Iran Sanadzadeh is a composer, performer and researcher in interaction design for the sonic arts and in musical acoustics. Her practice-led research and creative pursuits are focused on drawing new connections out at the intersection disparate approaches. 

Iran performs primarily on her set of pressure-sensitive floors, developed initially from the study of the pioneering work of Australian dancer Philippa Cullen. She designed and built the floors in collaboration with Mold Design Studio and composer Sebastian Collen, who remains a key collaborator in the continued expansion of the technical elements of the pressure-sensitive floors. This instrument has been used to renew the interest and expand the understanding of Philippa Cullen’s contribution to early electronic musical instruments. The Floors were a finalist in the 2023 Guthman Prize for Musical Instruments.

Collaborative works have formed a significant part of Iran’s practice. The long-standing duo with visual artist Setare Arashloo has been an avenue in which Iran has composed for video, installations and live multimedia performances. Their work Knock Mark Stitch translates stories from Iranian prisoners of conscience; The handbell and video form of this work saw its Australian premiere at Nexus Arts Centre in 2019. From 2016 to 2019 Knock Mark Stitch was performed in the US, Iran, and Australia. 

The award-winning work Utter, 2020-2021, funded by ArtsSA, for dancer, pressure-sensitive floors and saxophone, was premiered in the 2021 Adelaide Fringe festival. It won the Best Dance Performance Weekly award in the Adelaide Fringe and was shortlisted for the Adelaide Critics Circle Awards 2021. Utter was co-composed with Dylan Crismani and made in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Cazna Brass, saxophonist Derek Pascoe and Sebastian Collen. This performance used the manuscripts of Philippa Cullen, drew on her early thoughts about sound, electronics and dance and expanded these ideas for a new era. 

Iran has been performing duo works with instrumentalists in exploration of the intersection between electronics and acoustics. Most recently, in 2021, Diametric Convergences was supported by ArtsSA for co-composition of a three-part suite for pressure-sensitive floors and cello with David Moran. Interconnectica, in collaboration with Sebastian Collen, was premiered at The Lab, and featured an immersive audiovisual work using The Floors, decontextualised organ pipes and reactive visuals.

Iran’s compositions combine multiple perspectives and uses of sound, translating the procedural nature of audio to the immediate and intimate gestures of physical movement in performance. Her latest piece, Hello, World! explores the sound of woodwinds and brass in their intersection with electronics. Her string quartet, Without, was commissioned by Zephyr Quartet in 2019, and responded to Sheila Heti’s Motherhood. In 2020, she composed and recorded Quarters for snare and saxophone and Tempus Fugit, for saxophone and bell. Iran’s solo composition for pressure-sensitive floors, Rounding, Folding, was commissioned as a response to Nina Katchadourian’s Accent Elimination as a part of the The Image is not Nothing exhibition series.