Saâdane Afif (born 1970 in

Vendôme Vendôme (, ) is a subprefecture of the department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019). It is one of the main towns along the river Loir. The river divides itself at the ...

, Loir-et-Cher Département,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) is a French

conceptual artist Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional Aesthetics, aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes ca ...

Life and career

Saâdane Afif graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Bourges and later received his 1998 postgraduate degree from the School of Fine Arts in Nantesat (École des Beaux Arts). In 2001, he was in residence at the "Villa Arson" International Art School of Nice (France); in 2002, he was in residence at the Villa Médicis in Glasgow (Scotland). In 2003, he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, where he currently lives and works. Afif's work has been exhibited at many venues, including the

Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

( Essen,

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) in 2004. In 2006, he was awarded the International Prize for Contemporary Art of the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco at the Centre Pompidou in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. In 2009, he received the

Marcel Duchamp Prize The Marcel Duchamp Prize (in French : ''Prix Marcel Duchamp'') is an annual award given to a young artist by the Association pour la Diffusion Internationale de l'Art Français (ADIAF). The winner receives €35,000 personally and up to €30,000 ...

; as a result of winning this prize, he presented his artwork in the exhibition "Anthology of black humour" at Space 315, Centre Pompidou, Paris from September 2010 until January 2011. In 2011, he was the 46th most influential person in the French art world, according to the March issue of ''Eye Magazine''. Saâdane Afif lives and works in Berlin.

Art

Defined as ‘post-conceptual’, Saâdane Afif’s work focuses on interpretation, exchange and circulation. He works in various media (performance, objects, sculptures, text, posters and works in neon). The complex procedures he uses are not categorised under any specific discipline. All of his works are subject to a continuous process of alteration. He integrates elements of art history, music, poetry and dance into his work, sometimes inviting authors to write texts based on existing artworks for other artists to set to music or use in drama. Afif himself refuses to appear in public, preferring to direct from afar.Valentina Vlasic: Saâdane Afif, in: The Present Order is the Disorder of the Future, Schriftenreihe Museum Kurhaus Kleve – Ewald Mataré-Sammlung Nr. 62, Freundeskreis Museum Kurhaus und Koekkoek-Haus Kleve e.V. (Hrsg), 2013, p. 57. In 2008, Afif began a project entitled the Fountain Archive. This currently contains about 500 images of Duchamp’s porcelain urinal. In this project, Afif collects and archives every single publication in which he finds a reproduction of Duchamp's urinal. As a found object, every page containing a picture of the urinal is torn out and then carefully framed. The frame, used both for its preservative and decorative purposes, is also part of the artistic process. Every step of the archiving process follows meticulous rules which form a part of this artistic process. Each new archived image has its own inventory card, which acts as a certificate of authenticity. Publications which discuss Afif's project (and therefore reproduce images of Duchamp's urinal) are also included in the Fountain Archive project: these, though, are treated as special objects as they constitute a historical echo of the original work. This is the only exception to the generally strict rule that each photograph can only be included in the Fountain Archive once.Elena Filipovic, Xavier Hufkens: Sâadane Afif. Fontaines. Triangle Books, 2014, , p. 21. In April 2012, an exhibition took place at the

Museum für Moderne Kunst The Museum für Moderne Kunst (''Museum of Modern Art''), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. Because of its triangular shape, it ...

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. The MMK Zollamt was an exhibition outside the main exhibition space, presenting Saâdane Afif's "Anthologie de l’humour noir". It highlighted some aspects of African influence in a new and unusual light, since this was also connected to modern French art and literature. The centrepiece was a coffin made in Ghana which plays an ode to the deceased. The shape of the coffin is a reference to the Centre Pompidou and it was titled Humour Noir (a translation of "

black humour Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

"). This phrase was made famous by André Breton.

Exhibitions

* 2018: Saâdane Afif. This is Ornamental, Kunsthalle Wien,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

* 2018: Paroles, Wiels Contemporary Art Center,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

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* 2017: Saâdane Afif: Fontaines, Publications, disques & Multiples, CLA Rennes, Rennes, France * 2017: GOODS, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany * 2017: Ici., Leopold-Hoesch Museum, Düren, Germany * 2017: Là-bas., La Panacée, Montpellier, France * 2017: The Fairytale Recordings, Frac Franche-Comté,

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

, France * 2017: The Fountain Archives 2008–2017, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, travelled to Nouveau Musée National de Monaco,

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

* 2016: Quoi ? - L’Eternité, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, Atelier Hermès,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

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* 2015: The End of the World, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany * 2014: Ici, Günther-Peill-Stiftung am Leopold-Hoesch-Museum & Papiermuseum Düren, Düren, Germany * 2014: Affiches & Fontaines, Gallery Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium * 2013: Sept notes sur le travail des Peter Roehr (with Peter Roehr), Gallery Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany * 2012: Anthologie de l’humour noir, Museum für Moderne Kunst - MMK Zollamt, Frankfurt, Germany * 2011: The Fairytale Recordings, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany * 2011: The Fairytale Recordings, RaebervonStenglin, Zurich, Switzerland * 2010: Saâdane Afif – Anthologie de l’humour noir, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France * 2009: Varieté, Gallery Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany * 2007: Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany * 2008: ONE, FRAC Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France * 2008: TWO..., FRAC Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain Basse-Normandie, Caen, France * 2006: Power Chords, Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco * 2005: Lyrics, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France * 2004: Melancholic Beat, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

Awards and grants

* 2015: Prix Meurice pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France * 2012: Prize of Günther-Peill-Stiftung, Germany * 2009: Prix Marcel Duchamp, Paris, France * 2006: Prix International d’Art Contemporain de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco, Monaco * 2002: Award of Villa Medicis Hors les Murs (Residence) in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

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* 2001: Scholarship (Residence), Villa Arson, Nice, France

Bibliography

* Eva Huttenlauch: „Everything must be scandalous“, in: Saâdane Afif. Another Anthology of Black Humor, published by Susanne Gaensheimer and Eva Huttenlauch, Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nürnberg 2012. * Elena Filipovic, Xavier Hufkens: Sâadane Afif. Fontaines. Triangle Books, 2014, . * Valentina Vlasic: Saâdane Afif, in: The Present Order is the Disorder of the Future, Schriftenreihe Museum Kurhaus Kleve – Ewald Mataré-Sammlung Nr. 62, Freundeskreis Museum Kurhaus und Koekkoek-Haus Kleve e.V. (Hrsg), 2013, p. 57.

External links

The Fountain Archives

Exhibitions of Saâdane Afif

Biography of Saâdane Afif

Saâdane Afif Artist Page
at

Sommer Contemporary Art Sommer Contemporary Art is a Contemporary Art gallery, owned by Irit Fine Sommer, and based on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, Israel. The gallery is considered to be among the most influential in Israel for contemporary art. It was first open ...

Galler
Website

Saâdane Afif at Gallery Mehdi Chouakri

Saâdane Afif at Gallery Xavier Hufkens

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afif, Saadane 1970 births People from Vendôme French contemporary artists Living people