Workshop EXPLORATIONS IN PAINTING – Painting as Scene: Desire, Landscape & Haptic Perception by Mahsa Saloor
General Course Description
This workshop explores painting as a perceptual practice informed by desire, memory, and the construction of scenes. Through small-scale formats, collage, drawing, and short writing prompts, participants experiment with color, surface, and composition as tactile languages. Painting is approached through haptic perception and attunement—touch, pressure, smudge, repetition, and layering—alongside narrative and poetic exercises that draw on personal memory, landscape, and fiction.
The workshop introduces artists working between painting, symbolism, queer world-building, and literature, including Etel Adnan, Bhupen Khakhar, Florine Stettheimer, Odilon Redon, and others, as points of reference for material experimentation, perceptual approaches, and scene construction. Emphasis is placed on process-based exploration rather than finished outcomes, making the workshop accessible to participants with varied levels of experience.
Duration: March 11 – 12, 2026
Hours: Each day from 10 AM – 12:30 PM
Seats: Max. 20
Language: English
Fees: The participation fee is €95 per person including material (without accommodation).
The fee is VAT-exempt by the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery Higher Education and Research pursuant to Paragraph 4 No. (21) (a)(bb) UStG (German Value Added Tax Act).
Learning outcomes
By the end of the workshop, participants will:
- Develop an expanded understanding of painting as a perceptual and tactile practice
- Experiment with color as material and affective field
- Explore surface, layering, pressure, and repetition as compositional tools
- Use collage as a method for constructing scenes and spatial relations
- Engage memory, landscape, and fiction as sources for scene-building
- Work intuitively across painting, drawing, collage, and text
- Produce a series of small works exploring tactility, desire, and scenic perception
Program Structure with Daily Lesson Plan
Day 1
10.00 – 10.15
Introduction to the workshop and overview of the two-day structure. Brief discussion of painting as a perceptual and haptic practice, with attention to sensation, material, and intuition.
10.15 – 10.25
10-minute visual presentation introducing references such as Etel Adnan, Bhupen Khakhar, Florine Stettheimer, and Odilon Redon, focusing on approaches to color, symbolism, scene construction, and material sensitivity.
10.25 – 11.15
Hands-on exercises exploring painting and drawing through tactile perception. Participants work with color, surface, touch, pressure, smudge, and repetition to experience paint as a material language and affective field.
11.15 – 12.00
Introduction to short writing and poetic prompts used as tools for scene construction and memory. Writing is approached as drawing and as a way to generate imagery, sensation, and compositional direction.
12.00 – 12.30
Independent studio time combining painting, drawing, collage, and text. Individual guidance and group conversation focused on process rather than finished results.
Day 2
10.00 – 10.10
Group check-in and reflection on materials, processes, and discoveries from Day 1.
10.10 – 10.25
Short visual recap and additional references focused on symbolism, queer world-building, and narrative strategies in painting.
10.25 – 11.30
Studio work centered on collage as scene construction. Participants combine painted elements, drawing, and text to build imaginal scenes informed by memory, landscape, and fiction.
11.30 – 12.00
Refinement of works through layering, reworking, and experimentation with color as affective field and material presence.
12.00 – 12.30
Group sharing and discussion. Reflection on tactility, desire, perception, and scene-making as artistic strategies.
Your Workshop Instructor
Mahsa Saloor is an artist and writer living and working in Berlin. They work between painting, poetry, and film, exploring desire, nature, and spirituality across bodies, land, and more-than-human worlds. Relationality between human and nonhuman life and ecological systems shapes both their process and work. They studied Fine Arts at Städelschule and filmmaking at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Recent exhibitions include Isolated Bodies, Waiting for a Touch at Hua International, The New Subject at KINDL Berlin, Tropes For Falling In Love at Schloss Neuburg, and Covert Joy at BQ Gallery. They participated in residencies including the Mountain School of Arts, Peripheral Alliances at Kunstverein München, and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart.
More information on the Mahsa Saloor Instagram account.
