Dr Vali Mahlouji is an art curator, founder of the non-profit platform Archaeology of the Final Decade (AOTFD) and director of Kaveh Golestan Estate. Mahlouji is a member of Art Dubai Modern Advisory Committee, and a board member of 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, been subjected to censorship or violence, or have been banned, endangered or deliberately destroyed.
Through AOTFD, Mahlouji works with international and public art institutions and facilitates acquisitions for the following museums (details):
- Tate Modern
- The British Museum
- Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
- Smithsonian Institute
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
- Victoria & Albert Museum
- Musée de Grenoble
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 (details).
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 2015
- Prince Claus Fund | Amsterdam
- Singapore International Festival of Arts
- Art Dubai Modern
- 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
- Asia Culture Centre |Gwangju
Mahlouji is a frequent guest lecturer at international institutions, 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, New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Photo London, Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Asia Society Museum New York and Yale University Press, National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST), Sharjah Biennial and City University New York (CUNY).
His upcoming book A Utopian Stage: Festival of Arts, Shiraz-Perspolis is due to be published by Bloomsbury and Afterall Books: Exhibition Histories in 2024.