Rouzbeh Akhbari (b. 1992, Tehran) is an artist, filmmaker and human geographer based between Toronto and Lisbon. His moving-image practice sits at the intersection of documentary storytelling, fieldwork and poetic speculation. Working across film and installation, his projects investigate the political and ecological entanglements of trade and infrastructures across various geographies, tracing how the forces of empire continue to be inscribed in material landscapes.
Akhbari’s solo and collaborative works have been presented internationally at major film festivals and institutions, including Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Tirana International Film Festival (Winner, Best Video Art & Experimental, 2024), Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur (Winner, Prix George for Best International Documentary, 2020), Media City Film Festival, London Short Film Festival and DocsLisboa among many others. His films and installations have also been exhibited widely at museums and public institutions including Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai), M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art (Antwerp), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto), MAC VAL (Paris), Villa Arson (Nice) and Si Shang Art Museum (Bejing).
He is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, most recently the Calouste Gulbenkian Production award (2025) and Alserkal Foundation Research Fellowship (2025–27). Akhbari holds an MFA in Visual Studies from the University of Toronto and is currently a PhD candidate in Human Geography at the same institution.
Akhbari is one-half of Pejvak, the critically acclaimed artist duo with Felix Kalmenson.
Exhibit
Of Wool and Diesel
“Watch while tending, tend while watching”: Rouzbeh Akhbari’s Of Wool and Diesel Based in Lisbon and Toronto, Rouzbeh Akhbari is an artist, filmmaker, and geographer working across exhibition and cinema contexts. His practice explores the underlying forces that organize movement, territory, and memory, attending to the frictions between lived experience and constructed histories. Developed over […]
September 26 – December 20
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Program
Mercer Union Opening
Join us for the opening reception of artist Rouzbeh Akhbari’s new exhibition, Of Wool and Diesel, featuring a new film installation co-commissioned by Toronto Biennial of Art and Mercer Union. The artist will be in attendance. Presented by Mercer Union.
October 2, 2026
7:00pm – 10:00pm
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Program
Protected: fORUM: Rouzbeh Akhbari with Shahram Khosravi
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December 8, 2026
6:30pm – 8:30pm
Partners
Program
Protected: Rouzbeh Akhbari Crossings: Kaleh Ziyarat (2026)
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December 9, 2026
6:30pm – 9:30pm
