Babak Ganjei doesn’t care if you think he’s joking. His work – part confessional, part protest, part deadpan – will make you laugh before you realise you’re a little broken. Over the years, Babak has built a world of handwritten posters, sardonic petitions, and quietly chaotic one-liners that hit harder the longer you sit with them. There’s an uncomfortable comfort to his work, a feeling that we can all relate to.
Now, with UNCLE, Babak is revisiting his petition series with a new poster demanding we unplug the world for a second before plugging it back in. It’s a solution that (somehow) works for all things technology, so surely it’ll do some good for us, right? Within days of the first posters going up, passersby began interacting with the petition. If this has taught us anything, it’s that we’re all human and that we could all do with a little restart. Also, who still carries a pen with them?.
In the interview that follows, UNCLE spoke with Babak to talk about his early inspirations, life within his own sitcom and how the city of London shapes his art.
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07.25 Babak Ganjei petitions for a hard reset on the world
CAN YOU DESCRIBE, IN YOUR OWN WORDS, WHO BABAK GANJEI IS?
He’s a bit of a stranger, I don’t really know him.
YOU GREW UP IN A VERY ART-ORIENTATED FAMILY. YOUR MOTHER WAS A PAINTER, AND YOUR FATHER WAS AN ARCHITECT. CAN YOU SHARE SOME INSIGHT INTO LIFE GROWING UP FOR YOU?
It was just very natural to be making marks everywhere. It was very normal for everybody to be making things all the time so I don’t know any different. Still when it came to Art School I think my parents would rather I fell into a more secure future but I had no back up plan whatsoever.
WHETHER THEY BE ARTISTS OR NOT, WHO WERE YOUR INSPIRATIONS GROWING UP?
I was 13 when Nevermind came out and Nirvana kind of set me off on a path where I could see what being an artist could do. As a kid I hung on Kurt Cobain’s every word and through Nirvana I was introduced to Sonic Youth and through Sonic Youth an entire underground scene of art, music and film. This is pre-internet so discovering these underground worlds felt incredibly rewarding. And liberating. The world didn’t end at Bournemouth town center anymore. In later years Charlie Kaufman’s scripts and Andy Kaufman’s comedy were a massive influence to my work. Both share a surname and a tendency to break the fourth wall. Charlie Kaufman with the films he wrote and Andy Kaufman in pushing his comedy from beyond the stage blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE AN ARTIST? WERE THERE ANY OTHER CAREER PATHS YOU THOUGHT ABOUT GOING DOWN BEFORE LANDING ON THIS ONE?
The only back up I had thought of was to become a writer. When I was seven, I thought I was going to be a screen writer. I’d already decided at that age I didn’t have the guts to tell people what to do so I couldn’t be a director. I’d have to get it on the page first in silence.
YOU’VE MENTIONED BEFORE THAT, SINCE GRADUATING, YOU’VE BEEN LIVING IN A REAL-LIFE SITCOM. CAN YOU EXPAND ON THIS AND HOW THIS DICTATES YOUR CREATIVE OUTPUT?
I try and look at things in a movie like narrative, I guess. This isn’t intentional. It might just come from growing up as quite a silent kid in front of the TV. I like to link events and people and the way a day unfolds. I think I do it unconsciously, it’s now how I’ve trained my brain. I guess maybe it makes it’s a less scary world if I can connect things together.
YOUR ART FEELS DEEPLY CONFESSIONAL, DRAWING ON YOUR INNER MONOLOGUE. CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH YOUR PROCESS WHEN STARTING A NEW PIECE?
I’d say the entire process comes from walking and I guess the inner monologue is running the whole time. I find sitting at a desk and thinking very difficult, so the process is to stay moving. Wander the streets at a slow steady pace, so you can still notice things around you.
He’s a bit of a stranger, I don’t really know him.
YOU GREW UP IN A VERY ART-ORIENTATED FAMILY. YOUR MOTHER WAS A PAINTER, AND YOUR FATHER WAS AN ARCHITECT. CAN YOU SHARE SOME INSIGHT INTO LIFE GROWING UP FOR YOU?
It was just very natural to be making marks everywhere. It was very normal for everybody to be making things all the time so I don’t know any different. Still when it came to Art School I think my parents would rather I fell into a more secure future but I had no back up plan whatsoever.
WHETHER THEY BE ARTISTS OR NOT, WHO WERE YOUR INSPIRATIONS GROWING UP?
I was 13 when Nevermind came out and Nirvana kind of set me off on a path where I could see what being an artist could do. As a kid I hung on Kurt Cobain’s every word and through Nirvana I was introduced to Sonic Youth and through Sonic Youth an entire underground scene of art, music and film. This is pre-internet so discovering these underground worlds felt incredibly rewarding. And liberating. The world didn’t end at Bournemouth town center anymore. In later years Charlie Kaufman’s scripts and Andy Kaufman’s comedy were a massive influence to my work. Both share a surname and a tendency to break the fourth wall. Charlie Kaufman with the films he wrote and Andy Kaufman in pushing his comedy from beyond the stage blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE AN ARTIST? WERE THERE ANY OTHER CAREER PATHS YOU THOUGHT ABOUT GOING DOWN BEFORE LANDING ON THIS ONE?
