Masoumeh Mohtadi (b. 1983, Isfahan, Iran) has received her high school diploma in math/physics and then started studying Painting in the Islamic Azad University, from which she received her BFA, and later she graduated from the Alzahra University with an MFA. Since 2008, she has held two solo shows and participated in more than 20 group exhibitions, including the 7th Tehran National Sculpture Biennial in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and the International Eco Art in Kunsthalle, Budapest. As her first serious appearance on the art scene, Mohtadi’s participation in the 2nd Damunfar Visual Arts Festival in 2008 was praised by the critics. She pursued painting until 2013. However, she was drawn to language as the principle means of communication and subsequently started to study linguistics. Turning to new media, she sought to challenge the certainty of language and the five senses. Mohtadi lives and works in Tehran.

“Graphical Reality”

We tend to believe that what appears before us can be comprehended, without knowing that the objective is to some extent a product of the subjective. We have forgotten that what really matters is the way our mind interprets and perceives objects, not things in themselves. This world, as the subject-matter of reality, is practically shaped by the conscious structures we already have. Therefore, we cannot know how the world is in and of itself. What we perceive has a graphical reality, not the reality itself. In this work, which is like a redefined world, existence is bordered and is visible through three ‘viewers.’ The object of perception is inside the room that has no entrance. The truth of the world in the confines of the room will never be known by the audience and they cannot tell which one of the images seen through the viewers is real. The audience might doubt the real physical presence of the objects inside the room as much as they might doubt their installation process.