Salar Niknafs is a musician, visual artist and researcher currently based in Melbourne. Working across photography, video, sound and musical composition, in his art he primarily engages with experimental aesthetic forms. A keen advocate of art-science collaborations, Salar’s research explores concepts and methods at the intersection of art and science in an attempt to act as a mediator between the two.
Salar completed a Doctorate of Philosophy in Materials Science for which he was awarded a Discovery Grant from the Australian Research Council. His thesis studied patterns that self-organise during solidification of metallic systems and analysed the impact of physical parameters that determine such formations. Before that he received his Masters through an ARC Grant and began his education at the University of Tehran.
Salar’s work is presented internationally in the context of conferences, workshops, music venues and exhibitions including FILE Electronic Language International Festival (Rio De Janeiro), Life Framer (Rome), Society for Photographic Education media festival and national conference (Orlando), Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Award finalists exhibition (Gold Coast) and Incinerator Art Award for Social Change finalists exhibition (Melbourne).
Music Albums
Awards and Grants
Solo Photography Exhibitions
Video Screenings
Group Photography Exhibitions
Salar completed a Doctorate of Philosophy in Materials Science for which he was awarded a Discovery Grant from the Australian Research Council. His thesis studied patterns that self-organise during solidification of metallic systems and analysed the impact of physical parameters that determine such formations. Before that he received his Masters through an ARC Grant and began his education at the University of Tehran.
Salar’s work is presented internationally in the context of conferences, workshops, music venues and exhibitions including FILE Electronic Language International Festival (Rio De Janeiro), Life Framer (Rome), Society for Photographic Education media festival and national conference (Orlando), Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Award finalists exhibition (Gold Coast) and Incinerator Art Award for Social Change finalists exhibition (Melbourne).
Music Albums
- 2024 Homecoming
- 2020 Lesser Lights
Awards and Grants
- 2017 Winner - Best Landscape, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival (MDFF), Melbourne, Australia.
- 2017 Finalist - Wyndham Art Prize, Wyndham Art Gallery, Werribee, Australia.
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2016 First Prize - Brunswick Street Gallery Prize, Click 16, Melbourne, Australia.
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2016 Finalist - Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, Judged by Prof. Susan Best.
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2016 Finalist - Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change, Judged by Dr Vincent Alessi, Hannah Mathews and Jason Smith.
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2016 Finalist - Stanthorpe Art Prize, Judged by Ron Ramsey and Dr Kyla McFarlane.
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2016 Finalist - CLIP Awards, Perth Centre for Photography, Judged by Cristina De Middel, Marie Bonnal and Dr Christopher Crouch.
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2008-2012 Recipient of Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, Led by Professor Rian Dippenaar.
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2008-2012 Recipient of Research Top-Up Grant, University of Wollongong
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2009 First Prize - Materials Australia Jules Byrnes Award, NSW, Australia.
- 2006-2008 Recipient of Australian Research Council Discovery Grant.
Solo Photography Exhibitions
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2017 'In Absence', solo exhibition, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
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2007 'Nostalgia' solo photography exhibition, University of Wollongong, Australia.
Video Screenings
- 2018 Unseen experimental cinema and film festival, Counterpath, Denver, CO, USA.
- 2018 FILE Video Art, The Body is The Message, Electronic Language International Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- 2018 Adelaide Festival Centre (AFC) Moving Image Program, Adelaide, Australia.
- 2017 FILE – Electronic Language International Festival, Rio De Janeiro & Sao Paulo, Brazil.
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2017 SPE Media Festival and National Conference, The Society for Photographic Education, Orlando, FL, USA.
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2016 6th BIDEODROMO International Experimental Film & Video Festival, Bilbao, Spain.
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2016 Future Landscapes: 3rd Borders International Art & Architecture Festival, Palazzo Ca’ Zanardi and Venice Art House, Venice, Italy.
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2016 Emerging Art Australia, InnerSpace Gallery, Prahran, Melbourne, Australia.
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2016 Oxygen: Fragmented Cities, Jorge Jurado Art Studio, Bogotá, Colombia.
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2016 Labyrinth: Experimental Art, Architecture, and Design Festival, Bahcesehir University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Group Photography Exhibitions
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2018 Absences group photography exhibition, Millepiani, Rome, Italy.
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2017 PCP Collective, Perth Centre for Photography (PCP), Perth, Australia.
- 2017 'Of Kin and Kind' group photographic exhibition, The Victorian Archives Centre Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
- 2017 Wyndham Art Prize, Wyndham Art Gallery, Werribee, Australia.
- 2016 Life Framer Rome, 2nd Edition of Life Framer Photography Exhibition, Officine Fotografiche, Rome, Italy.
- 2016 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award Finalists Exhibition, Gold Coast Art Centre, Australia.
- 2016 Incinerator Art Award for Social Change, Incinerator Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
- 2016 PCP Collective, Perth Centre for Photography (PCP), Perth, Australia.
- 2016 'Structures' Photography Exhibition, LoosenArt, Via San Domenico 52, Cagliari, Italy.
- 2016 CLIP Awards Finalists Exhibition, Perth Centre for Photography, Perth, Australia.
- 2016 CLICK 16 Annual Photography Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
- 2016 IPF Photo Prize, Independent Photography Festival, The Good Copy, Melbourne, Australia.
- 2016 1st LoosenArt Exhibition Collective, LAB-A, Via San Domenico 52, Cagliari, Italy.
- 2016 Stanthorpe Art Festival Finalists Exhibition. Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, Australia.
- 2016 'Tehran, the invisible city', Published online in Capture Magazine.
- 2016 BSG SmallWorks Prize 2016, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
- 2015 CCP Salon group exhibition, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia.
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