Rachel Khedoori: At the Intersection of Space and Memory

Known for her ability to blur the boundaries between film, sculpture, and installation, Rachel Khedoori has spent over three decades creating works that challenge perception and transform space. Her latest exhibition, on view at Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse until 23 May 2025, presents a new body of work that continues this exploration.

Using materials such as cast aluminium, resin, encaustic paint, and 3D printing, Khedoori’s sculptures navigate a delicate balance between construction and deconstruction, solidity and fragility. Shadows and reflections imbue the works with a sense of movement, dissolving static forms into immersive perceptual experiences.

In this conversation with Nicolas Vamvouklis, Khedoori reflects on the themes driving her new work, the interplay of materials, and the evolving nature of her practice.

Nicolas Vamvouklis: Your exhibition at Hauser & Wirth explores the fragility of memory and perception—how do these themes intersect with your artistic process?

Rachel Khedoori: This work started from a small but detailed model I made of a large, abandoned house that I had filmed in. I then pulled apart the model, sort of destroyed and reconfigured it into many pieces. These pieces were lying around for a while and were reconfigured multiple times. From these small objects, I made the larger works for the exhibition. The sculptures are somewhat abstract, or abstractions of spaces, which evoke ruins. They look like things breaking down, collapsing, or deteriorating, which are then put back together. Ruins could be interpreted as something from the past or something falling apart in the present. They are an image or metaphor for memory.

NV: How do you approach the concept of time in your work?

RK: When I worked with film, there was a connection to time: film being a moving image projected over time. Often, the films were played on a loop. The sculptures for this exhibition have aspects that may be seen as temporal, and some reference film. For example, there is one work that consists of two sculptures with glass set in between them. The glass creates a superimposition of the two sculptures—a kind of chimera that dissolves when you walk around it. In some of the other works, light and shadows play an important role.

NV: How do the materials and techniques used in this exhibition contribute to the narratives you aim to convey?

RK: I have used film in a sculptural or architectural way in the past. The films were made using sets that were constructed and often shown in connection with these sets. The mechanism of the projector was often part of the work, and the viewer had to interact with and enter these environments. This exhibition does not include any film, although it refers to film conceptually. There are various references to proto-cinematic devices, for example, a raree box and the use of reflections to create an image. There are also large sheets of paper that look like film strips or building facades and many associations with frames, shutters, eyes, windows, or holes that the viewer can look through.

The materials used for the sculptures vary from resin-coated paper to metal to encaustic-covered polymethyl methacrylate. Most of the surfaces are painted with encaustic. The models for these sculptures were all initially made from paper or wooden cutouts that were later enlarged. This use of cutouts is a very simplistic way of making models—an almost childlike approach.

NV: Your exploration feels deeply personal, yet it resonates on a universal level…

RK: I think all art is personal and can function on multiple levels.

NV: In terms of physical interaction, how do you envision the relationship between your work and its viewers?

RK: With the film works and some of the sets, the viewer directly interacted with and, in some instances, even entered the works. But this exhibition consists of sculptures. Some of the works are architectural models. Models are objects that viewers can project themselves or their thoughts into. There is one piece that has a reflection that changes as you walk around it. Many pieces have frames, holes, or windows that the viewer can look through.

NV: Are there new directions you’re exploring here?

RK: I think all the work has a commonality, even when the mediums shift. There is a general interest in perception and the use of architecture or spaces to carry certain ideas. This is the first time I have worked with casting metal and 3D printing. It was interesting to work with small models and scale up in different ways with different materials, from paper to metal. I think this is something I will continue to explore.

NV: I’d love to hear more about your key inspirations. Are there any colleagues whose work you admire or who have shaped your research?

RK: When I started this work, I saw an exhibit of Ruth Asawa and was intrigued by how she used the shadows of her sculptures to create these two-dimensional “drawings,” so that you see the sculptures and their flat shadows simultaneously. I think this ephemeral aspect around the sculptures was compelling to me. I also looked at other artists who used shadows to similar effect, like Robert Gober, Nairy Baghramian, Louise Bourgeois, and of course, Marcel Duchamp. Early set design was another key reference point.

NV: What are you reading right now?

RK: I am currently reading Maryse Condé.



Feature image: Rachel Khedoori, Untitled, 2025. Photo: Jon Etter. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth