Rheim Alkadhi Explained

Rheim Alkadhi
Birth Name:	ريم القاضي
Birth Date:	1973
Birth Place:	Buffalo, NY
Known For:	intermedia

Rheim Alkadhi (Arabic: ريم القاضي) (born 1973) is a visual artist based in Berlin who works internationally.^{[1] [2]} Alkadhi operates under contemporary conditions in alternating geographical contexts, circumscribed by objects, images, and texts, via digital media, interactions in public space, and intimate person-to-person contact.^[3] Their work is described as: "With multiple migratory belongings/trajectories in regions of imposed geopolitical conflict, the perception of authoritarian, imperial, colonial dominance is magnified in everyday life. Thus, the work registers a nonconforming emancipatory feminist existence under such planetary conditions, using mediums of language, artifacts of material reality, and living interactions."^[4]

Biography

Rheim Alkadhi lived first in Benghazi, Libya, and then between Baghdad and New England; raised by an American mother and an Iraqi father and attended public school in Iraq until the family returned to the United States at the start of the Iran–Iraq War.^[5]

Selected projects

2022: Devastation on Your Beautiful Eyes exhibition at Beirut Art Center;^[6] Call for Immediate Reparations From the Waves of Our Mass Migration installation at the Trienniale Kleinplastik Fellbach;^[7] Speak, Then, Material Witness, in the Medium of Rebellion exhibition as teaching structure at Kunstverein Uelzen^[8]

2021: Arrival Points screening and exhibition at Haus der Statistik, Berlin^[9]

2020: Toward the Inalienable Right of the Dispossessed in the exhibition Beyond Walls at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart^[10]

In 2019: travel to various provinces of Iraq resulted in many of the elements featured in the ongoing framework and exhibition "Majnoon Field".

In 2018: participation in the experimental walking art school Spring Sessions across Jordan; later that year, a public staging at the migrant-run OBI market in Berlin, based on conversations and ongoing relationships initiated in that context. Displayed objects included: mock-up of geo-political extraction field; large block of Styrofoam for flotation; seven shoe fragments collected along migration routes; refugee housing in Europe for a family of eight; patterned blanket; eye of a needle. ^[11]

In 2017, "Hairs of the Oppressed" was featured at once resolved and ongoing; a sculpture concept accompanied by the text "Script for Eleven Hairs" at Autonomes Cultur Centrum, Weimar. Rotating authorial concept acknowledges the collaborative emancipatory politics/method of Theatre of the Oppressed, on which this piece is based.

In 2016, "Night Taxi", a multimedia suite of documents (video accompanied by meter, route, and fare) outlined milliseconds leading up to the crossing of an arbitrary geographical border.

Between 2015 and 2016: created live presentations included "Eye Theatre Closes Its Doors and Opens Them Again", commissioned for the Asia Pacific Triennial in Australia, and "Köln Phantasm" developed and performed while a fellow in visual art at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart.^[12]

In 2014: developed the project "Communications From the Field of Contact (Each Hair Is a Tongue)"^[1] during a residency at the Sharjah Art Foundation.

In 2012: as a temporary member of a household of women in the West Bank village of Jamma'in in Palestine, the project "Collective Knotting Together of Hairs"^[13] was developed with the local Women's Association, with Riwaq Center for Architectural Conservation in Ramallah, and with Al-Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem.

In 2012: artist in residence at Darat al Funun in Amman via the initiative of Rijin Sahakian and Sada for Contemporary Iraqi Art.^[14]

In 2011: artist in residence at Dar al Ma'mun in Tassoultante and then independent of institutional assistance in the village of Tahannaout, Al Haouz Province.

In 2010: one month in Itaewon, Seoul with the artist-run space DoBaeBacSa;^[15] also artist in residence at PØST in Los Angeles.^[16]

In 2009: residency at Townhouse Gallery^[17] in Cairo, gathering material for the limited edition artist book "Destroyed in Baghdad / Repaired in Cairo: A Viewer's Manual to a Temporary Art Practice in the Auto Mechanics District". In 2009, the limited edition artist book "Post Cards From the Clandestine Troupe"^[18] was printed.

Rheim Alkadhi's work was shown at the 12th Sharjah Biennial, at the New Museum,^[19] in the 2012 Jerusalem Show,^[20] at Documenta (13),^[21] and in the 2010 Cairo Biennial.

