Illustration adapted from an original image by Ali Akbar Sadeghi
Opening Reception:
mādar: Iran Relief Exhibition curated by Melika Abikenari and Golnar Adili
Friday, May 15, 2026
6:00 pm–late (sounds by Nar at 9 pm)
137 W. 25th Street, New York, NY
RSVP
Please join us at the opening reception for mādar, a group benefit exhibition and auction that presents works by over 80 contributing artists. The exhibition is curated by Melika Abikenari and Golnar Adili. The event features sounds by Nar beginning at 9 pm, aragh cocktails by Sag, beer provided by Back Home Beer, and bites donated by Golbarg Jokar of food collective Bazm.
mādar presents contributed artworks available for acquisition, with proceeds supporting humanitarian relief efforts through Moms Against Poverty and additional initiatives supporting people on the ground in Iran. An online auction featuring exhibited works will launch simultaneously with the opening reception, allowing supporters to view, learn more about, and acquire works both in person and remotely until 11:59 pm EST on Friday, May 15th.
RSVPs to the opening reception are requested but not required. The event is free and all are welcome.
This exhibition will remain on view through the weekend at CUE’s gallery space at 137 West 25th St. Weekend gallery hours on Saturday, May 16th and Sunday, May 17th are from 12–6 pm; no reservations are required.
Read more about the exhibition here, and see below to RSVP to the opening reception.
About the Curators
Melika Abikenari (b. 1992, Iran) is a Brooklyn-based artist, educator, and organizer. She holds a BA from UCLA and an MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She is The Bronx Museum’s 2026 AIR fellow and a recent artist-in- residence at NARS Foundation. She has participated in the New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Artist Program and completed residencies at Cerámica Suro, Art Cake, and Textile Arts Center. Abikenari has received the Creatives Rebuild New York grant, the Anderson Ranch Arts Center 2020 Scholarship Partnership Program, and the Meredith Beau CAA ’97 and Scott Beau Materials Fund. Her work has been exhibited at ArteEast (Brooklyn, NY), the Bronx Council on the Arts (Bronx, NY), New York Live Arts (New York, NY), M. David & Co (Brooklyn, NY), Art Cake (Brooklyn, NY), Cranbrook Art Museum (Bloomfield Hills, MI), The Sculpture Center (Cleveland, OH), and The Main Museum (Los Angeles, CA), among others.
Golnar Adili (b. 1976, USA) is an Iranian American artist, designer, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. Adili holds a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Michigan and has participated in residencies with the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (Bellagio, Italy), Center for Book Arts (NYC), Smack Mellon (Brooklyn, NY), Fine Arts Work Center (Provincetown, MA), MacDowell (Peterborough, NH), Ucross Foundation for the Arts (Clearmont, WY), Lower East Side Printshop (NYC), Women’s Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY), and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace (NYC), among others. Her work has been presented internationally in solo and group exhibitions organized by institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), CUE Art Foundation (New York, NY), Craft and Folk Art Museum (Los Angeles, CA), and International Print Center New York (NYC). She is the past recipient of major grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, NYFA, and the Jerome Foundation. In 2021, Adili was a finalist for the Jameel Prize, sponsored by the V&A Museum and Art Jameel. Her artist books are in more than fifty collections, including the Library of Congress, the V&A Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University, and the Smithsonian.