UKNA 4C Bursary
UKNA 4C Group Bursary 2023–2024
In 2023 the UK New Artists network and the 4C Group selected Parham Ghalamdar as the second recipient of their collaborative bursary. The 4C Group, known primarily as a hospitality and property developer, works with UKNA to offer alumni a year‑long support package. The award funds studio time and offers residency opportunities at 4C Group properties, encouraging recipients to test new ideas and to share work with public audiences. Ghalamdar, an Iranian‑born artist based in Manchester, was chosen for his ability to weave mythology, environmental anxiety and speculative futures into ceramic, painted and performative works.
Unlike many artist grants that focus narrowly on finished objects, the UKNA 4C Group bursary focuses on process. Recipients are expected to take risks, develop new skills and create platforms for public engagement. In Ghalamdar’s case the bursary provided time and resources to explore ceramics alongside his established practice in painting and theory‑fiction. He used the award to develop a series of works and events that question how myths and materials carry meaning.
Residency at Canopy by Hilton London City
The 4C Group owns hotels across London, including Canopy by Hilton London City. As part of the bursary, the hotel hosted Ghalamdar in its artist‑in‑residence programme. Starting on 22 January 2024, he occupied a studio space known as “the Retreat” where visitors could watch him produce ceramic pieces. Ghalamdar’s works, described as relics from a speculative archaeological dig, employed dark, tar‑like glazes influenced by Reza Negarestani’s philosophy and the petrochemical scars of our era. During this residency he collaborated with colleagues and guests, showing that an artist’s studio can be both a private laboratory and a public forum.
And Eventually a Plate
The residency culminated in “And Eventually a Plate”, a curated dining event held under the Wolf Moon of 2024. The dinner was a showcase of ceramics, including plates; it was a performance that merged culinary practice with Iranian storytelling. Ghalamdar designed ceramic tableware with glazes evoking Lovecraftian landscapes. Head Chef Walid Farag developed a menu that interacted with these objects, while artist Raheel Khan performed a recitation and sculptor Nicola Ellis delivered a toast. The event illustrates how the bursary encourages cross‑disciplinary collaboration. Rather than promoting a single medium, it provided a platform where food, ceramics, speech and sound converged.
Deep Desert 0bjekt – solo exhibition
A major output of the bursary was “Deep Desert Objekt”, Ghalamdar’s solo exhibition at Pipeline Contemporary in London (30 May – 6 June 2024). The show explored the Iranian desert of Rig‑e Jen and myths about “weeping‑stones” that once guided nomads. With climate change drying the dunes, the work invites viewers to imagine the desert itself as a “deep object” whose messages unfold over time.
Ghalamdar’s paintings and ceramics used black pigments from scorched earth and thick glazes that resemble tar. The forms drew on myths where Iranian heroes protect the unity of water and soil. The exhibition notes make clear that this show represented the culmination of his bursary period: it was installed on the lower ground floor of Pipeline and explicitly framed as the result of the grant. The artist credited the bursary for generously funding his 2023 studio practice and for supporting his exploration of Negarestani’s “Deep Objekt” theory
Catalogue
To accompany the exhibition, Ghalamdar produced a booklet titled “Deep Desert Objekt Catalogue”. The publication, which included an essay by Dr Derek Horton, documentation of the “And Eventually a Plate” event and photographs by Martin Cooper, Madara Vimba and Samuel Bates, was made possible by the UKNA 4C Group Bursary for 2023‑24. It also contained recitations and reflections by collaborators and was designed by Amrit Randhawa of Taxi Cab Industries. By funding the catalogue, the bursary ensured that the ideas and collaborations generated during the year were preserved beyond the exhibition.
UKNA’s Weekend Celebration of Creativity, Derby
As part of the bursary’s expectation that artists engage audiences beyond the studio, Ghalamdar took part in UK New Artists’ Weekend Celebration of Creativity in Derby in October 2024. The event, hosted in St Peter’s Church in Derby city centre, gave alumni a platform to present new work and to exchange ideas. Ghalamdar’s contribution was a series of flags titled “Water, Blood & Oil,” which formed the centrepiece of his residency. Installed on 18–19 October 2024, the work charted “catastrophes of liquidity and scarcity” through droplets of colour on fabric. It explored how water shortage and geopolitical collapse intersect with fascism, and it referenced an official forecast that key rivers in Iraq might cease to flow by 2040.
