Instructors

Filsoofi is collector of soil and sound, an itinerant artist, and a feminist curator. Her

geographical, disciplinary and conceptual practice take on critical narratives about movement,

immigration, and social activism. Clay and sound are the nexus of her practice and act as

expressive mediums. With their cryptic and architectural qualities engendering new narratives

through diverse aesthetic strategies such as multimedia installations and immersive sound

performances. Her art disrupts the borders that exist between us and seeks a more inclusive

world, illuminating and challenging policies and politics.

Her current and recent exhibitions include Imagined Boundaries, an interactive multimedia

installation at Gibbes Museum in Charleston, SC (2023-2024), and Only Sound Remains, an

interactive multimedia installation at the Sharjah Biennial 15, Thinking Historically in the Present

in Sharjah, UAE (2023).

Filsoofi’s Imagined Boundaries a multimedia installation, consisting of two separate exhibitions,

debuted concurrently in a solo exhibition at the Abad Gallery in Tehran and group exhibition

Dual Frequency at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida in 2017. The installation in

each country connected audiences in the U.S. and Iran for few hours in the night of the show

opening.

Filsoofi’s project, ‘Listening: The Fourth String,’ in collaboration with musician Reza Filsoofi,

introduces an interactive instrument and platform called ShahTár. Through public

performances, it highlights the contributions of the silenced Iranian musician and Sufi,

Moshtagh Ali Shah, to music while emphasizing the power of listening to drive community

engagement and promote social change.

Filsoofi is the 2023 recipient of Joan Mitchell Fellowship award, the 2022 Winner of the1858

Contemporary Southern Art Award and the recipient of the 2021 Southern Prize Tennessee

State Fellowship. She is an Assistant Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Art at

Vanderbilt University and holds the secondary appointment at the Blair School of Music. She

received her M.F.A. in Fine Arts from Florida Atlantic University and a B.F.A. in Ceramics from

Al-Zahra University in Tehran, Iran.