the duration of the 2015 Graphic Art Biennial, turning the cityscape into an animated graphic artwork. Raza says he was influences by blinking lights visible across the Bosphorus in Istanbul.{{Cite news|url=http://www.biennialfoundation.org/2015/08/the-31st-biennial-of-graphic-arts-ljubljana-explores-the-sociopolitical-characteristics-associated-with-the-graphic-arts-particularly-in-connection-with-reproduction-publicity-and-community-and-re/|title=The 31st Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana explores the sociopolitical characteristics associated with the graphic arts, particularly in connection with reproduction, publicity and community, and reflects on the Biennial's history as a radical site for producing and distributing images. - Biennial Foundation|date=2015-08-18|work=Biennial Foundation|access-date=2018-01-03|language=en-US}}

Minor History is a portrait in film of Wahid Mohammed, Asad Raza's 90 year-old uncle who lives in Buffalo, New York. The film premiered on January 27, 2019 at International Film Festival Rotterdam.{{Cite web|url=https://iffr.com/en/2019/films/minor-history|title=Minor History|date=2019-01-15|website=IFFR|language=en|access-date=2019-02-26}}

In March 2020, Raza began [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/arts/design/art-accounts-to-follow-instagram.html a collaborative project known as Home Cooking], a digital artist-run space with collaborators Marianna Simnett, Dora Budor, Prem Krishnamurthy, Precious Okoyomon. Presenting works, conversations and interviews, Home Cooking was [https://032c.com/asad-raza-home-cooking a way of presenting new work] within a coronavirus reality.

From 2016-2017, Raza served as the artistic director for the Villa Empain, Brussels. There he co-curated the shows [http://www.villaempain.com/en/exhibitions/current/mondialite/ Mondialité]{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} with Hans Ulrich Obrist,{{Cite web|url=http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/103093/mondialit/|title=Mondialité - Announcements - e-flux|website=www.e-flux.com|language=en|access-date=2018-01-03}} Décor with Dorothea von Hantelmann and Tino Sehgal,{{Cite web|url=https://frieze.com/article/decor|title=Décor|website=frieze.com|language=en|access-date=2018-01-03}} Répétition with Nicola Lees, and [http://www.villaempain.com/en/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/current-exhibitions/seeing-zen/ Seeing Zen] with Felix Hess and John Stevens.

For this show, curated by Liam Gillick, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Philippe Parreno, Raza collaborated with Parreno and Sehgal{{Cite web|url=http://moussemagazine.it/%E2%80%9Csolaris-chronicles%E2%80%9D-luma/|title="Solaris Chronicles" at LUMA Arles •Mousse Magazine|website=moussemagazine.it|language=it-IT|access-date=2018-01-03}} to create a dramaturgical presentation of the architectural models of Frank Gehry, which were placed on wheeled tables and moved in a choreographic ballet.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wallpaper.com/art/solaris-chronicles-an-exhibition-celebrating-the-ground-breaking-of-a-new-building-by-frank-gehry-is-a-moveable-feast|title=Solaris Chronicles: an exhibition celebrating the ground breaking of a new building by Frank Gehry is a moveable feast {{!}} Art {{!}} Wallpaper* Magazine|last=Magazine|first=Wallpaper*|date=2014-07-11|work=Wallpaper*|access-date=2018-01-03}}

For this show curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Raza and Sehgal created a dramaturgical presentation of the archives of Lucius Burkhardt and Cedric Price.{{Cite web|url=https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2014/06/11/a_stroll_throughafunpalace.html|title=Cedric & Lucius|website=www.domusweb.it|language=en|access-date=2018-02-07}}{{Cite web|url=https://biennials.ch/home/ProjectDetail.aspx?ProjectId=18|title=biennials.ch – Pro Helvetia's platform to present the Swiss contributions to the Venice Biennials|last=Switzerland|first=deimos.ch - Zurich|website=biennials.ch|access-date=2018-01-03}}

From 2010-2015, Raza collaborated frequently with Tino Sehgal, serving as the producer{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/arts/design/13progress.html|title=A Work by Tino Sehgal at the Guggenheim Walked With You|last=DeSantis|first=Alicia|date=2010-03-12|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-02-07|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} for Sehgal's major exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-j-henderson/asad-raza-art-producer_b_1238307.html|title=Solving the Scenario: Asad Raza, Art Producer|last=Henderson|first=Eric J.|date=2012-01-31|website=Huffington Post|language=en-US|access-date=2018-01-03}} His closest collaborations with Sehgal came in 2011-12, with the works Ann Lee first shown at the Manchester International and These associations, which Raza and Sehgal developed in London and Manchester over two years.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/08/06/the-question-artist|title=The Question Artist|last=Collins|first=Lauren|date=2012-07-30|work=The New Yorker|access-date=2018-01-03|issn=0028-792X}} According to the Guardian, "[s]everal hundred participants" were involved in the project at the Tate, "recruited through networks of friends and acquaintances, and rehearsed by Sehgal and his producer, Asad Raza."{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jul/23/tino-sehgal-tate-modern-turbine-hall|title=Tino Sehgal fills Tate Modern's Turbine Hall with storytellers|last=Higgins|first=Charlotte|date=2012-07-23|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-02-07}} In 2014, Raza produced and directed These associations at CCBB, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.{{Cite news|url=https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/tino-sehgal-traz-ao-rio-sua-arte-de-encontros-desencontros-11725289|title=Tino Sehgal traz ao Rio sua arte de encontros e desencontros|date=2014-02-27|work=O Globo|access-date=2018-02-07|language=pt-BR}} In 2014 Raza also realized a long-term project of bring Sehgal's works to the ancient center of Athens, Greece, with the NEON foundation, stating "When I visited the ancient sites of Athens, where commercial, cultural, social and philosophical exchange took place, where knowledge passed through and was transferred between bodies, I had the distinct feeling that the embodied and dialogical elements in Sehgal's work would have a special resonance here.”{{Cite news|url=https://artisalive.co.uk/2014/09/17/tino-sehgal-in-athens/|title=Tino Sehgal in Athens|date=2014-09-17|work=ART IS ALIVE|access-date=2018-02-07|language=en-US}}

Raza served as a dramaturge for several exhibitions with Philippe Parreno, including Park Avenue Armory, Rockbund Museum,{{Cite web|url=http://www.rockbundartmuseum.org/en/exhibition/overview/c10coyu|title=Philippe Parreno: Synchronicity {{!}} Exhibition {{!}} Rockbund Art Museum|website=www.rockbundartmuseum.org|access-date=2018-01-03}} and Jumex Museum.

For the 2013 Manchester International Festival, Alex Poots, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Raza, and Sehgal programmed this exhibition in the disused Manchester train depot, which was a museum of dance and live art projects.{{Cite news|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/music/manchester-international-festival-asad-raza-5073173|title=Manchester International Festival: Asad Raza is breathing life back into Mayfield depot|last=Walters|first=Sarah|date=2013-07-12|work=men|access-date=2018-02-07}}

Raza has made several books, including [https://www.spikeartmagazine.com/en/articles/home-show-asad-raza Home Show], Mondialité, Décor, Seeing Zen, and Répétition.

He has also written about tennis for magazines and newspapers including the [https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/tennis-gets-anxious New Yorker], [https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/wimbledon-diary/ n+1], [https://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/author/asad-raza/ the New York Times], and Tennis magazine.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.rockbundartmuseum.org/en/artist/overview/c81ioB Asad Raza: Artist Profile]

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Category:American artists of Pakistani descent

Category:Living people

Category:1974 births

Category:Artists from Buffalo, New York

Category:21st-century American artists