Parasol unit

We are pleased to present ‘TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’, a Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia (@labiennale ), which will take place at @acppalazzofranchetti Inspired by the uncompromising persona of Turandot in Giacomo Puccini’s eponymous opera, which derives from “Turandokht”, meaning “daughter of Turan” in Persian, the exhibition pays homage to women artists from Central and West Asia. From Persian literature to Puccini’s opera, Turandot is certainly one of the most complex and enigmatic figures in the world, entangled with the Western interpretation of the East. Bringing together eleven artists of different generations, the exhibition sheds light on the women artists whose individual and collective histories and works reveal their strength, convictions, and creativity. Together, they honour the voice of Turandot as remarkable, intelligent and confident women. Curated by Dr Ziba Ardalan, Founder and Director of Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art. Parasol unit thanks the support of the Bareva Foundation, @farhangfoundation , @edwardnahemfineart , @leilahellergallery , @mohammedafkhami , @prohelvetia , @puccinimuseum , and an anonymous donor. Image: Lida Adbul, White House, 2005 ©️Lida Abdul. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Giorgio Persano

Introducing our Venice exhibition venue: the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti! Just overlooking the Canal Grande, this historic palazzo is a masterpiece of Venetian Gothic architecture. With a long tradition of hosting high-profile art projects from around the world, @acppalazzofranchetti connects cultures through the universal language of art. TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East will be presented amidst the beautifully restored top floor, flooded with natural light and adorned with Murano chandeliers. We are thrilled to present our exhibition in such an iconic space at the heart of Venice. Stay tuned for all the details. We can’t wait to welcome you! Image: Marco Pavan

New publication launching this evening in Venice: ”TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East“ is a collateral event at the 61st International Art Exhibition of @labiennale with a group exhibition of works by eleven significant female artists from Central Asia and wider regions of the East. Turandot is one of the most complex and enigmatic figures in world mythology, literature and opera. Her story traverses centuries, languages and artistic forms, all the while reflecting ongoing cross-cultural hybridity and reinterpretation. Curated by Dr Ziba Ardalan, presented by @parasolunit , installed at @acppalazzofranchetti

Here are some of our favourite installation views from our TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East exhibition in Venice, an official collateral event of the 61st International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia ✨ The exhibition is now open to public until 31 October at ACP Palazzo Franchetti. We are so excited for you to visit and share any thoughts or reflections! TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East ACP Palazzo Franchetti, Fondamenta Narisi, 2847, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy 9 May – 31 October 2026 10:00 - 18:00 Monday - Sunday (Closed on Tuesdays) Free admission

We are delighted to announce Tala Madani as one of our eleven artists participating in ‘TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’. Born in 1981 in Iran, Tala Madani creates indelible images in her paintings and animations that bring together wide-ranging modes of critique. Her practice prompts reflection on gender, political authority, and questions of who and what is represented in art, often through the lens of slapstick humour. In Madani’s works, humour is inseparable from violence, and creation is synonymous with destruction. Through such visual language, her work reflects a complex and gut-level vision of contemporary power imbalances. Reconfiguring familiar narratives of gender and power, Madani’s practice is a provocative blend of drawing, animation, and digital media. With a satirical yet incisive sensibility, her work dismantles societal conventions and exposes the absurdities inherent in traditional representations of desire and authority. Portrait: Photo by Brigitte Lacombe, © / Courtesy the artist an David Kordansky Gallery

We are delighted to announce Farideh Lashai as one of our eleven artists participating in ‘TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’. Born in 1944 and having left us with her artistic legacy in 2013, Farideh Lashai was an Iranian artist who worked not only as a painter, but also printmaker, video artist, writer and translator. Lashai’s work dealt with notions of memory, exile, identity and the human vulnerability.  While her early work and much of her broader practice remained grounded in nature and abstraction, Lashai’s personal trajectory shifted toward political engagement in the early 1970s. Spanning from the 1960s to the beginning of the 21st century, her practice included much intense dialogues between visual arts and literature/poetry. In 2003 her auto-fiction “Shal-Bamu” was published in Iran, narrating the lives of three generation of women against the socio-political background of the Iranian society. Through her multidisciplinary oeuvre, she has been known for transcending the boundaries of local and global, politics and poetics, figurative and abstract.  Portrait: Farideh Lashai in the 1960s, photographer unknown. © Farideh Lashai Foundation

We are delighted to announce Daria Kim as one of the eleven artists participating in ‘TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’. Born in 1998 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Kim is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans performance, sculpture, video, installation, sound, painting, and drawing, rooted in material experimentation, embodied memory, and diasporic histories. Trained initially in painting in Uzbekistan, and now based in Berlin, Daria continues to work with charcoal and watercolour. In the field of sculpture, moving away from familiar methods of engaging with material is crucial in her practice. She works with wax, jelly, plasticine, and, for example in her work Hive Settlers, she developed a clay-like substance made from rice flour. Her interaction with wax is likewise unconventional and concept-driven, as are her bodily and time-based processes. The beauty of a concept forms the foundation of her practice, while her practical experience and family history inspire her interests to expand into diverse areas, including the effects of slowing down inefficient processes and exploring the nature of anxiety. Portrait: © Katya Palityka, Courtesy the artist.

