Defined as ‘post-conceptual’, Saâdane Afif’s work is about interpretation, exchange and circulation. It takes multiple forms (performance, objects, sculptures, text, posters and works in neon) with the exhibition as a pretext for production or activation. For a show in Essen in 2004, he asked Lili Reynaud Dewar to write a song inspired by his artwork; this was the beginning of the series called Lyrics for which he displaces his authorship and collaborates with other artists or writers. The texts or statements are often transferred to the walls using holographic self-adhesive paper. Afif’s practice is rooted in music: scores, instruments, amplifiers, speakers, microphones, concerts are part of his vocabulary or media. Other recurring interests include the passing of time (skulls, clocks), appropriation, remakes or repetitions and the displacement of meaning, and the critique of institutions. In 2010 Afif wrote: “My work today does not rely on the object: it is developed through the accumulation or interweaving of elements that can be more or less visible.”
Recent solo exhibitions include Là bas, Kunsthaus Glarus, 2014; Ici, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum & Papiermuseum, Düren, 2014, From the collection: Saâdane Afif Technical Specifications, Room 2, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2014 and Blue Time, Blue Time, Blue Time…, Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne. Saâdane Afif’s work was included in Documenta 12 in 2007 and the 56th International Exhibition of the Venice Bienniale in 2015. The artist won the Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2009, which led to an exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, in 2010. Blue Time vs. Suspense, 2007 was his first exhibition at Xavier Hufkens.
Saâdane Afif was born in Vendôme, France, in 1970. He lives and works in Berlin.
