Statement:

“Gather and Graft” is an installation in collaboration with Tehran Monoxide and Biloba Garden. “Gather and Graft” follows on from “Green Corners” an initiative by Tehran Monoxide (Negar Farajiani) that has evolved into a curriculum for propagating plants and raising awareness about the impact of plants on human life, initially in schools and gradually expanding to public spaces.///

The current collaboration was inspired by an idea known as "biophilia," a term first used by social psychologist Erich Fromm to describe the human psychological tendency to be drawn to living organisms. The concept was later formulated as the "biophilia hypothesis", an idea proposed by biologist Edward Osborne Wilson in his 1984 book "Biophilia" and defined as "the urge to relate to other forms of life".

The installation and its setting are also inspired by the practices of "grafting" and "budding," two common techniques that can contribute to the propagation of plants and trees. Inspired by these methods, which have been in use for millennia, Electric Room which is normally a functional space, hosts a non-conventional installation that has been grafted into it.

Located in a busy area of Tehran where greenery is scarce, "Gather and Graft" seeks to present a moment crammed into a small space where a diverse set of plants, each from a different lineage and family, invite biophilia and contemplation. Co-developed with Biloba Garden and its founder Shahrouz Hakimi, the temporary summer-budding installation seeks to graft a ‘natural’ extension to a steel and concrete environment.