Research Resident: Elham Puriya Mehr
Research Resident in association with the Uncanny Knowledge Symposium: Elham Puriya Mehr
24 Oct – 24 Nov 2026
Nottingham Contemporary welcomes Elham Puriya Mehr as Research Resdient from 24 October to 24 November 2026 in association with our upcoming symposium Uncanny Knowledge: Unsettling the Architectures of Silencing. Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts through its International Residency Grant, the residency develops Uncanny Knowledge: Unsettling the Architectures of Silencing, a curatorial research project co-curated by Puriya Mehr and London-based curator Fereshte Moosavi. Exploring how sound, resonance, and embodied listening can generate alternative forms of collective knowledge, resistance, and togetherness, the residency will involve archival research, recorded interviews with artists and researchers, and exchanges with UK-based cultural practitioners. The research will culminate in a digital publication published by Nottingham Contemporary and an online launch event in March 2027, extending the project's research and conversations beyond the residency and fostering international exchange between artists, researchers, and institutions.
Elham Puriya Mehr is an artist, curator, writer, and educator based in Vancouver, BC. She holds a BA and MA from Tehran University of Art and a PhD in Art Research from Alzahra University. She completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Advanced Practices programme at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research focuses on the potentialities of social spaces as alternative atmospheres for learning and knowledge-making. Over the past eighteen years, Puriya Mehr has worked internationally across curatorial, educational, and research contexts. Her practice encompasses exhibitions, public and socially engaged art projects, and collaborative research. Recent projects include co-curating Archipelago of Whispers at 421 Arts Campus, Abu Dhabi (2026); curating Unfolding Desire Assembly at the Vancouver Art Gallery (2026); co-curating Unfolding Desire at Trieste Contemporanea (2025); and serving as artistic director of the international symposium Contact Zone at Ariya Art Academy (2024). Her curatorial research project The Third Space: The Affective Atmosphere of Coffeehouses was presented at Griffin Art Projects, Vancouver; Framer Framed, Amsterdam; Void Art Centre, Derry; SAHA, Istanbul; and AiR Trieste, Trieste (2021-2024). Other selected projects include Live Assembly: Repair and Care for LIVE Biennale, Vancouver (2021), where she led the curatorial team. Puriya Mehr co-directs Empty Space Studio, a nomadic, non-profit organization operating across Tehran, London, and Vancouver.
The Uncanny Knowledge: Unsettling the Architectures of Silencing Assembly is supported by the Iran Heritage Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts. We gratefully acknowledge the Canada Council for the Arts’ support through its International Residency Grant, which enables Elham Puriya Mehr’s residency at Nottingham Contemporary.