We are delighted to announce Nazira Karimi as one of the eleven artists participating in ‘TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’. Born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in 1996, and educated in scenography and painting in Almaty and Vienna, Karimi’s artistic practice centres on collective memory and the environmental and cultural landscapes of Central Asia. Currently based in Almaty, Karimi’s work explores the collective memory and environment of the region. With a focus on the lasting impacts of colonisation and women’s stories and experiences, her works often reference Central Asian traditions and reimagines its histories. Karimi is actively involved in several female artist collectives including the MATA collective, where she contributes to art and knowledge production in the region. Through painting, installation, and collaborative practice, she reclaims overlooked narratives and foster a regionally rooted visual language. Portrait: © Adrien Dirand

We are delighted to announce Madina Joldybek as one of the eleven artists participating in ‘TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’. Born in Kazakhstan in 1991, Joldybek is a multidisciplinary artist whose work addresses themes of women’s bodily integrity, multi-dimensional motherhood, food politics, identity, and life under authoritarian regimes. She works across various media, including weaving, painting, sculpture, and installation, alongside self-publishing and creative education. Reimagining women’s histories and narratives, her practice unpacks the intersections of gender, tradition, and power in contemporary Central Asia. A member of the research collective DAVRA, Joldybek is committed to fostering dialogue and knowledge-sharing within the region’s art scene. Portrait: © Rosa Tiryaki

We are delighted to announce Saodat Ismailova as one of the eleven artists participating in ‘TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’. Born in 1981 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Ismailova combines installation, performance, and video challenging traditional ideas about national identity and history. She often blends myths with everyday life to explore how cities change over time and how social and political events leave lasting effects. Raised in a filmmaking environment in Tashkent, Ismailova grew up during the collapse of the Soviet Regime, which helped shape her later work exploring identity, memory, and history. Now at the forefront of female artists and filmmakers in Central Asia, Ismailova focuses mainly on topics such as the history of women in the region, maternal lineage, traditional rituals and collective memory. Ismailova further fostered artistic voice in the region by initiating the DARVA research group in 2021, with the focus of studying and re-imagining Central Asia today. The research group’s mission is to connect and develop the Central Asian art scene by fostering dynamic exchanges of experiences and knowledge within the region as a priority. The group was first started as an extension of the artist’s project “Chilltan” for documenta fifteen in 2022, and since then, it has been actively working both in Central Asia and beyond. Portrait: Rinat Karimov, @ Saodat Ismailova

We are delighted to announce Mona Hatoum as one of the eleven artists participating in ‘TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1952, Hatoum is a British-Palestinian artist whose work confronts the viewer with raw and visceral explorations of the body, space, and political tension. Her poetic and political works encompass installations, sculpture, video, photography and works on paper. Hatoum started her career in the 1980s making visceral video and performance works focused intensely on the body. Since the early 1990s, however, she has increasingly created large-scale installations intended to engage the viewer in conflicting emotions of desire and revulsion, fear and fascination. In her sculptures, she transforms familiar, everyday items such as chairs, cots and kitchen utensils into works that seem foreign, dangerous or even threatening. Portrait: © Miguel Lorenzo. Courtesy the artist and Jose Gonzalez Art Prize

We are delighted to announce Hera Büyüktaşciyan as one of the eleven artists participating in 'TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East’.  Born in 1984 in Istanbul, Turkey into a Greek-Armenian heritage, Büyüktaşcıyan unfolds ways in which memory, space, time, and knowledge are shaped by deeply ingrained yet constantly evolving layers and ruptures of history. In her multidisciplinary practice, she explores issues of identity, memory, displacement, absence, and invisibility through nature, archaeology, and architectural structures, using them as the foundation of her works while closely observing their genealogies and the ways they shift and transform over time. Büyüktaşcıyan often unearths layers of narrative and timelines that conjure the material memory of unstable spaces.Through her sculptures, site specific interventions, drawings and films, she examines contrasting dualities and cycles of erasure, that form states of coexistence and conflict. Portrait: Photo by Berk Kir.