Shahrzad Rahmani is a freelance stage and costume designer and scenographer based in Berlin. She is also part of the artist collective Guerilla Architects. Her work focuses on interdisciplinary spaces and installations in theatrical, urban and performance contexts. She experiments with different materials and their dialogue, fusion, and spatial transformation. Political contextualization and storytelling about migration, intersectional feminism, and marginalized narratives form the core of her artistic work. In 2023/24, she held the position of Artistic Guest Professor Bertolt Brecht at the University of Leipzig.
She has collaborated closely with a range of artists, such as choreographers Modjgan Hashemian and Jo Parks, as well as directors Marie Bues, Guido Wertheimer, Aslı Kışlal, Alicia Agustín, Keng Sen Ong, Isabella Sedlak, Yony Leyser, Ayham Majid Agha and Elisabeth Schiller-Witzmann. She was part of the artist collective Talking Straight and worked with the journalist Can Dündar.
Her projects have been realized at numerous renowned theaters and art institutions, including radialsystem, Hebbel am Ufer, Maxim Gorki Theater, Uferstudios, Tischlerei der Deutschen Oper, Schaubude, Theater Thikwa, Theater an der Parkaue, Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Akademie der Künste, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Staatstheater Hannover, Theater Rampe Stuttgart, Schaubühne Lindenfels Leipzig, Westflügel Leipzig, Schauspielhaus Wien and Theater Münster.
She held the position of Deputy Head of Stage Design at Maxim Gorki Theater during the 2017/18 season, after working as an assistant stage designer there for two years. Between 2015 and 2019, she was responsible for the scenography of Herbstsalon’s and created the stage designs for “Eating Refugees” by the Center for Political Beauty in 2016, as well as for the “Science Center” performances by Talking Straight.
Her artistic work has been presented at exhibitions in ZKM Karlsruhe, MIT Boston, Guggenheim Museum New York, ZKU Berlin, n.b.k. Berlin and Berlinische Galerie, and has been awarded several prizes. These include Radikal Jung 2018 for “Skelett eines Elefanten in der Wüste” written and directed by Ayham Majid Agha, the Mülheimer Dramatikpreis 2022 for “WOUNDS ARE FOREVER” by Sivan Ben Yishai and directed by Marie Bues, and the invitation to Heidelberger Stückemarkt 2023 for “Wir sind nach dem Sturm” by Kevin Rittberger, also directed by Marie Bues.
Her film work includes two projects directed by Keng Sen Ong, for which she contributed as art director. “Becoming Salome” was presented at the Singapore International Festival of Arts in 2022, while “The House of Janus” was invited to the Singapore International Film Festival in 2024.
With her collective Guerilla Architects, she is engaged in research-based, site-specific, and socially driven artistic practices that explore the tensions between space, body, and performative installations in an urban and political context. Their work has included the 2019 film “Language of Speculation” in collaboration with Arch+, n.b.k., and Berlin Art Week, which critically examines urban politics, and the immersive performances “1km² Berlin – The Tragedy of the Open City” (2020–2021), developed in collaboration with Alicia Agustín. Since 2022, they have been working on interventions and performances at Mehringplatz Berlin, including the performative installation “mehringplatzen!” as part of Hebbel am Ufer’s Berlin bleibt #4.
Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, and raised in Tehran, Iran, Shahrzad holds a Master of Arts in Stage Design and Scenography from TU Berlin (Bühnenbild_Szenischer Raum) and a Diploma in Architecture from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).