Saâdane Afif. This is Ornamental

About

Through the methods of collaboration, inclusion and circulation, inside and outside of his work, artist Saâdane Afif builds a complex system of relationships with the history of art and forms, especially with literature and music, as well as with the classic models of exhibition-making, mediation and interpretation of art. Repetitions, derivations, transcriptions, translations, delegations: Saâdane Afif’s creation processes seal the fundamental openness and transitivity of his practice. Always conceptual, his works can take the form of objects, sculptures, texts, sound works, performances or posters, which the artist sometimes arranges in installations. Each occurrence of his work is a new constellation, a specific activation or metamorphosis of pre-existing elements, by the artist himself or invited collaborators, avoiding any reification. “It is (…) a question of never freezing the work in a finished, durable state. Even if each proposal is completed, everything is taken in a continuous cycle. (…) I see in all of this weaving a metaphor for the perception of art: how does one inscribe a work into one’s own cultural field?” (Saâdane Afif).

For Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz, Saâdane Afif is developing a new ensemble of works driven from a theater play. The play, commissioned by the artist from a French writer, is based on a performance shown in 2014 at the 5th Marrakech Biennale. Souvenir: The Lesson of Geometry was a series of performances at Jamaa El Fna’s square, offering basic courses featuring only fundamentals - the mathematical as well as artistic basics.