Fellowships and Honors

Art Matters (2021);^[22] Stiftung Kunstfonds (2021);^[23] Künstlerische Forschung Berlin (2020/2021);^[24] Guggenheim Foundation (2020);^[25] Berlin Senat Research Stipend (2019);^[26] AFAC (2019);^[27] Rockefeller Bellagio (2017);^[28] Mophradat (2017).^[29]

In 2010 Rheim Alkadhi received a grant from Art Matters^[30] and the Center for Cultural Innovation.^[31] ; in 2009, awarded a Mid-Career Artist Fellowship from the California Community Foundation;^[32] in 2008, awarded a grant from the Arab Fund for Art and Culture;^[33] in 1990, received an award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and from 1990 to 1994 the Musicfest award for young artists.

Selected exhibitions

• Rheim Alkadhi: Majnoon Field - Temporary Gallery, Centre for Contemporary Art, Cologne – August 30 through December 15, 2019 (solo exhibition)^[34]
• Material Communities (Objects We Arrange in the Energy Field) - OBI Parkplatz, Berlin – October 7, 2018 (public staging)
• IM_MOBILITIES - Galerie KUB, Leipzig – June 10 through June 30, 2017 (group exhibition)^[35]
• True Lies - Autonomes Cultur Centrum (ACC), Weimar – February 10 through May 7, 2017^[36]
• Why Not Ask Again? – Power Station of Art – November 11, 2016 through March 12, 2017 (11th Shanghai Bienniale curated by Raqs Media Collective)^[37]
• Sites of Return – Beit Michael Sufan, Ramallah / Qalandiya International – October 10 through 31, 2016 (group exhibition)^[38]
• 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art – Brisbane – November 21, 2015 through April 10, 2016 (group exhibition)^[39]
• Im Dickicht der Haare / Entangled in Hair – Grimmwelt Museum, Kassel – October 9, 2015 through une 5, 2016 (group exhibition)^[40]
• 12th Sharjah Biennial: The Past, the Present, the Possible - Sharjah Art Foundation – March 5 through June 5, 2015^[41]
• Here and Elsewhere – New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City – July 16 through September 28, 2014 (group exhibition)^[42]
• Alwan338 / Foundations – Al Riwaq Art Space, Adliya, Bahrain – March 3 through April 19, 2014^[43]
• Here Is My Life Which I Devote to Learning About You – Darat al Funun, Amman – May 4 through 31, 2013 (solo exhibition)^[44]
• Gestures in Time/The Jerusalem Show - West Bank and Jerusalem – November 1 through 15, 2012^[45]
• Documenta (13) And and and Platform, 2012^[46]
• Hesaplașma | Aftermath – Akbank Sanat, Istanbul – March 14 through May 17, 2012 (group exhibition)^[47]
• Lucky Today - Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art (with Hiwa K Hiwa)^[48]
• Communitas. Among Others - Camera Austria, Graz – September 25, 2011 through January 1, 2012 (group exhibition)^[49]
• 12th Cairo Biennial – Opera House, Cairo – December 12, 2010 through February 12, 2011
• The Page: An Interactive Exhibition of Artist Books - Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University^[50]
• What's Become of Us? - PØST, Los Angeles – November 2010
• Exhibition for Adults and Children - Dobaebacsa, Seoul – April 1 through 26, 2010 (solo exhibition)^[51]
• Veronica – Nichols Gallery, Pitzer Art Galleries – September 24 through December 11, 2009 (group exhibition)^[52]
• OÙ? Scènes du Sud - Carré d'Art, Nîmes – June 13 through September 21, 2008 (group exhibition)^[53]  
• System Error: War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning - Palazzo delle Papesse, Sienna – February 3 through May 6, 2007^[54]
• Eternal Flame: Imagining a Future at the End of the World - Redcat, Los Angeles – February 15 through April 8, 2007^[55]
• When Artists Say We – Artists Space, New York – March 8 – April 29, 2006^[56]  
• Draw a Line and Follow It - Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions – June 21 through August 20, 2006^[57]

Live presentations

• Our Current Dwelling Is Fire – produced at the Rockefeller Bellagio Center; performed at March Meeting, Sharjah (2018); and Videonale Scope7, Cologne (2019)^[58]
• View Through the Eye of a Needle - performed in Wadi Rum as part of Spring Sessions (2018)^[59]
• Mosul Vapor – performed at Kunstgebäude Stuttgart (2017)
• Köln Phantasm – produced and performed at Akademie Schloss Solitude (2016); performed at Kunstgebäude Stuttgart (2017)^[60]
• Eye Theater Closes Its Doors and Opens Them Again – presented at Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2015)^[61]

