In the exhibition Spiraling outward, Iranian-Belgian artist Mashid Mohadjerin (b. 1976, Tehran) invites you to experience her universe where she weaves photography, video installations, collages and text into a personal and delicate way that blurs the conventional boundaries between art and documentary, time and space, the factual and the emotive. ​ ​

Family chronicles merge with momentous political events and are set against the background of a broader history of the MENA-region. Mohadjerin uncovers invisible nuances hidden beneath the extraordinary and the familiar. The exhibition Spiraling Outward offers an alternative, multifaceted view on pressing issues such as migration, cultural transformation and resistance.

This is the first time her new series, based on her book Riding in silence and the crying dervish (2025) is on view. The selection connects an account of forced migration to a wider research on how notions of masculinity relate to political ideology in a rapidly changing world. ​

Riding in silence is a continuation of her acclaimed series Freedom is not free (2021), in which she explores the role of women in the context of resistance in the MENA-region. Through photography, collages, personal archives and family stories she highlights several generations of women who fight for their freedom. ​ ​

Mohadjerin’s video installations Rapture (2020/2023) and My body, every body (2022/2023), explores the role of traditions and rituals in the context of resistance. ​ ​A soundscape by Radwan Mouhned ties together the two installations. ​

Thumbs up (2019) is a compilation of Instagram footage by Maedeh Hojabri, who was arrested in 2018 for dancing and showing her body in “public” and thereby defying the continuing restrictions on women in Iran. The work sheds light on the ongoing resistance of a new generation.

The recent installation Border crossing (2024), a collaboration with composer Jan De Vroede, reflects on spatial boundaries and migration through image and sound. ​