Leili Sreberny-Mohammadi is an anthropologist with an interest in cultural production, transnationalism and art infrastructure in the Middle East and Gulf countries. She has taught widely at the undergraduate and postgraduate level at New York University, Sotheby’s Institute of Art and London School of Economics and Political Science.
Leili’s scholarship is based on long-term interaction with cultural producers across local, regional and international contexts in Iran, the UAE and the UK. Her research interrogates the idea of the global art world through a postcolonial lens and unpacks the tensions between diaspora and homeland that undergird the circulation of people and objects within the context of the art world. Leili’s research is located at the intersection of the anthropology of art and material and visual culture studies. She is currently working on her first book.
Publications
Her publications include:
Sanctions and the Visual Arts of Iran, Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development, Vol 14, Issue 2, 2023
The Emergence of an Auction Category: Iranian Art at Christie’s Dubai in Arts, Special Issue “The Contemporary Art Market”, Volume 10, Issue 2, pg. 35, 2021
Post-Pandemic Art Ecologies: Online Engagement in British Museums, in Covid-19 and the Arts in Europe, Magenta Books, Ukraine, 2021
Traditional Art Institutions and the Rising Number of Biennials, Commercial Art Events and Independent Curators in Abu Dhabi Art Catalog, November 2018
Abbey Weed Grey, Connector and Collector of Iranian Art in Modern Iranian Art: Selections from the Abby Weed Grey Collection at NYU, NYU Press, June 2014
The Practice of Art: An Alternative View of Contemporary Art Practice in Tehran, in Art and Aesthetics in a Globalizing World, (eds) Raminder Kaur & Parul Mukherjee, Berg, 2013
Coffee Shops and Cigarettes: The Importance of Place Amongst Iranian Diaspora in Tehran, in Iranian Studies, Volume 46, Issue 1, 2013, pg. 115, 2013
Teaching
- Module: Understanding the Art Market
Research Interests
- Contemporary Art
- Art and Globalisation
- Emerging Art Markets
- Art of the Middle East and Iran