Niki Kohandel


(b. 2000, Paris) is an artist, filmmaker and facilitator based in London. She is a resident at the Arts and Media School of Islington, as part of Cubitt gallery’s Reclaim Islington programme. 

Working at the interplay between the analogue and the digital, she uses obsolete recording devices and her imperfect knowledge of languages to document stories and re-narrate her family's tales.

Since October 2021, together with Sanam Monteiro, Massi Safa and Omar Yaqobi, she has been working with Shahre Farang, facilitating both regular and one-off workshops in bridging hotels and community centers. The collective supports children and young people who have newly arrived in the UK through multi-disciplinary story-telling sessions. Shahre Farang workshops combine drawing, play, writing, drama and crafts to reflect on how emotions are expressed, remembered and communicated when stepping into a foreign city.

She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL and was a student of Other Cinemas in 2022. Her films have been shown in group screenings and exhibitions, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Anthology Film Archives, ICA London and online through Another Screen. Her last shorts were included in programmes as part of the BFI London Film Festival, Open City Documentary Festival, Istanbul Documentary Days, London Short Film Festival and Aesthetica Short Film Festival amongst others.


نیکی کهندل متولد سال ۱۳۷۹ در پاریس است. او هنرمند و فیلمساز سال چهارم  دانشکده (Slade) اسلید  در لندن می باشد. با استفاده از دستگاه های فیلمبرداری قدیمی (دستگاه های آنالوگ) و زبانهای مختلفی که به آنها تسلط دارد، داستانهای خانوادگی اش را به تصویر می کشاند.


در مهر ماه سال ۱۴۰۰, به همراه صنم مونترو و مسیح صفا ، گروه شهر فرنگ را پایه گذاری کردند. گروه شهر فرنگ به کمک نقاشی ، داستان نویسی، تئاتر و بازیهای گروهی،

کودکانی که به تازگی وارد خاک انگلستان شده‌اند را همراهی می‌کند.


فیلمهای وی در سینماها و نمایشگاههای مختلف به روی پرده آمده، از جمله موزه هنر مدرن نیویورک (MoMA) و موزه اسباب بازی پولوکس (Pollock's) در لندن.

همچنین آخرین فیلمهای کوتاه مستندش در فستیوال‌های اوپن سیتی (Open City) , روزهای مستند استانبول ، فستیوال فیلم کوتاه لندن و فستیوال فیلم کوتاه استتیکا (Aesthetica) به نمایش در آمده اند.


For vimeo links and screening inquiries please email.

︎



NIKI KOHANDEL 

(b. 2000, Paris) is an artist, filmmaker and facilitator based in London. She is a resident at the Arts and Media School of Islington, as part of Cubitt gallery’s Reclaim Islington programme.

Working at the interplay between the analogue and the digital, she uses obsolete recording devices and her imperfect knowledge of languages to document stories and re-narrate her family's tales.

Since October 2021, together with Sanam Monteiro, Massi Safa and Omar Yaqobi, she has been working with Shahre Farang, facilitating both regular and one-off workshops in bridging hotels and community centers. The collective supports children and young people who have newly arrived in the UK through multi-disciplinary story-telling sessions. Shahre Farang workshops combine drawing, play, writing, drama and crafts to reflect on how emotions are expressed, remembered and communicated when stepping into a foreign city.

She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL. Her films have been shown in group screenings and exhibitions, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Anthology Film Archives, ICA London and online through Another Screen. Her last shorts were included in programmes as part of the BFI London Film Festival, Open City Documentary Festival, Istanbul Documentary Days, London Short Film Festival and Aesthetica Short Film Festival amongst others.


نیکی کهندل متولد سال ۱۳۷۹ در پاریس است. او هنرمند و فیلمساز سال چهارم  دانشکده (Slade) اسلید  در لندن می باشد. با استفاده از دستگاه های فیلمبرداری قدیمی (دستگاه های آنالوگ) و زبانهای مختلفی که به آنها تسلط دارد، داستانهای خانوادگی اش را به تصویر می کشاند.


در مهر ماه سال ۱۴۰۰, به همراه صنم مونترو و مسیح صفا ، گروه شهر فرنگ را پایه گذاری کردند. گروه شهر فرنگ به کمک نقاشی ، داستان نویسی، تئاتر و بازیهای گروهی،

کودکانی که به تازگی وارد خاک انگلستان شده‌اند را همراهی می‌کند.


فیلمهای وی در سینماها و نمایشگاههای مختلف به روی پرده آمده، از جمله موزه هنر مدرن نیویورک (MoMA) و موزه اسباب بازی پولوکس (Pollock's) در لندن.

