“What makes a world?” Philosopher Catherine Malabou asked her students. In turn, her own answer to this question was: “A horizon”. We would like to take this anecdote, the question and its answer, as a starting-point for our painting class.
Paintings function as small ‘worlds’ where multitudes of information and affect gather and interact. The perspective of the artist meets the gaze of the viewer and echoes the context of his/her/their historical time and locality, as well as the art history he/she/they relate to. Paintings, therefore, inherently stand in relationship to their surroundings and their time, and aim to create links.
As you continue to develop your ‘own worlds’, we would like to address topics such as the gaze, context, networks, community, influences, critical connections, the (non)-autonomy of the artist, as well as what we would call ‘expanded painting’: by which we mean an engagement in painting that goes beyond a classical understanding.
This will be a hybrid class, running as both an online and an analogue studio, in which everyone will be invited to develop and deepen their own working processes. Your individual practice will be enriched through a range of inputs including readings and presentations. During the two-week course we will aim to develop a culture of exchange and discussion to accompany your experience in the studio. We will encourage the collective presentation of your works, and hold regular group feedback sessions. We will also be available for one-to-one consultations. We would like you to use this concentrated period to create a challenging body of work within your practice.
Information
- Venue
- Hohensalzburg Fortress / online (hybrid)
- Date
- 10. – 22. 8. 20
- What to bring
- Painting and drawing material of your own. Laptop and camera if available and if appropriate to your practice. Portfolio and/or images of previous works if you would like to share with us.
- Teaching language
- English (teacher also speaks French)
- Co-teacher
- Flora Klein
Nadira Husain
Nadira Husain, born in Paris in 1980, works in Berlin, Paris, and Hyderabad (IN). Her work appropriates symbols and stories from various cultural registers that relate to her own multicultural background. Through the flattening of fore- and background, perspective and scale, Husain’s depthless paintings eliminate inherent formal hierarchies. Through her work, Husain evolves a language that embraces hybridity, mimicry and ambivalence. Her paintings often unfold into spatial installations where the notion of a centre is swept away. Through her expanded form of painting, she solicits the performative character of her work. She is also involved in anti-racist art collectives.
Education
2006 Fine art, ENSBA (Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts), Paris, DNSAP.
Teaching
2017 ongoing, Lecturer at *foundationClass, Weissensee Kunsthochschule, Berlin.
Website
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
2021 Tba, Galerie Isa, Mumbai (IN). 2020 Confluence Sangam संगम, WERK.Stoff Preis für Malerei, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg (DE). 2019 Blumen und Elefant, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig (DE). 2018 Pourquoi je suis tout bleu, Villa du parc Annemasse | Centre d’art contemporain, Annemasse (FR). Solo presentation at the Armory Show (with PSM Gallery), New York, NY (US). 2017 Rider, Path, and Vehicle, PSM Gallery, Berlin.
Group exhibitions
2020 *foundationClass - From within the Cracks, nGbK, Berlin. Features, Museum Nikolaikirche, Berlin. Studio Berghain Berlin, Berghain, Berlin. 2019 ACAW Asia Contemporary Art Week, Dubai (AE). Body in Pieces, KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION, Düsseldorf (DE). Doing Deculturalization, Stiftung Museion, Bolzano (IT). Global National, Haus am Lutzöwplatz, Berlin. 2018 Mess with Your Values, n.b.k., Berlin. Innenleben, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig. Pissing in a River. Again!, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin. Works on Paper, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig.
Publications
Nadira Husain, Heidelberger Kunstverein and Andreas Felger Kulturstiftung, Bierke, Berlin, 2020.
