Abbas Zahedi (b. 1984, London, UK). A former medic with training in psychiatry, Zahedi holds an MA in Contemporary Photography and Philosophy from Central Saint Martins. Recent awards include the Stanley Picker Fellowship (2024), Artangel: Making Time (2023), Frieze Artist Award (2022), Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award (2021), and the Khadijah Saye Memorial Scholarship (2017). He is Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London, and has taught widely in the UK and internationally.
Abbas Zahedi and collaborators
SONIC SUPPORT: ECO (THE EXTRACORPOREAL ORCHESTRA)
March 2026-April 2027
This year-long programme of workshops, peer-led grief circles, transmissions and performances aims to support people to reflect on their experiences of grief, death and dying through sonic explorations. Led by Abbas Zahedi, Sonic Support: ECO (The Extracorporeal Orchestra) is presented alongside a living ensemble of artists, musicians and collaborators.
Abbas Zahedi (b. 1984, London, UK) is an artist working at the intersections of sonic and sculptural forms, exploring systems of care, thresholds of experience and the social architectures of our time. His practice has been described as a form of ‘dissociative realism’ - moving between intimacy and estrangement and attuned to forms of meaning that sit beyond the purely material.
Working in collaboration with hospices, hospitals and public sites, Zahedi creates space for collective and individual listening, exploring how sound can support reflection, care and creative expression within end-of-life and healthcare contexts. Sonic Support: ECO (The Extracorporeal Orchestra) offers regular opportunities for people, including audiences, patients and staff to participate in sonic practices that foreground listening, presence and improvisation.
This programme forms part of Imperial Health Charity’s Artist in Residence Programme, supported by Arts Council England and Imperial Health Charity.
Imperial Health Charity helps hospitals do more through grants, arts, volunteering and fundraising. Working in partnership with the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Imperial Health Charity funds major redevelopments, research and medical equipment at five London hospitals – Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea, St Mary’s and the Western Eye – as well as helping patients and their families at times of extreme financial difficulty. Supporting the arts in healthcare, Imperial Health Charity manages an Arts Council-accredited hospital art collection and runs an arts engagement programme for patients and NHS staff. Imperial Health Charity also manages volunteering across all five hospitals, adding value to the work of staff and helping to improve the hospital experience for patients.
Abbas Zahedi, Begin Again. Installation view as part of Gathering Ground at Tate Modern, 2025. Photo Hydar Dewachi.