Rouzbeh Akhbari

Rouzbeh's research-driven artistic and geographic practice exists at the intersections of storytelling, political ecology, border studies and critical infrastructure. Through a delicate examination of the violences and intimacies at the boundaries of lived experience and constructed histories, he uncovers the minutiae of power that regiments the social and built structures around us. Rouzbeh is the recipient of numerous awards and project grants including the Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council, the Prix George for the Best Documentary Form at Kurzfilmtage Wintertur and the l'internationale fellowship. Rouzbeh began his doctoral studies in the Geography department as a FAST (Faculty of Arts and Science Top Doctoral) fellow and has been conducting his research with the support of a SSHRC CGS D scholarship. He is one half of Pejvak, a critically acclaimed collaborative duo with Felix Kalmenson. 

Publications

• Akhbari, Rouzbeh and Kalmenson, Felix. If Need Be. (Building Fictions: Amsterdam) 2024. [upcoming]
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh. “An Axiomatic Speculation? On the Political Ecology of Iran’s First Silk-Reeling Factory,” in SERI(a). (Spector Books: Leipzig) 2023. [upcoming]
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh. “On Mediums and Exchange: Narrative Flow in the Strait of Hormuz,” in Infrastructural Love. edited by Sepideh Karami, Helene Frichot, Hannes Frykholm, Adrià Carbonell Rabassa. (Park Books: Zurich) 2022.
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh. Perturbation: A Speculative History of Future(s) Past. (Universidade Catolica Portuguesa: Lisbon) 2021. 
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh and Kalmenson, Felix. “The Bell at the End of Time,” C-Magazine. Toronto. 2019.
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh. “Felines of Babylon,” in Shift. edited by Xenia Beniveloski and Ala Roushan. (Sugar: Toronto) 2019.
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh and Kalmenson, Felix. “Fresh Breeze,” in The Work of Wind: Land. edited by Chritsine Shaw and Etienne Turpin. (K-Verlag: Berlin) 2018.
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh and Kalmenson, Felix. ”A passage,” Funambulist. 2018 
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh. “Tides of Sand and Steel: Desertification, Defense Management and Resilient Planning.” Projections 13: Conscripting Climate: Environmental Risk & Defensive Urbanism. edited by Aria Finkelstein & Hannah Teicher. (MIT Press: Cambridge) 2018 
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh and Schnitman, David. “Building on a Vision: An Anatomy of Defensive Architectural Paradigms.” Scapegoat Journal. Edited by Marcin Kedzior & Seth Denizen. Vol. LIFE. 2018 
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh. “Petro-violence: Merging Militarism and Corporate Secrecy” Society + Space. 2017 
• Akhbari, Rouzbeh and Kalmenson, Felix. “From Protectorate to Neoliberal Polis- Reading Casablanca through Order & Progress.” Unsettling Colonial Modernity: Islamicate Contexts in Focus. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2017.