Hadi Asgharpour MFA’25 is graduating this spring with his Master of Fine Arts degree in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication, following the Creative Practice pathway. His thesis exhibition, Struggling in the Ecosystem, was selected as Juror’s Choice Solo Show Award winner of the 500X College Expo 2025.
The 500X Gallery is one of Texas’ oldest, artist-run, cooperative galleries. Since 1978, the board of volunteer artists has provided exposure and exhibition space to up-and-coming artists in Dallas. This year, Asgharpour was accepted into the gallery’s annual College Expo showcase and awarded the top prize.
“I chose interactive art, electronic art, for my thesis with the theme of memory and loss on the environment,” Asgharpour said. “I grew up in the north of Iran, and we had wonderful [access to] nature there. During my childhood, we lived close to Boujagh National Park, which was the first coastal marine national park in Iran.”
“The best memory of my childhood is when my father and I used to row our boats in the wetland,” he said. “But, due to the impact of humans on nature, the wetland dried. It dried because of a harbor they tried to build. They wanted to bring ships to that area, but they didn’t study the geography well enough.”
Struggling in the Ecosystem is a tribute to the complex relationship between humans and their interaction with nature. The trees scattered throughout the exhibition space are equipped with cameras. A small computer at the base of each sculpture detects visible movement, prompting a mechanical mount at the trunk’s base to rotate and track it. The effect is eerie — a room full of trees watching and waiting for your presence. Asgharpour’s exhibition unfolds like a chain of recollections, all of which harken back to his experiences with the natural world.
“I mourned, and I grieved about what we lost in our nature,” Asgharpour said. “The message is: We are all entangled. We are related. We are not dominant in nature. By making this artwork, I try to create a dialogue, create a conversation, between human and non-human entities.”
After completing his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 2014 at Azad University of Anzali in his home country of Iran, Asgharpour was faced with a pivotal decision.
“I also was admitted to a master’s degree program there in civil engineering,” he recalled. “But I didn’t accept that because I wanted to be an artist. That was the most important decision of my life — to terminate that and come to UTD to pursue my dream.”
Asgharpour began his MFA program at the Bass School in 2022 with a passion to recreate his experiences and craft evocative data visualizations. “I want to work with institutions to turn data into something that a human can feel,” he said.
Following his graduation in May 2025, Asgharpour will return to the Bass School in August to pursue a PhD in Visual and Performing Arts. His ultimate goal is to further his education and research to become a professor at a major academic institution.
“I want to be a scholar. During my MFA program, I practiced with my hands. So, for my PhD, I’m going to try to balance that and become both a scholar and an artist – going to conferences, publishing papers. That’s my goal,” Asgharpour said. “The Bass School is one of the few unique programs that provide a practice-based PhD.”
Asgharpour credits a few faculty members with helping him along his journey, including his MFA committee, which consisted of Professors xtine Burrough, Heidi Cooley, SV Randall and Marilyn Waligore. He also praises the unwavering support of Professor Kevin Sweet, John Pomara, Laura Kim and Dean Terry, all of whom championed him into the academic and artistic success he’s found today.
During his time as a graduate student, Asgharpour served as a teaching assistant and eventually became a primary instructor.
“As an international student coming here, the Bass School supported me and gave me a class to teach,” Asgharpour expressed. “It meant a lot to me. Especially because, as I said, my goal is to become a professor, right? Now, I have a teaching background.”
“Art helps us feel what’s disappearing,” Asgharpour shared. “I want people to remember that we are not separate from nature; we are inside of it.”
Student Assistant
Olivia is a communications assistant who works alongside the creative team to showcase the incredible talent of the Bass School Community. When she’s not photographing events or attending classes—she loves to write sci-fi fantasy fiction stories and play D&D.