ALI KAAF
“DIE BYZANTINISCHE ECKE”
APRIL 2018
Ali Kaaf
Ali Kaaf – Die byzantinische Ecke
21. April – 26. Mai 2018/April 21 – May 26, 2018
Vernissage: Freitag, 20. April 2018, 19-21 Uhr/Opening: Friday, April 20, 2018, 7-9pm
Gallery Weekend – Sonderöffnungszeiten: Fr. 27. April 12-21 Uhr; Sa. 28. April 11-19 Uhr; So. 29. April 11-19 Uhr
Gallery Weekend – Opening hours: Fri. April 27, 12-9pm; Sat. April 28, 11-7pm; Sun. April 29, 11-7pm
Zusatzevent: Termin folgt
Ali Kaaf, Die byzantinische Ecke I (Detail), 2018
Fotocollage, Inkjet Print auf Papier, Auflage 3
photocollage, inkjet print on paper, Edition 3, 130 x 86 cm
Syrian-German multimedia artist Ali Kaaf was institutionally acclaimed in 2016 in Berlin with his huge video installation “The Box of Pain” at the Kühlhaus (Cold Storage from 1896) and with a presentation of paper works and glass sculptures at the Studio of The Bumiller Collection – University Museum Islamic Art. In the second gallery exhibition with Ali Kaaf we will show for the first time his new works on paper, collages and photographs.
His photomontages and collages from the new series “Die byzantinische Ecke“ (The Byzantine Corner”) is based on photgraphs from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, where the corner forms the artistic starting point as a key architectural element that equally conveys intimacy. The historical development of the Hagia Sophia from a Byzantine church via a mosque to today’s museum serves the artist as a metaphor for the process-related exchange and change between the different worlds and cultures, which are influenced from the outside and change on both sides. Ali Kaaf interweaves the architectural features of the Hagia Sophia with abstract dynamic shapes through his photography using montage and incisions, which open the image into the room.
In doing so, he emphasizes the intermingling of the difference which knows no sharp demarcations and becomes a multi-layered whole, a new (thought) space. This procedure can already be found in his works on paper of the Rift series, in which two papers are joined together, either by tearing or burning. The artistic search for knowledge, new horizons and the depths of existence unites all different media and is the driving force behind the next artwork. Using the fragile materiality of paper, the artist seeks stability.
Born in Algeria in 1977; he lives and works in Berlin; he studied fine arts at the Institute of Beaux-Arts Beirut and at the University of Arts (UdK) Berlin with Marwan and Rebecca Horn; since 2016 lecturer at the Kunsthochschule Weißensee Berlin in the foundationClass; Awards: 2004 DAAD Prize of the UdK Berlin, artist-in-residence, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley et al.; Exhibitions: 2017 “Syria: Into the Light”, Atassi Foundation, Dubai; 2012 “Hollowing Light”, Custer County Art & Heritage Center, Miles City, USA; 2004 “Taswir – Islamic Picture Worlds and Modernity”, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin et al.
His artworks are included in the following collections et al.: The Khalid Shoman Foundation Darat Al Funun, Amman; Sammlung Peter Raue Berlin; Moontower Foundation Rebbecca Horn; Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin; MAXXI – Nationalmuseum für die Kunst des XXI. Jahrhunderts, Rom et al.
