In 1895, the first indu­stri­al sugar refi­ne­ry ope­ned in Iran, the Kahrizak sugar fac­to­ry near Tehran. It was built in col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Belgian indu­stri­a­lists about half a cen­tu­ry after the esta­blish­ment of the Raffinerie Tirlemontoise in Tienen, the fac­to­ry that would popu­la­ri­ze the sugar cube worldwide. The Kahrizak fac­to­ry is now a ruins and a recog­ni­sed his­to­ri­cal heri­ta­ge site, the epi­to­me of ear­ly-indu­stri­al Persian archi­tec­tu­re. Now a mul­ti­na­ti­o­nal cor­po­ra­ti­on, the Tienen fac­to­ry made its owner the richest Belgian.

Through archi­tec­tu­ral research, visu­al arts, and a per­for­ma­ti­ve nar­ra­ti­ve prac­ti­ce, artist Sana Ghobbeh explo­res the soci­al-eco­no­mic fabric of the­se sites. What web reveals itself when you col­lu­de poli­ti­cal his­to­ry, eve­ry­day obser­va­ti­ons, eco­no­mic rea­li­ty, and per­so­nal sto­ries? In her mul­ti-year research pro­ject Performing Spaces — an explo­ra­ti­on on urban struc­tu­res and their inner-nar­ra­ti­ves, Sana Ghobbeh maps the nuan­ced inter­ac­ti­ons bet­ween archi­tec­tu­ral infra­struc­tu­re, urban fabric and socie­tal shifts.

The rea­li­za­ti­on of this research will be a per­for­man­ce, tit­led These roots never blos­so­med (2025)