global dialogues – understanding otherness

summer exhibition with wafae ahalouch, atousa bandeh ghiasabadi, iva gueorguieva, monali meher and ratu rizkitasari saraswati.

29 June 2023 - 29 July 2023

Within the context of global narratives on history, borders and migration, the exhibition Global Dialogue presents personal stories by artists from around the world. Talking about such major issues often stirs a field of tension in which people suddenly seem to be diametrically opposed. It appears we are simply not equipped with the right language and social skills to enter into the ‘big conversation’ that is capable of bringing us closer together and allowing us to get to know each other in a non-violent, open approach.

Global Dialogue addresses the urgency for dialogue and openness towards each other and demonstrates that art can help in this. Bradwolff Projects has selected artists from different countries who all embody a narrative quality in their work. These artists are: Wafae Ahalouch, Atousa Bandeh Ghiasabadi, Iva Gueorguieva, Monali Meher and Ratu Rizkitasari
Saraswati.

In recent years, there has been a much stronger urge to address the structures and systems of oppression and exclusion that persist in today’s society. What does this development mean for aesthetics, for the philosophy of art? What needs to happen for the ‘voices of the voiceless’ to be included in the canon of aesthetics and philosophy of art? Or must aesthetics first recover itself, before being able to contribute to an inclusive philosophy of art? How do art philosophers adopt, rework and transform notions from inside and outside the canon of Western aesthetics? Which notions do they render obsolete, which notions do they activate?

These questions will be critically reflected upon in the symposium towards an inclusive aesthetics, held on 30 June and 1 July 2023, and organised by the Dutch Association of Aesthetics. For the full programme and list of speakers, please visit our website.

Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti [1978, MA] reveals a personal vision of our alienated world in her drawings, paintings, installations and sculptures. History, religion, politics, film, fairy tales, family structures and the media are her main sources of inspiration, but it is the role of women, from a personal, historical and political point of view, that has recently attracted her. In 2003, she won the Royal Prize for Free Painting and was nominated for the 2012 Amsterdam Prize (AFK) and The Wolvecampe Prize 2014, among others. Several international residencies adorn her CV including Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin and Wiels in Brussels. In 2018, her work was part of the exhibition Monuments to the Unsung (2018) presented by Framer Framed during Public Art Amsterdam. Her work is included in several collections such as the Muhka in Antwerp and the FMAC in Paris.

Atousa Bandeh Ghiasabadi (1968, IR) works with different disciplines such as film, drawing and painting. Personal experiences form the basis of her work such as memories, fears and loss of identity. In her work, she uses everyday objects that symbolise the underlying events from her memories. There are also threatening elements in her work. Gaining self-knowledge is the major driving force in her work. Recent exhibitions include: solo show “Doubt'”at Lumen Travo Gallery (2021); group exhibition at Drentse Museum, Assen (2020); group exhibition “Untitled (Spirit of Changing Times) at Lumen Travo Gallery (2020); Sculpture Biennial Tehran (2020); Invisible present tens III AG Gallery Tahran (2019); “History as poem” at Drents Museum (2018); “Dialogen” Manifesta bureau Amsterdam (2017); “Perplexity” Legering Dazibao Montreal, Canada (2018). She was appointed City Artist by Stadsarchief Amsterdam in 2022.

Iva Gueorguieva [1974, BG] makes drawings and paintings that incorporate everything she experiences. With her work, Gueorguieva tells stories, fragments from a vast memory, which become accessible through her work. Driven by a great urge to make, she creates spontaneous works that are deeply intertwined with life itself while improvising. She lives in Los Angeles. Since 2000, many exhibitions in America include Miles McEnery gallery, New York; Vielmetter, Los Angeles; ACME, Los Angeles; Pomona Museum of Art, Claremont. Her work is included in the collections of major museums, including LACMA, Los Angeles; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis; MOCA, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego.

Monali Meher (1969, IN) works in a multitude of disciplines: from video, installation and performance to photography and textiles – although performance art occupies the most prominent place in her practice. In it, the body plays a central role, alongside recurring themes of time, a sense of belonging, migration, cultural cross-pollination, hybrid and diasporic identity, gender, intimacy, decay, climate, transformation and the reshaping of objects and memories – not infrequently in a social or political context. Recent shows include “Upcycling” at Sinop biennale, Turkey (2022); “Hidden Structures” Anderlecht, Belgium (2021); “Living, Forgiving, Remembering”, Kunsthal 3 14, Bergen, Norway (2021); “Ben Cobra”, Cobra Museum, the Netherlands (2020); “Falling Star” CJK, Mariakerke, Ghent, Belgium (2019). At the 2013 Arezzo Biennale in Italy, she received the Golden Chimera Award for innovation and originality, and in 2023 she won the NN Art Award.

Ratu Rizkitasari Saraswati (1990, ID) uses storytelling, performance and photography to explore human relationships and engage in conversations. Her work explores both her personal experiences and collective narratives around human relationships, historical events and transformative natural processes with the aim of creating a common ground where polyphony and harmony can coexist. Saraswati received her bachelor’s degree from the Institut Teknologi Bandung of the Faculty of Art and Design. She was a 2015 resident at Sàn Art in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and at the Rijksakademie 2020/2022 in Amsterdam. Followed by an artist in residence at Werkplaats Molenwijk, a project site of Framer Framed in autumn 2022.

image: Monali Meher, ‘Scarred Land’ 2023