Siah Armajani
American, born in Iran, 1939–2020
BiographySiah Armajani was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1939. He arrived in the United States in 1960 and received his B.A. from Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1963. Starting in the late sixties he took part in a number of group shows focused on Conceptual Art, including Art By Telephone (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1969); Information (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1970); and Art in the Mind (Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, 1970). During this time Armajani was also exploring various building types, including bridges and houses, through sketches as well as small- and large-scale models. In the seventies these explorations expanded to include various types of communal spaces, as well as a series of objects that Armajani called his Dictionary for Building. During the last twenty years, Armajani has used these explorations as the basis for a number of temporary and permanent public installations and projects.