SHIRIN YOUSEFI

Jonban

Wood, metal, 2026

Jonban takes its cue from Menar Jonban in Isfahan, Iran, a structure famous for the way movement travels from one minaret to the other: when someone sets one tower in motion, the second begins to sway in response. By responding physically to human action, the building – ostensibly a historical monument – ceases to feel distant, becoming something visitors can experience and bring back to life, time and again.

In today’s increasingly digital world, people often express a wish to “reconnect with nature” – to rekindle a physical bond with the earth and the natural world. But Shirin Yousefi takes the opposite approach with a work that calls on us to rise upwards towards the sky, echoing the exploits of Simeon Stylites, a Byzantine hermit famed for spending 37 years living atop a pillar.

The spiral staircase in Yousefi’s tower is designed for two simultaneous climbers, each following a different route before their paths converge at the summit. As we ascend the installation, we reconnect – albeit briefly – with the notion of architecture as something to be inhabited and experienced. And once we reach the top, we become aware of the relationship between the park and the built environment.

Shirin Yousefi (IR, b. 1986*) lives and work in Switzerland.
Jonban was created in collaboration with Ruben Valdez, Pauls Rietums and Lucas Aulagnier.