I Can't Meditate by Abdollah Nafisi

In 'I Can't Meditate’, bold, tactile sculptures, masterfully crafted from natural materials and discarded industrial waste, animate the space in distinct formations. They wait to be engaged with, to be activated by visitors through sound, touch, movement and assembly. They act as a starting point, an invitation to feel connection whether felt through presence, tension, balance, space in-between or dialogue. Moving through the sensory exhibition feels like a kind of breathing - a rhythm of attention, drifting, and returning. For Nafisi, meditation is found not in being alone in stillness, but in connection, a practice that shapes his countryside studio, part workshop, part social space. His research in western philosophy, and time spent travelling with Iranian nomadic tribes in his twenties, lend him a sensibility for how being fully present with each other, with no agenda, through sharing, playing, eating, or simply spending time in company, can lead to deeper connection and shared understanding. Through 'I Can't Meditate', we are invited into this way of being: to move forms, to be creative, to make our own journeys, to sit with each other, to listen, and to allow space for connection to form. “I grew up between industry and nature. Later, living alongside nomadic communities in Iran taught me to see the space between bodies not as empty, but as a place where relation becomes visible.” — Abdollah Nafisi