همچنین آخرین فیلمهای کوتاه مستندش در فستیوال‌های اوپن سیتی (Open City) , روزهای مستند استانبول ، فستیوال فیلم کوتاه لندن و فستیوال فیلم کوتاه استتیکا (Aesthetica) به نمایش در آمده اند.



For vimeo links and screening inquiries please email.

For Shahr-e-Farang
please email shahrefarang.project@gmail.com

︎

SHOWS, TALKS & RESIDENCIES

2024

July: Other Cinemas: Collective Imaginings, Metroland Studios, London.

Apr: Caravane Tighmert, 10th edition, Morocco. 

2023

Dec: ‘Only Voice Remains: Making Collective Prophecies’ with Selene’s Archives, Reference Point, London.

Sept: ‘Only Voice Remains: Making Collective Prophecies’ + ‘Cross-(r)evolutionary Sound Archives’ workshop, Open City Documentary Festival 2023.

July: ‘The birds, the ladder, the painter & their songs’, Greatorex Street Gallery, Duo-show with Clemens Grömmer.

May: Slade Undergraduate Degree Show, UCL + Minevissim, a workshop on translation as creation, co-facilitated with Sanam Monteiro.
On Waiting as a form of resistance’, curated with Jumana Abboud and Nastassja Simensky, Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL. 

AprPersepolis + introduction, British Film Institute.

Mar: ‘Only Voice Remains: Making Collective Prophecies’ curated by Mojeanne Behzadi, Projet Casa, Tiohtià:ke/Montréal.

Feb: ‘Eviction Notice’, curated by Pocket Trap Contemporary.

Jan: Visiting workshop facilitator with Shahre Farang, Goldsmiths, BA Politics, Performance and Society.

2022

Nov: ‘Through the Foreign City, a multi-disciplinary workshop exploring how moving from one space to another can challenge or nurture us. Collaboration with Wassle Stories & Babylon Project, London Migration Film Festival 2022.

Oct: ‘A Night Of Music Boxes’ at Pollocks’ Toy Museum, museum takeover, screening and live performance with Joe Hatchwell.

Jun: Shahre Farang exhibition + fundraiser, Avalon Cafe Bermondsey, London, UK.

May: ‘Running Late’, Changing Rooms Gallery, London. Slade BA3 Group show,
curated by Ella Schlesinger.

Feb: Shahre Farang x Decolonise Art History Cambridge, John Hughes Art Festival.

Losing Track, an exhibition in response to HS2
by irreplaceable world

2021

Nov: Slade 150 Past, Present, Future, Octagon Gallery, UCL (Until Aug 2022).
‘Stealing Vegetables’ curated by Cherry Song, Hal H. Lewis & Qiu Janye.

Aug: Noorderlicht Photo, Groeningen,
‘The Makeable Mind: Student Open Call’.

Jul: The Chemistry of Feeling, Community exhibition at Gulf Photo Plus, Dubaï, UAE.

May: POSTED, era journal postcard exhibition

Apr: contributor to form IV/Thing 18 ‘From the drained pool’.

2020

Sept: Mommy’s Rug video installation screening at ‘Juice’, a group exhibition curated by Cherry Song, Shenzhen, China.

Feb: I am that flower (2019) screening at Platform 1, Bloomsbury Theatre, London, UK.

2019

Dec: Spaceship. Dungeon. Zoo.
A group exhibition at Alvaro Barrington’s studio, London. 

May: CSM Foundation Show, Lethaby Gallery, London.
CSM x LUX Moving Image, London 
Waterlow Art Park II, London. East Meets West,
Platform 272 Gallery, London, UK.


PRESS

2024
Interview with EastEast ‘Interiors: The Sparrow is Free’

2022
passerby magazine, camera roll with Niki Kohandel

2021
In conversation, An evening with Habibi Collective, MOMA Virtual Cinema

UCL News, 7 questions with Niki Kohandel

2020
era journal, UCL Arts & Culture Interview: Niki Kohandel


EDUCATION

2019 - 2023 : BA Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

2022 : Other Cinemas Film school

2021 : Global Photographies Network, La Hydra (online)

2018 - 2019 : Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, Central Saint-Martins, UAL


AWARDS

2023
Rosa Morison Memorial Award &
Prankerd Jones Scholarship, UCL

2022
Herbert Seaborn Award, Slade, UCL

2021 
Sue Jamieson Memorial Award, Slade, UCL




1. Slade Undergraduate Degree Show 2023. 
2. Open Closed, 2019, (1’28) at LUX Moving Image.
3.Chemistry of Feeling, Installation shot, Courtesy of Raheed Allaf. 
4. Blossom, 2019, digital print on tyvek behind aviary grid, Waterlow Park.