About this project
Artist Statement
Wadi is an interactive, orchestral experience examining temporality, natural resources, and capitalism. With a single click, the browser transforms into a virtual river via multiple pop-up windows gushing with images and sound. The tenor of this symphony is determined by the ebb and flow of international stock prices of water.
The work is part of Asgary’s ongoing exploration of time as shaped by geo-politics, crude oil, and natural resources. In Arabic, a wadi is an ephemeral riverbed that may or may not be dry. The term "ephemeral" is also widely used in stock markets. In both cases, scarcity or plenty creates the basis for capitalist exploitation.
Artist Bio
Sholeh Asgary is an Iranian-born interdisciplinary sound artist whose immersive works, performances, and audience participatory scores implicate the viewer-participant into future mythological excavations, bridging large swathes of time and history through water, water clocks, crude oil, movement, light, imaging, voice, and sound.
Asgary has exhibited and performed at such institutions as ARoS Kunstmuseum, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, and has received support through numerous residencies and awards, some of which include UCLA Art Sci (2021), MASS MoCA (2021), Headlands Center for the Arts (2021), and The Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant (2022).
Minnesota Street Project
Adjacent is a space where art happens online. Collaborating with galleries, creators, and partners around the world, the site showcases virtual talks, live performances, and more.
Adjacent is a direct response to the 2020 pandemic, re-imagining and re-contextualizing the Arts in this new reality. The site is an extension of the Minnesota Street Project’s physical space in San Francisco — breaking boundaries, inspiring curiosity, and championing conversations about the Arts.