Transfer > Syria

Artists from Syria work and live for two months respectively three weeks at Schafhof. It is an outstanding possibility to gain insight into the contemporary culture of the guest artists.

Date :

01.04.2016 until 30.07.2016

Transfer > Syrien II Gruppenportrait

Artist-in-residence Transfer > Syria II: 9 - 30 July, 2016
participating artists: Roya Issa, Hanne Kroll, Abdul Karim Al-Beik

Artist-in-residence Transfer > Syria I: 1 April - 30 May, 2016
participating artists: Hiba Alansari, Abdul Razzak Shaballout, Yaser Safi

About the artist-in-residence project with Syrian artists

The Schafhof – European House of Art Upper Bavaria invites Syrian artists to live and work in the House of Art for a period of two months as part of the artist exchange programme Transfer > Syrien. The majority of the artists are currently living in Germany due to the civil war in Syria. Until further notice, the artist exchange programme will of course only take place in one direction; an artist from Upper Bavaria will collaborate with the Syrian artists in the second part of the exchange programme in the Schafhof.

By this means, the House of Art will contribute its expertise towards the current situation. Well-known artists and their specific skills will be presented in an authentic environment and can thus also help sensitise people to the refugee situation. For visitors to the House of Art and the inhabitants of the region this represents an extraordinary opportunity to gain an insight into the contemporary culture of the guest artists. This focus on different cultural backgrounds and the process of integration in Germany also fits in with the 2016 theme of the year at the European House of Art: Identity.

Transfer > Syria is supported by the Heinrich-Böll-Haus in Langenbroich, the head of which, Sigrun Reckhaus, has established connections with a large number of Syrian artists living in Germany. For many years she has been involved in inviting persecuted artists to the House of Art, focusing particularly on literature, but also on the visual arts.

About the participating artists

Transfer > Syrien I: Hiba Alansare

Hiba Alansari

born 1983 in Libyia, lives and works in Berlin und München
Focus of her artistic work: Installation, video, drawing

Studien:

since 2014 study of sculpturing at the Academy of Art München
2007 - 2012 study of oil painting at at the Damascus University
2005 - 2008 study of painting sculpturing at the pirvat institute if Fine Art Damascus (with Adham Ismail and Walid Ezzat)

Schafhof Transfer Syrien Al-Beik

Abdul Karim Al-Beik

born in Syria in 1973, lives and works in Beirut / Lebanon
Focus of his artistic work: Mixed-Media

Education

2001 Postgraduate Diploma in Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus, Syria

Solo exhibitions

2015 A heart on a wall, ayyam Gallery, DIFC, Dubai, UAE
2014 Postponed Democracy, Ayyam Projects, Beirut, Lebanon
2009 Wall Speak, Ayyam Gallery, Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE

Selected group exhibitions

2015 Syria Off Frame, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy
2014 Syria’s Apex Generation, Ayyam Gallery, Dubai, UAE; Ayyam Gallery, London, UK (Curator: Maymanah Farhat)

In his large-scale mixed-media works, Abdulkarim Majdal Al-Beik transforms unconventional materials such as charcoal, plaster, starch, ash, and burlap into evocative mediums that reproduce the patina of imbued surfaces. Basing his ‘combine paintings’ on the weathered layers of graffiti, markings, and cracks that can be found on the exterior surfaces of public spaces, he seeks to explore how such understated facets can serve as records of the oscillation of society over time. Replicating the outer textures, colours, and shapes of deteriorating facades, Majdal Al-Beik excavates the buried traces of past lives, passages that situate cities as reluctant witnesses.

Schafhof Transfer Syrien - Roya Issa: Homeland (Ausschnitt)

Roya Issa

orn in Latakia, Syria in 1973, lives and works in Köln
Focus of her artistic work: Painting

Studies and other activities

1997 BA of Fine Arts, Damascus University, Syria
2007-09 work for movie and tv productions in Damascus
2009-12 art teacher at the „Pakistani International School“ in Damascus
2013 exhibition in the opera in Cairo, award from the association „Lovers of Fine Arts Foundation“
2013-14 co-founder of the project „we are puppets“ for Syrian women taken refuge in Egypt, with support of the UN

Schafhof Transfer Syrien - Hanne Kroll: In Blei, Öl auf Leinwand

Hanne Kroll

born in Starnberg in 1980, lives and works in München
Focus of her artistic work: Painting
www.hannekroll.de

Education

2000- 2007 studies at the university of Augsburg (MA art history, art pedagogy, psychology)
2007- 2011 Teaching positions of painting at the university of Augsburg (Berthold Brecht Universität Augsburg)
2007 - 2015 Studying painting at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München (academy of fine arts Munich) in the class of prof. Anke Doberauer and at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg (academy of fine arts Nuremberg) in the class of prof. Ralph Fleck (2010)
2013 master student of prof. Anke Doberauer
2015 Diploma

2009- 2016 numerous exhibitions, for example „Europe meets America“ - Seyhoun Gallery, West Hollywood, USA; „Transformationen“- Galerie Kampl, München; „ Lugar à janela“, Parque Chiado, Rua Garett 58, Lissabon; „Munich Contemporary Art“, group exhibition in the AKI Gallery Taipei, Taiwan; „Nach dem Diplom“, Galerie Weise, Chemnitz

Transfer > Syrien I: Abdul Razak Shaballout

Yaser Safi

born 1976 in Qamishli, Syria, lives and works in Berlin
Focus of his artistic work: acryl painting, etching
www.yasersafi.com

Studies and teaching:

1997 BA of Fine Arts, Graphic Department, Damascus University, Syria
1999 Diploma of Superior Studies in Graphic, Fine Arts College, Damascus University, Syria
1999-2001 Supervisor at Graphic Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University
1999-2005 Lecturer at the Institute of Graphic Department Adham Ismail, Damascus
2006-2009 Graphic Department supervisor, the Sharjah Institute of Art, the United Arab Emirates
2010 Workshop / Tripoli - Leipzig / collaboration with the University of Leipzig for the visual arts in Germany

During those critical moments which we live in Syria, art became incapable of carrying all the emotions and concerns of the individual or even of the group. As a consequence of that, we see improvisation has featured artwork production. Those pantings which have been created in Damascus and later in Beirut are just a sign of the daily breathing, which represent the resist of violence and death. (Yaser Safi)