Artist Arash Nassiri makes work about Tehran, but not the city as it exists today. His films reconstruct the capital’s Western fantasies from the dreams and memories of the Iranian diaspora. In Tehran-Geles (2014) and City of Tales (2018), Nassiri interweaves the two urban fabrics — the Iranian capital and Los Angeles — projecting the past of one place onto the future of another. His latest work, which has been co-commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery and Fondation Pernod Ricard for two solo exhibitions in 2026, focuses on “Persian palaces,” the ornate mansions built by Iranian families in Beverly Hills. Although their decorative style is often derided by neighbors, these grand homes are, for Nassiri, heritage sites that simultaneously represent émigrés’ cultural baggage and their pursuit of the American Dream. PIN–UP caught up with Nassiri while he was in L.A. for the prestigious Villa Albertine residency to discuss the complex meanings contained within these monumental homes.