Desire Moheb-Zandi
Cross Over
2 MAY until 7 JUN 2025
Opening – 2 MAY 2025, 6-9 pm
Desire Moheb-Zandi’s work crosses boundaries—both literal and metaphorical. The exhibition “Cross Over” embodies her journey between craft and art, cultural identities, materials, traditions, and experimentation. Born in Berlin to Iranian and Uzbek/Turkish parents and raised in Turkey, Moheb-Zandi’s work reflects the fluidity of her own identity, always in motion between “here” and “there.” This cultural crossing is mirrored in her weaving practice, where she transitions from traditional techniques passed down through generations to innovative, contemporary approaches. By weaving with upcycled advanced threads, natural fibers, she challenges the limitations of craft, transforming it into an evolving art form that embodies movement and change.
In „Cross Over“, weaving becomes a metaphor for this continuous movement—threads crossing over each other to create a cohesive, evolving whole. Much like a textile score, the act of weaving unfolds in real time, mirroring the improvisational nature of music. The loom dictates the rhythm, while the artist’s hand guides each thread, creating a dynamic conversation between intention and spontaneity, past and present.
The works invite viewers to experience textiles not only as a visual medium but as a tactile exploration of identity, materiality, and transformation. This exhibition fosters an ongoing dialogue between craft and contemporary art, tradition and innovation—where each woven piece represents a moment of crossing over into something new.
Desire Moheb-Zandi
Soft Turns, 2025,
Linen, lurex, rope, cord, cotton, filling, nylon, wood, wool, velvet, paper, synthetic threads
170 x 150 x 8 cm.
Courtesy of the artist and Wentrup, Berlin. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
Desire Moheb-Zandi
Soft Turns, 2025,
detail
Linen, lurex, rope, cord, cotton, filling, nylon, wood, wool, velvet, paper, synthetic threads
170 x 150 x 8 cm.
Courtesy of the artist and Wentrup, Berlin. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
A characteristic of my work is using novel materials that are not traditionally used in tapestry. I am attracted to the new and inexplicable: PVC, upcycled, and industrial elements often permeate my works. It helps me to explore new sensibilities in a traditional medium. Through my work, I impose my interpretations of reality: where tradition meets our digital age, and where my cultural history intersects with it.
(Desire Moheb-Zandi in “The Crafts of Fashion: Geographies Volume II”, edited by Émilie Hammen, published by CHANEL / le19M B42, 2024, pp. 160.)
Desire Moheb-Zandi (*1990 in Berlin) lives and works in Paris. She studied at the BBA Koc University in Istanbul and then moved to New York to study at Parsons School of Design. Selected solo exhibitions include: “New Traditions”, Wentrup II, Berlin; “A Way to stay’ at Fold Gallery, London”; “Fields of Reflections”, superzoom, Paris; “Landscapes” at The Newsstand Project, Los Angeles. Selected group exhibitions include: “Coexistence”, Istanbul Atatürk Cultural Centre, Istanbul; “The Sowers”, Fondation Thalie, Brussels; “The First Meal”, Poush Manifesto, Paris. In 2024 she received the Prix Art Éco Conception from Art of Change x Palais de Tokyo. In 2022, she realized a major commission for Chanel Métiers D’Art, as well as for Diane von Furstenberg in 2017. The artist has been featured in numerous publications, including Architectural Digest, Artnet, Artspeak, Juxtapoz, and the New York Times.
