Ex gratia

<p>For the artist’s debut exhibition in Germany, Niloufar Emamifar presents a newly produced body of work across both main gallery floors of the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart. Drawing from her study of architecture and consistent attention to the psychosocial dynamics of built space, Emamifar’s exhibition, <em>EX GRATIA</em>, emphasizes site-specific demands on structural capacity in responding to the needs of lived relations. This emphasis on material conditions—the insistence on operative structures—when considering interpersonal experience is a crucial aspect of Emamifar’s ongoing approach to exhibition-making. Her work carefully examines the causative relationships between site, situation, and subjectivity. For Emamifar, while living beings are not determined, they are extremely porous, thereby susceptible to the constructed systems they presently occupy and embody. The artist’s exhibition at the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart is attuned to this vulnerability—the artist leans into the work of exposure within surrounding circumstances, while also recognizing how individuated experience is not ultimately separate from the oppressive structural realities shouldered by many. The conditions encountered by Emamifar in producing <em>EX GRATIA</em> necessitated efforts by the artist to develop lasting structures that could be applicable for future artists working at the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart and at other art sector institutions in the German context.</p>