Press
Nafas Art Magazine – Ali Kaaf: The Byzantine Corner
| 1977 | Syrer, geboren in Oran, Algerien/Syrian, born in Oran, Algeria |
| 1994-1998 | Studium der bildenden Kunst an der Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts, Beirut/studied fine arts at Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts, Beirut |
| 2000 | Sommer Akademie bei/studied fine arts with Marwan Kassab Bachi, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan; Studium der bildenden Kunst an der Universität der Künste (UdK) Berlin bei Marwan/studied fine arts at UdK Berlin with Marwan |
| 2002-2005 | Studium der bildenden Kunst bei Rebecca Horn, Universität der Künste (UdK) Berlin/studied fine arts at UdK Berlin with Rebecca Horn |
| 2015 | „Intima“ (Tanzprojekt/Dance Project)), kuratorische Zusammenarbeit mit/in cooperation with Choreograph Gregory Dawson und/and company Dawson Dance SF, San Francisco |
| seit/since 2016 | Lehrtätigkeit an der/lectureship at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee, foundationClass, Berlin |
| 2019 | Symposium — Yemen and Syria: making art today, British Museum, London |
| Lecture + Workshop “Beyond the Painting”, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings (MT), USA |
|
| lebt und arbeitet in Berlin/lives and works in Berlin | |
| Preise und Stipendien/Awards and scholarships | |
| 2020 | AArtist in Residence, Programm des Auswärtigen Amts in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Landesverband Berliner Galerien (lvbg), Berlin |
| 2015 | Artist-in-Residence, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA |
| 2014 | Honorary AIR Awardees, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley |
| 2010 | Young Collectors for MAXXI 2010, Young Collectors Association - Fair ROMA. The Road to Contemporary Art, Rome |
| 2005-2006 | Solidere's Artists in Residence Program, Beirut |
| 2004 | DAAD-Preis der UdK Berlin/German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Prize for Outstanding International Students, assigned by UdK Berlin |
| Einzelausstellungen (Auswahl)/selected solo exhibitions | |
| 2021 | "Goodbye Mschatta - 'Ich bin Fremder. Zweifach Fremder'/ "I Am a Stranger: Twofold a Stranger'", Pergamonmuseum, Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin |
| 2020 | „Zwischen Ja und Nein fliegt die Seele", C&K Galerie, Berlin |
| 2018 | „Die byzantinische Ecke", C&K Galerie, Berlin |
| „Dins un garbell no es pot guardar el sol", Galeria Maior, Palma, Spanien/Spain | |
| 2016 | „Box of Pain“, Kühlhaus Berlin |
| „Ali Kaaf – The Colour of The Water is The Colour of its Vessel“, The Bumiller Collection, Studio Berlin | |
| „Ali Kaaf – Unsilenced“, Pacific Felt Factory, San Francisco, CA | |
| 2015 | „Ali Kaaf – Papier und Glas“, Kunsthaus Langenberg – Alldiekunst, Velbert, Germany |
| 2014 | „RISS“ (mit/with Said Baalbaki), C&Kunterwegs Galerie, Berlin |
| “Scherben Mantra”, Bomb Gallery, Mostar, Bosnien/Bosnia | |
| 2013 | Mihrab, Moontower Foundation, Bad König-Zell, Germany |
| “Paper and Glass”, Salon Neucologne, Berlin | |
| 2012 | “Hollowing Light”, Custer County Art & Heritage Center, Miles City, USA |
| 2010 | “Fragile Strength”, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, USA |
| “Gubar”, Gallery Rafia, Damascus, Syrien/Syria | |
| 2009 | “Eclipse”, Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch, Roma |
| 2008 | “Oh nein Oh”, Gallery Naprzeciw, Poznan, Polen/Poland |
| “RAS RAS/Der Schwarze Garten”, Galerie Sakamoto Contemporary | |
| 2007 | „Schwarz“, Galerie Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin |
| 2006 | “Ali Kaaf, Discovery Planet”, Solidere, Beirut |
| “Ali Kaaf, Khan Ashad-Bacha”, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Syrien Damaskus, Syrien/Syria | |
| 2004 | “Aswad”, Darat al Funun, Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan |
| Gruppenausstellungen (Auswahl)/selected group exhibitions | |
| 2020 | „In weiter Ferne so nah" - AArtist in Residence Programm 2016-2020, Haus am Lützowplatz (HaL), Berlin |
| 2019 | „8 Künstler, 8 Unikate, 8 neue Editionen“, youngcollectors zu Gast in raum 2810, Bonn, Germany |
| “FOURFOLD Positions from Berlin”, Salon Galic, Split, Kroatien/Croatia | |
| “Die haben einen Vogel - Die Vogelmänner von Istanbul" 30 Jahre Galeristin, eine Jubiläumsausstellung von Christiane Bühling-Schultz, C&K Galerie, Berlin | |
| “A Journey of Belonging - Part II”, CAACONTEMPORARYARTSALLIANCEBERLIN, Bikini-Haus, Berlin | |