Online projects

• Public Directory - Makhzin 2: Feminisms, 2015
• Photo Manual Baghdad – This Long Century, 2014
• Picture City Body – produced in Beirut, commissioned by the New Museum's online platform, 2013^[62]
• Pictures from a Camera - photo-based poetry from the revolutionary fervor in North Africa, produced in 2011; introduction written for online journal Jadaliyya, translated to Arabic by Sinan Antoon and Bilal Khbeiz, 2011, 2012^[63]
• Archive of a digital practice comprising digital and narrative gendered constructions, mostly from found online material, 2007–2010^[64]
• My Lover in Unequal Parts – 'micro literature' based on found images from concurrent wars in Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, 2006^[65]

Video work

• Majnoon Field – produced from time-based material gathered in Southern Iraq, shown in the exhibition by the same name – 00:10:00, 2019
• Night Taxi - commissioned by Raqs Media Collective for Shanghai Bienniale – 00:03:00, 2016
• ruh - produced using ephemeral materials available within a makeshift residency in Itaewan, Seoul – 00:06:35, 2010^[66]
• Subtitles for Stolen Pictures - produced from visual elements of online reportage, US occupation of Iraq – 00:08:00, 2007^[67]

Artist books

• Majnoon Field Samples - color-based poetry, produced for view within the exhibition "Majnoon Field", 2019
• Post Cards from the Clandestine Troupe – book of postcards generated from queered online war imagery from Iraq, with original texts, limited edition of 30, 2009