The only back up I had thought of was to become a writer. When I was seven, I thought I was going to be a screen writer. I’d already decided at that age I didn’t have the guts to tell people what to do so I couldn’t be a director. I’d have to get it on the page first in silence.
YOU’VE MENTIONED BEFORE THAT, SINCE GRADUATING, YOU’VE BEEN LIVING IN A REAL-LIFE SITCOM. CAN YOU EXPAND ON THIS AND HOW THIS DICTATES YOUR CREATIVE OUTPUT?
I try and look at things in a movie like narrative, I guess. This isn’t intentional. It might just come from growing up as quite a silent kid in front of the TV. I like to link events and people and the way a day unfolds. I think I do it unconsciously, it’s now how I’ve trained my brain. I guess maybe it makes it’s a less scary world if I can connect things together.
YOUR ART FEELS DEEPLY CONFESSIONAL, DRAWING ON YOUR INNER MONOLOGUE. CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH YOUR PROCESS WHEN STARTING A NEW PIECE?
I’d say the entire process comes from walking and I guess the inner monologue is running the whole time. I find sitting at a desk and thinking very difficult, so the process is to stay moving. Wander the streets at a slow steady pace, so you can still notice things around you.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POP CULTURE AND POLITICS WITHIN YOUR ART?
I was born in Britain my parents are Iranian so there is an element of that experience that is inherent in my work without me making an intentional decision to talk about it. It makes you feel like you are in a way not really from any one place and I think that is quite a liberating space to be in as an artist. Not feeling comfortable coming from one place, the desire to find connections and common ground is a bit stronger. Or at least that is my understanding of it. Pop culture, politics it’s all tribes and groups everyone is trying to find a place to fit.
CAN YOU TALK IS THROUGH THE ARTWORK YOU HAVE CHOSEN FOR THIS PARTNERSHIP WITH UNCLE?
I had been making all these fanciful petition posters for things like “Make my cat like me more”, “Bring Prince back to life” but in recent years it feels like the world is on fire and there is so much rolling news we don’t have a chance to process anything that is happening. There was something nice about making a sort of old school street campaign to turn off the internet. The idea that somebody would pass it by and stop and feel compelled to sign it makes me feel like somehow that’s a success.
WE’VE ALREADY STARTED SEEING THE PUBLIC INTERACT WITH THESE POSTERS IN THE STREETS AND SIGNING THEIR NAMES TO THE PETITION. IS THIS WHAT YOU HAD IN MIND WHEN YOU STARTED CREATING THE PETITION PIECES, OR WERE THEY MEANT TO BE RHETORICAL?
It’s always a bit nerve wracking putting something out there that invites interaction. I think when I first made the “Please bring Prince back to life” petition I imagined it to be rhetorical but it was a large installation at a festival which instantly got signed and it does say “Please sign” on it so I don’t know what I was thinking. I just don’t presume people carry pens around anymore.
HOW DOES THE CITY OF LONDON COME THROUGH IN YOUR ART AND YOUR PROCESS?
Well in this instance hopefully by putting pen to paper, but in general my work is born from wandering London streets. This work is basically a tribute to that. It’s the kind of thing I would like to stumble upon
WHAT IS YOUR DREAM COMMISSION?
T-shirt for the band Pavement.
www.babakganjeiworks.com
www.instagram.com/babakganjei
I was born in Britain my parents are Iranian so there is an element of that experience that is inherent in my work without me making an intentional decision to talk about it. It makes you feel like you are in a way not really from any one place and I think that is quite a liberating space to be in as an artist. Not feeling comfortable coming from one place, the desire to find connections and common ground is a bit stronger. Or at least that is my understanding of it. Pop culture, politics it’s all tribes and groups everyone is trying to find a place to fit.
CAN YOU TALK IS THROUGH THE ARTWORK YOU HAVE CHOSEN FOR THIS PARTNERSHIP WITH UNCLE?
I had been making all these fanciful petition posters for things like “Make my cat like me more”, “Bring Prince back to life” but in recent years it feels like the world is on fire and there is so much rolling news we don’t have a chance to process anything that is happening. There was something nice about making a sort of old school street campaign to turn off the internet. The idea that somebody would pass it by and stop and feel compelled to sign it makes me feel like somehow that’s a success.
WE’VE ALREADY STARTED SEEING THE PUBLIC INTERACT WITH THESE POSTERS IN THE STREETS AND SIGNING THEIR NAMES TO THE PETITION. IS THIS WHAT YOU HAD IN MIND WHEN YOU STARTED CREATING THE PETITION PIECES, OR WERE THEY MEANT TO BE RHETORICAL?
It’s always a bit nerve wracking putting something out there that invites interaction. I think when I first made the “Please bring Prince back to life” petition I imagined it to be rhetorical but it was a large installation at a festival which instantly got signed and it does say “Please sign” on it so I don’t know what I was thinking. I just don’t presume people carry pens around anymore.
HOW DOES THE CITY OF LONDON COME THROUGH IN YOUR ART AND YOUR PROCESS?
Well in this instance hopefully by putting pen to paper, but in general my work is born from wandering London streets. This work is basically a tribute to that. It’s the kind of thing I would like to stumble upon
WHAT IS YOUR DREAM COMMISSION?
T-shirt for the band Pavement.
www.babakganjeiworks.com
www.instagram.com/babakganjei
