Vali Mahlouji

Vali Mahlouji is an art curator, founder of the non-profit platform Archaeology of the Final Decade (AOTFD), advisor to the British Museum, and director of Kaveh Golestan Estate. Mahlouji serves as a member of Art Dubai Modern Advisory Committee, and a board member of the Bahman Mohassess Estate.

Founded in 2010, the non-profit curatorial platform AOTFD recovers erased histories. It excavates and recirculates artists, artworks and accounts of culture, which have otherwise remained obscure, are subjected to censorship, lost, banned, endangered or deliberately destroyed.

Through AOTFD, Mahlouji works with international and public art institutions and has facilitated acquisitions for the following museums: Tate Modern, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, The British Museum, Smithsonian Institute and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Mahlouji’s exhibition and research Recreating the Citadel produced the first room dedicated to an Iranian artist at Tate Modern (Kaveh Golestan, 2017-18). His touring exhibition A Utopian Stage at Whitechapel Gallery (2015) was nominated for Best Exhibition (Alternative category) by the Global Fine Arts Awards.

Mahlouji’s recent curatorial work includes exhibitions at Asia Culture Centre (Gwangju), SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin), Sursock Museum (Beirut), Dhaka Art Summit ’18, Whitechapel Gallery (London), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo (Rome), Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Bergen Triennial, Photo London, Prince Claus Fund (Amsterdam), Singapore International Festival of Arts, Art Dubai Modern and Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool).

Mahlouji’s research-artworks have been exhibited at Tate Modern (London), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (Moscow), Arnolfini (Bristol), de la Warr Pavilion (Bexhill-on-Sea) and Asia Culture Centre (Gwangju).

Mahlouji is a frequent guest lecturer at international institutions and art academies, which have included: Goldsmiths University, Central St. Martin’s School of Art, Stanford University, The British Museum, Courtauld Institute, Yale University, Asia House, Asia Society Museum, Aalto University, Kulturforum Berlin and National College of Arts Lahore.

He has frequently contributed essays and publications to various institutions, including: Guggenheim Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Photo London, Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Asia Society Museum and Yale University Press.

Mahlouji’s upcoming book A Utopian Stage: Festival of Arts, Shiraz-Persepolis is to be published by Afterall Books in 2021.