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sharjah Biennial 12 . 110 .
2. Book: Oweis, Fayeq. Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists. 2008. 978-0313337307. 18–21. Bloomsbury Academic .
3. Web site: Rheim Alkadhi.
4. Web site: Rheim Alkadhi – FelipaManuela. es-ES. 2019-11-08.
5. Web site: Rheim Alkadhi – This Long Century. en-US. 2019-11-07.
6. Web site: Rheim AlKadhi: Devastation on Your Beautiful Eyes • Beirut Art Center . 2023-05-07 . beirutartcenter.org . en-US.
7. Web site: 15. Triennale Kleinplastik Fellbach . 2023-05-07 . www.triennale.de.
8. Web site: Rheim Alkadhi – Kunstverein Uelzen . 2023-05-07 . en-US.
9. Web site: Förderprogramm . Künstlerischeforschung Berliner . Arrival Points by Rheim Alkadhi . 2023-05-07 . Künstlerischeforschung Berliner Förderprogramm . de-DE.
10. Web site: 2020-09-16 . "Beyond Walls - Über Grenzen hinaus" . 2023-05-07 . Akademie Schloss Solitude . de-DE.
11. Web site: 2018-10-08 . Objects We Arrange . 2023-05-07 . Rheim Alkadhi . en.
12. Web site: Fellows and Jurors of the Generation 2013–2015 . May 7, 2015 . Akademie Schloss Solitude . live . https://archive.today/20210715191944/https://www.akademie-solitude.de/en/news/fellows-and-jurors-of-the-generation-2013-2015/ . 15 July 2021.
13. Web site: Art & Life in Palestine . February 2013 . Beth . Stryker . 112 . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160603194946/http://www.grahamfoundation.org/system/grants/press/197/original/Stryker_Domus.pdf . 3 June 2016.
14. Web site: Echo: Support for contemporary Iraqi art | Art Radar . 2016-05-14 . 2017-11-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171104022509/http://artradarjournal.com/2012/01/04/echo-support-for-contemporary-iraqi-art/ . dead .
15. Web site: Exhibitions & events.
16. Web site: PØST.
17. Web site: Studio.6 | Ro Caminal.
18. Web site: Post cards from the clandestine troupe / [Rheim Alkadhi] ]. primo.getty.edu . . 15 July 2021.
19. Web site: Here and Elsewhere.
20. Web site: Jerusalem Show VI : Gestures in Time: November 1-15, 2012 . almamalfoundation.org . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170406060118/http://almamalfoundation.org:80/the-jerusalem-show/2012/program . 6 April 2017.
21. Web site: Documenta (13).
22. Web site: Rheim Alkadhi Grantees Art Matters . 2023-05-07 . www.artmattersfoundation.org.
23. Web site: 750.000 Euro für zeitgenössische bildende Kunst - Stiftung Kunstfonds fördert Ausstellungen, Publikationen und Künstlerkataloge . 2023-05-07 . www.kunstfonds.de . de.
24. Web site: Berlin Artistic Research Grant Programme: public programme - Announcements - e-flux . 2023-05-07 . www.e-flux.com . en.
25. Web site: Rheim Alkadhi . 2023-05-07 . John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation... . en-US.
26. Web site: Recherchestipendien Bildende Kunst 2019 . 2023-05-07 . art-in-berlin.de . De-de.
27. Web site: AFAC . 2023-05-07 . www.arabculturefund.org.
28. Web site: The Rockefeller Foundation Announces Selected Bellagio Center Resident Fellows . 2023-05-07 . The Rockefeller Foundation . en-US.
29. Web site: Grants for Artists 2017 – mophradat . 2023-05-07 . mophradat.org.
30. Web site: Art Matters Foundation.
31. Web site: :: CCI :: ARC Grants ::.
32. Web site: Fellowship for Visual Artists.
33. Web site: Profile: Rheim Alkadhi . www.arabculturefund.org . Arab Fund for Arts and Culture . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160610061928/http://www.arabculturefund.org/grantees/grantee.php?id=292 . 10 June 2016.
34. Web site: Temporary Gallery – Temporary Gallery, Center for Contemporary Art, Cologne.. www.temporarygallery.org. 2019-11-07.
35. Web site: galerie KUB – IM_MOBILITIES. www.galeriekub.de. 2019-11-07.
36. Web site: True Lies – Die echte Lust am Falschen :: ACC-Weimar. wieland-weimar.de. 2019-11-14.
37. Web site: 'The Limit of the Perfect Question': Raqs Media Collective's Shanghai Biennial. Fuca. Yuan. 2017-05-12. ARTnews. en-US. 2019-11-07.
38. Web site: Qalandiya International 2016. Ibraaz. 2019-11-07.
39. Web site: The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art. English. 2019-11-07.
40. Web site: KWADRAT Berlin . www.kwadrat-berlin.com. 2019-11-14.
41. Web site: news – Sharjah Art Foundation. sharjahart.org. 2019-11-07.
42. Web site: Here and Elsewhere. www.newmuseum.org. en. 2019-11-07.
43. Web site: Alwan338 / Foundations Al Riwaq Art Space Adliya. 1995-2015.undo.net. it. 2019-11-14.
44. Web site: Here is My Life, Which I Devote to Learning about You. Darat al Funun. en. 2019-11-07.
45. Web site: Gestures in Time – Announcements – e-flux. www.e-flux.com. en. 2019-11-07.
46. Web site: And ... And ... And. andandand.org. 2019-11-14.
47. Web site: Aftermath Akbank Sanat. www.akbanksanat.com. en. 2019-11-07.
48. Web site: Performance – Rachael Cloughton. cargocollective.com. 2019-11-14.
49. Web site: Communitas. Among Others. Camera Austria. en-US. 2019-11-07.
50. Web site: 2010 February » Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University. guggenheimgallery.org. 2019-11-14.
51. Web site: exhibitions & events. 2019-11-07.
52. Web site: Veronica. Babcock. Laurie. 2009-09-27. Pitzer College Art Galleries. en. 2019-11-07.
53. Web site: Scènes du Sud II: Méditerranée orientale. www.paris-art.com. 2019-11-07. 26 May 2008.
54. Web site: System error: war is a force that gives us meaning – Announcements – e-flux. www.e-flux.com. en. 2019-11-08.
55. Web site: Eternal Flame. 2009-09-01. www.redcat.org. en. 2019-11-08.
56. Web site: When Artists Say We @ Artists Space. NEWSgrist – where spin is art. 2019-11-08.
57. Web site: Draw a Line and Follow It. welcometolace.org. 2019-11-08.
58. Web site: Considering Contemporary Strategies of Activist Curating and Art Making in Sharjah. 2018-08-16. Hyperallergic. en-US. 2019-11-08.
59. Web site: Wonder, wander – No. 1: Grazing the animals within us. Mada Masr. en-US. 2019-11-08.
60. Web site: Startpage. New Narratives. en-US. 2019-11-08.
61. Web site: APT8: An interview with Rheim Alkadhi. 2016-04-05. Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art. en-AU. 2019-11-13.
62. Web site: Rheim Alkadhi: Picture City Body. www.picture-city-body.net. en. 2019-11-08.
63. Web site: صور من كاميرا. Jadaliyya – جدلية. en. 2019-11-14.
64. Web site: New Media and the Spectacle of the War on Terror. Jadaliyya – جدلية. en. 2019-11-14.
65. Web site: Rhizome. Rhizome. en. 2019-11-08.
66. Web site: art space pool. www.altpool.org. 2019-11-14.
67. Web site: Arsenal: More Films: Experimental Views. Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.. en-UK. 2019-11-08.