The artist addresses issues related to violence, freedom of expression, geopolitics, immigration
The Hamburger Bahnhof hosts the Nadia Kaabi-Linke solo exhibition entitled “Seeing without light”. The artist, born in Tunis to a Tunisian father and a Ukrainian mother, grew up in Kiev, Dubai and Paris and currently lives and works in Berlin. From such a biography we can only expect a multicultural approach. In fact, her conceptual art deals mainly with issues related to censorship, immigration, transnational identities and geopolitics. Although she is not yet known to the general public, she has already had the opportunity to be noticed by professionals, scoring a series of remarkable results. She won the award for Best Emerging Artist in the 2014 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, she presented the work Flying Carpets at the 54th Biennale di Venezia and, a few months later, the work was bought by the Guggenheim of New York.
TUNISIAN FATHER, UKRAINIAN MOTHER, RAISED BETWEEN KIEV, DUBAI AND PARIS, SHE NOW LIVES IN BERLIN
Just the following year, MoMA also launched an acquisition campaign around Linke’s work. In the last 5 years, almost all the most important contemporary art museums in Europe have joined with exhibitions, events and purchases. She is, therefore, an artist with broad growth prospects but already an important historian who now finds herself presenting a difficult exhibition to German visitors. A whole room deals with the Russian campaigns that decades ago were hoarding Ukrainian artworks. Clearly, the link to the current situation is straightforward and devoid of any filter and Kaabi-Linke has no hesitation in taking a clear position in the debate. Several works follow to analyze the forms of invisible violence that shape our way of remembering historical facts, from devious propaganda to censorship carried out by the intelligence services.
HER WORKS HAVE BEEN ACQUIRED BY INTERNATIONAL MUSEUMS SUCH AS THE GUGGENHEIM AND THE MOMA IN NEW YORK
On this occasion, the project Blindstrom for Kazimir was previewed. Initially conceived for the National Art Museum in Kiev, it re-proposes some paintings from the 1920s and 1930s currently saved from bombing. The exhibition ends with an audio-video work, Bud’mo - tailor-made for this event - which refers to the partisan war fought in Galicia and the Black Forest and all the historical information that has been secreted by the governments of Ukraine, Russia and Germany. The exhibition is curated by the director and curator of the Hamburger Bahnhof, Sam Bardaouil and Daria Prydybailo. Until April 7th.
PREVIEW OF THE PROJECT BLINDSTROM FOR KAZIMIR INITIALLY CONCEIVED FOR THE KIEV MUSEUM
