I might have a story to tell you – an art talk between Muhammad Ali and Abir Boukhari
Join us for a public conversation between artist Muhammad Ali and curator Abir Boukhari, AllArtNow (SYR/SWE).
Abir Boukhari will describe how AllArtNow, an art organisation founded in Damascus in 2005, has developed a platform from which to act during a turbulent time and unstable conditions. Muhammad Ali will speak about how he explores the creation of meaning in his artistic practice, with the point of departure in everyday situations where the boundary between the conscious and the unconscious is blurred. He will also touch upon his long-term collaboration with AllArtNow.
The conversation is a collaboration between KC-Väst and Iaspis, the Swedish Arts Grant Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Artists.
Abir Boukhari will present AllArtNow, the first independent collective space for contemporary art in Damascus, Syria, which she co-founded with artist Nisrine Boukhari in 2005. AllArtNow helps emerging Syrian contemporary artists produce and disseminate their works. Based in Sweden since 2015, Boukhari’s curatorial practice continues to create platforms for art and artists. She will discuss her current “Curatorial Nomadism” on the flexibility of institutional structure by creating/re-creating herself in different territories due to the state of contingency, exploring the effects of displacement on individuals and cultures, providing practical examples from the many exhibitions she has curated in different places throughout the world.
Muhammad Ali will present an overview of his artistic practice, his collaboration with AllArtNow and the role of the curator in supporting the creative process of the artist. Muhammad will talk about how art plays a major role in articulating reality during a turbulent time in a fragile historical era. In his work, Ali focuses on everyday life, exploring how meanings are constructed and understood as he blurs the boundaries between the conscious and the unconscious mind.
Muhammad Ali (SYR/SWE) is a Syrian artist based in Sweden since 2016. And an Iaspis studio grant holder in Stockholm 10 October 2017 – 28 February 2018. Ali employs a multi-disciplinary approach in his artistic practice, which spans video, installation, digital art, painting and drawing and explores how meanings are constructed and understood. He often focuses on life as he blurs the boundaries between consciousness and unconsciousness. He graduated from the Painting Department at the faculty of Fine Art in Damascus. Muhammad’s work has been exhibited in many countries and venues, such as AllArtNow Syria; Kalmar konstmuseum, Sweden; Bornholms konstmuseum, Denmark; Pori Art Museum, Finland; Jönköpings läns museum, Sweden; Scope Art, New York. He has been artist-in-residence at Botkyrka konsthall, Sweden; the Delfina Foundation, London and he is currently undertaking a residency at Iaspis Stockholm, October 2017 – February 2018.
Abir Boukhari (SYR/SVE) is a curator and director of Syria’s first centre for contemporary art, AllArtNow, which she co-founded with artist Nisrine Boukhari in 2005.
A platform for contemporary art in Syria, AllArtNow develops artistic collaborations and supports young artists in developing and producing their works. Previously Boukhari was the director of the Living Spaces Festival for Contemporary Arts, artistic director of Studio, an informal school for contemporary art in Syria, and co-founder of the Boukhari House for Artist Residences and the Maktab Creative Zone in Damascus. She has worked as a freelance curator since 2006, curating exhibitions for, among others, Taksim Gallery (Istanbul); Arab Short Festival (Cairo); Les Instants Festival (Marseille) and Gotham Arts Studios (Western Australia). Due to the war it became increasingly difficult to run AllArtNow in Damascus. Since 2015 Abir has lived in Sweden, where she has realised several exhibitions and collaborations, including curating the contemporary art in the ongoing exhibition Aswat: Syrian Voices at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, featuring five contemporary artists from Syria. www.allartnow.com
For more information, please visit: www.kc-vast.se