We Live Here
Narges Mohammadi
Opening hours:
10:00 - 20:00
Address:
Oudekerksplein 30
Narges Mohammadi (b. 1993, somewhere between Kabul and Tehran, Afghanistan) works from personal experience shaped by living between different cultures. Her practice grows out of this in-between space, one that is rich, complex, and constantly shifting. In large-scale installations, she explores the many layers of life: memory and belonging, care and loss, grief and comfort, tradition and alternative ways of exchanging value.
Her sculptures are often made in series and use materials that are both surprising and familiar, such as halva, concrete, gum, clay, and soap. Narges works with focus and repetition, using large amounts of a single material. She shapes, covers, carves, or contains it, allowing the physical qualities of the material to speak. These choices give her installations a sense of lightness or heaviness, softness or resistance.
Through her work, Narges reflects on personal and shared histories: children’s rooms, acts of care, and Persian traditions become quiet tributes. By layering intimate experiences in an open and visual way, she invites viewers to slow down, reflect, and connect. Her installations offer space to step into a story that may feel both deeply personal and unexpectedly familiar.
About Location
We Live Here is a space run by local residents in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. It was created to show what everyday life in this neighbourhood is really like for the people who live there. What started in 2018 as a small initiative responding to growing crowds has developed into a welcoming place where residents and visitors can meet, talk, and share perspectives.
The neighbourhood room invites visitors to pause and look beyond the usual image of the area. Through photographs, personal stories, and conversations, it presents the lives of families, individuals, and long-term residents who are closely connected to the neighbourhood. Volunteers welcome people inside and share what it means to live among the busy streets, historic buildings, and daily rhythms of the Wallen.
Located at Oudekerksplein, We Live Here functions both as an information point and a community space. It hosts meetings, gatherings, and activities organised by and for residents. The focus is on respect, shared space, and mutual understanding. In this way, the neighbourhood room creates ongoing dialogue between the people who live here and the wider public.
Concept of the work
Through an open call shared in the neighbourhood of the Warmoes Biennale, residents are invited to take part in a unique exchange focused on home, memory, and material value. In collaboration with people connected to We Live Here, participants are asked to contribute silver objects in return for a small sculptural artwork inspired by their own living space.
The artwork is a small model of an imagined room, measuring 30 × 30 cm and about 10 cm high. It is made up of miniature interior elements based on objects from the homes of Warmoestraat residents. The donated silver is first examined and then melted down. Because each piece of silver is different, additional materials are added so everything can be worked together. The silver is then shaped, bent, and welded into new forms.In conversation with the artist, each resident chooses a specific object or detail from their home to be translated into silver. These pieces come together within a modular, almost Lego-like base structure provided by the artist. After the exhibition, the silver objects return to the residents, while the artist keeps the shared structure.
If the work is shown again in the future, institutions are asked to borrow the pieces directly from the residents. In this way, the project continues to live beyond the exhibition, keeping residents closely involved in how the artwork circulates and is shared.
