Morteza Zarei
- Fellow 2024
- artist from Tehran, Iran
- cooperating partner: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Brussels, Belgium)
Morteza Zarei (he/him) is an artist from Iran, born in 1991 in Tehran. His primary focus, apart from collaborating with fellow artists, has been on working with marginalized groups in society. Morteza has collaborated in his artistic work with various community groups including leprosy patients, children with cancer, child laborers, individuals with Down’s syndrome, autism, the d/Deaf, and also volleyball players. He views art as a means to revive the lost connection between different members of society.
During his fellowship, Morteza Zarei will collaborate with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui focusing on a long-term project Show and Marginalized Bodies. His objective is to deeply engage with Cherkaoui's artistic work, using the latter’s choreography as a case study for his research. This collaboration will allow Morteza to closely study Cherkaoui’s methodology. The aim is to cultivate a deeper understanding of dance for future generations in Iran.
"Working in a place like Iran, artists face challenges that we cannot begin to imagine, especially when compared with the seemingly fluid European arts and culture scenes and markets. Through this fellowship, Tehran based choreographer Morteza Zarei will be able to tap, if only for a short moment, different synergies, studio practice, and potential opportunities through a sustained dialogue and residency with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Morteza's socially-driven and culturally specific work will engage with that of an equally inquisitive choreographer, albeit at a more established phase in his career. Morteza Zarei’s work combines an interest in organizing the dance community with community-driven inclusive projects that incorporate disabled persons, children and young adults, or activists, in ways that are surprising and refreshing. By working on larger scale productions in another context, together with Eastman / Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, we hope that Morteza will be able to take his practice to the next step as a professional dancemaker."
- Jury Statement