Bani Abidi, The Distance From Here, 2010, Video Still
Sunday, 30 October 2016, 3 pm
Delimination and Control – Artist Talk with Bani Abidi and Adnan Madani
The talk will be in English language.
Under the title ’Delimination and Control’ the talk will revolve around a multiple-perspective description of cultural and social space. How can we trace cultural identity today, without following predominant narratives? The event aims to discuss mechanisms of control and power from a cultural and artistic perspective. The artist Bani Abidi will talk on her work currently on display at Kunsthaus Hamburg, in which she addresses specific issues of social background/locality and at the same time confronts us with the global context of identity-related demarcation.
With a background in cultural studies, Adnan Madani amongst others examines in his recently concluded PhD the various formations and demarcations of religion and secularism that mark the global cultural space. Besides his academic research he is also involved in artistic practice, currently collaborating with the artist David Alesworth on a research and art initiative called ‘Invasive Species’ that explores biological, historical and mythological traces of non-native presences in Britain.
Bani Abidi (*1971, Pakistan) studied visual art at the National College of Arts in Lahore and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2011, she received a DAAD grant, and since then has been residing in Berlin. The Kunsthaus Hamburg is presenting the first extensive overview of Bani Abidi’s works in Germany. Abidi’s works have been shown in numerous international group and solo exhibitions, including presentations at the Galerie Experimenter in Kolkata (2016, solo), at the Dallas Contemporary Museum, Dallas, Texas (2015, solo), at the Berlin Biennale (2014), at the Kunstverein Arnsberg (2014, solo), Documenta 13, Kassel (2012), the Baltic Center for Contemporary Art, Newcastle (2011, solo), Green Cardamom Gallery, London (2010, solo), V. M. Art Gallery, Karachi (2010, solo), the Biennale de Lyon (2009), the Gwangju Biennale (2008), the Fukuoka Triennale (2005), and at Project 88, Mumbai (2010, solo).
Adnan Madani is an artist, academic and curator. He graduated as a visual artist from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi in 2001, and did an MA in Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths where he focused on theories of performativity and cultural difference. He recently concluded PhD at Goldsmiths and teaches an undergraduate course there. Madanis present projects include a book on Jean-Luc Nancy and World-making, as well as research on ideas of space and pilgrimage in Islamic thought. In October 2016 Madani curated the exhibition ‘Art Sabka? Pakistani Cinema Reflected’, at FOMMA, Karachi that is exploring the use of cinematic imagery and the history of indigenous cinema in the visual art of Pakistan.