Fish Bar Symposium

Grove Fish Bar, London, UK, 2010—2015

Project Information

In the summer of 2010, Abbas Zahedi started a regular symposium, open to all, at the Grove Fish Bar, next to Ladbroke Grove station in West London. The premise was to explore ideas around philosophy, the arts and participants’ sense of displaced heritage. The shop is run by Zahedi’s friend Emre Kazim’s family. Emre and another friend of Zahedi’s, Mohammed Elshimi, were the main collaborators in this process. Subsequently, Emre went on to gain a PhD in philosophy, while Mohammed was headhunted to work for the United Nations. Zahedi became an artist, with the first display of his artwork being the Venice Biennale, 2017. The symposium lasted a number of years and spawned various offshoots in multiple locations, most notably: Rumi’s Cave. During this period, Zahedi’s studio was situated in the basement of the chippie, as is featured in the BBC documentary below.

A pivotal moment in Zahedi’s career, Fish Bar Symposium has been cited in relation to a number of his formative works. More recently, the project was referenced by Arsalan Isa in his text ‘Dissociative Realism’, which sat core in the 2022 publication, ” ” #7: Abbas Zahedi in conversation with Eva Wilson (Nero Editions, 2022).
Further information about that publication can be found on the Nero Editions website ^_source