| 2018 | „Caravane Culturelle Syrienne“, Kunstverlag Galerie Till Breckner, Düsseldorf, Germany |
| „Hommage à Marwan", Galerie Pankow, Berlin |
|
| 2017 | “Syria: Into the Light”, Atassi Foundation, At Concrete-AIserkal Avenue, Dubai |
| 2016 | “The Red Gaze”, curated by A. S. Bruckstein Çoruh, Zilberman Gallery, Berlin |
| “As If, At Home”, Artists in Europe, Box Freiraum, Berlin | |
| “Clearly Ambiguous”, SMAC, Berlin | |
| 2015 | “Mixed Pickles”, C&Kunterwegs Galerie, Berlin |
| “Ortstermin mit Leoni Wirth - Modelle und Entwürfe aus dem Atelier von Leoni Wirth und zeitgenössische Positionen zu Abstraktion und Moderne”, Kunsthaus Dresden, Dresden, Germay | |
| “Living with endangered Languages in the information age”, Root Division, San Francisco | |
| “Hidden Treasures“ - I AMsterdam you BErlin, Sankt-Johannes-Evangelist-Kirche, Berlin | |
| 2014 | “Be my guest”, Galerie E.G.P, Paris |
| “Kunststoff Syrien 2014“, Forum Factory, Ber“Kunststoff Syrien 2014“, Forum Factory, Berlin | |
| „Scherben Mantra“, official selection, Alfilm - Arab Filmfestival, Berlin 2013 | |
| 2013 | „Syrian Diaries“, Korridor No. 33, Kopenhagen, Dänemark/Denmark |
| “SyriArt, Institut du Monde Arabe”, Paris | |
| 2012 | „Kunststoff Syrien“, Forum Factory, Berlin |
| „Maribor Project - Rebecca Horn and Guests”, Contemporary Art Museum, Maribor, Slowenien/Slovenia | |
| “Arrivi e Partenze 2012“, Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona, Italien/Italy | |
| 2010 | “Moontower Foundation”, Bad König-Zell, Germany |
| „FestArte”, Video Art Festival, (Section OFF), MACRO, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roma | |
| “Spiegel im Spiegel“, Horb am Neckar, Germany | |
| „Glass Works”, Global Health Equity Foundation, San Francisco, USA | |
| 2009 | „Taswir – Islamische Bildwelten und Moderne“, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin |
| „Ode“, Kommunale Galerie Berlin, Berlin | |
| 2008 | „Rites of Passage“, Galería Maior, Pollença, Spanien/Spain |
| 2007 | „Flowing Times“, Galerie Schüppenhauer, Köln |
| „Back and Forth”, Villa Grisebach, Berlin | |
| “Château Ivre“, Schloss Sacrow, kuratiert von/curated by Rebecca Horn, Potsdam, Germany | |
| 2005 | „Haus im Körper“, Galerie Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin |
| „Durchzug im Löwenpalais“, Stiftung Starke, Löwenpalais, Berlin | |
| 2003 | „213“, UdK Berlin |
| 2002 | „UdK - Beaux Arts”, Sciences Politiques, Saint-Germain, Paris |
| „Montags“, Klasse Marwan 1977-2002, UdK Berlin | |
| Sammlungen/Collections | |
| The Khalid Shoman Foundation Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan | |
| Collection Solidere Beirut, Libanon / Lebanon | |
| MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma / MAXXI - Nationalmuseum für die Kunst des XXI. Jahrhunderts, Rom | |
| Moontower Foundation, Frankfurt am Main | |
| Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin | |
| Peter-Raue-Sammlung, Berlin | |
| sowie internationale Privatsammlungen/and international private collections | |
| Bibliografie/Bibliography (ausgewählt/selected) | |
| 2021 | In weiter Ferne so nah, hrsg./ed. Landesverband Berliner Galerien, Berlin |
| 2019 | Die haben einen Vogel - Die Vogelmänner von Istanbul - 30 Jahre Galeristin, eine Jubiläumsausstellung von Christiane Bühling-Schultz, hrsg./ed. Christiane Bühling-Schultz |
| 2017 | Syria: Into The Light, Selection of Portraits and Figures in Syrian art from the Collection of the Atassi Foundation, Dubai |
| 2016 | The Red Gaze, hrsg. von/ed. A.S. Bruckstein Çoruh und/and Lotte Laub Berlin |
| Ali Kaaf:The Colour of Water is the Clour of its Vessel, hrsg. von/ed. The Bumiller Collection Berlin-Bamberg | |
| Ali Kaaf in: KWER - Magazin der Abstraktion, Nr.1 (Eins), Berlin | |
| 2014 | Maribor Project - Rebecca Horn and Guests, hrsg. von. /ed. Ifa, Moontower Foundation, Galerija Maribor |
| 2013 | Doris von Drathen: Ali Kaaf, in: Kuenstler – Kritisches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst, (Ausgabe Nr. 104, Heft 22, Quartal 2013), hrsg./ed. Detlef Bluemler, Lothar Romain, München, Germany |
| 2010 | Alexandra von Stosch, Dramaturgie der Zeichen, in: Gubar, hrsg./ed. Galeria Rafia, Damaskus |
| Spiegel im Spiegel, hrsg./ed.Kunstverein Oberer Neckar, Horb, Germany | |
| 2009 | Taswir – Islamische Bildwelten und Moderne, Ausstellung im Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, hrsg. von/ed. Almut Sh. Bruckstein Çoruh |
| Anke M. Ulrich in: Ode, hrsg./ed. Kommunale Galerie, Berlin | |
| 2006 | Ali Kaaf, hrsg. von/ed. Solidere Beirut |