Qassabkhaneh (The Slaughterhouse) was an installation exhibition by Abdolnaser Givghasab held in 2018, consisting of a series of sculptures and paintings. The exhibition’s arrangement was highly progressive and inventive for its time, transforming the gallery space from a conventional white cube into an immersive environment in which the viewer could move among the figures, their shadows, and the dialogic space created between sculpture and painting. In doing so, the viewer entered into a reciprocal and interactive relationship with both the artworks and the physical space itself.

The theme of the exhibition is deeply connected to the artist’s long-standing central practice—one that has shaped his work for many years and consistently served as a primary source of inspiration. Through this exhibition, Givghasab raises a critical ethical question: Is there a moral boundary to human experimentation on other living beings, and if so, how far can that boundary be pushed?

The artist further questions our awareness as human beings, confronting us with the reality that we tear other creatures apart and consume them with little or no sense of compassion. In conclusion, Givghasab extends this ethical inquiry even further, asking whether humanity is truly aware of the consequences of the vast number of genetic experiments conducted on other living beings. Does this degree of intervention in the lives and biological systems of other species have an ethical limit? And if such a limit exists, where does it lie—and how far have we already crossed it?