Ala Ebtekar

1978–

Introduction

Ala Ebtekar (born 1978; Persian: علا ابتکار) is an American contemporary visual artist, of Iranian descent. He is known for his work in painting, drawing, illumination, and installation. His work frequently orchestrates various orbits and cadences of time, bringing forth sculptural and photographic possibilities of the universe, and time, gazing back at us.

Ebtekar's recent work explores liminal experiences bound up with longer non human notions of scientific duration, as well as phenomenology of light. These projects draw out sculptural and photographic possibilities suggested by the idea of the universe gazing back through endless collapses of time, reworking image making process centuries old. His practice examines how contemporary moments exist simultaneously as both minuscule and paramount.

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Roles

Artist

ULAN identifier

500782984

Names

Ala Ebtekar

View the full Getty record

Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed July 15, 2026.

Not on view

First acquired
2014

Date of birth
July 21, 1978

API
artists/16077

Wikidata
Q4705094


On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Frank WANG Yefeng, The Levitating Perils #2

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

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