Reflections on a recent exhibition in Cambridge
Unstable, presented in association with Counterpoints Arts at Cambridge Artspace (5–7 September 2025), was a solo exhibition by Cambridge-based artist Mohammad Noureddini. Through drawings and prints, the exhibition reflected on fragility, displacement, and the instability of the collective human
body under systems of power.
The works presented figures caught in ambiguous states, gathering, collapsing, reaching, or surrendering. These gestures, never fixed, moved uneasily between solidarity and submission, echoing the precarious conditions of human life shaped by political and social forces. Stark mark-making and raw
compositions underscored the urgency of the subject matter, while the fragmentation of the images resisted any definitive resolution.
A distinctive element of the exhibition was a wall of sketches and preparatory studies, offering audiences a window into Noureddini’s process. By including unfinished works alongside more resolved pieces, the artist underscored that art is not only a polished outcome but also a journey of searching, doubt and experimentation. This curatorial choice deepened the exhibition’s exploration of instability, exposing both the vulnerability of human figures and the vulnerability inherent in artistic practice itself.
The title Unstable speaks to the unsettled condition of contemporary life, marked by political and social upheavals worldwide. By framing instability not as an exception but as an underlying state, the exhibition situated individual gestures within a broader reflection on the volatility of collective
existence.
Audiences responded warmly to the exhibition, noting both its aesthetic intensity and its conceptual depth. The collaboration with Counterpoints Arts as part of our programme for Platforma 2025 across the East of England, provided a framework that connected the works to wider conversations around migration, resilience and collective memory.
With Unstable, Mohammad Noureddini presented a body of work that was visually raw yet conceptually precise, an exhibition that embodied the instability of our times while insisting on the power of art to make that fragility visible.
