Curriculum Vitae
Adel Abidin
Born 1973 in Baghdad, Iraq
Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland
Education
2005
MFA, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
2000
BA, Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad
1994
B.Sc. in Industrial Management, Mansour University, Baghdad
Selected solo exhibitions
2013
Camel Toe, Turku Art Museum, Turku, Finland
Blueprint, Maraya Art Center, Sharjah, UAE
Symphony, LawrieShibibi Contemporary Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Assumptions, Forum BOX Gallery space for Art, Helsinki, Finland
2012
Espace Croise, Roubaix, France
Kunsthalle Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
Beyond, Arter- Space for Art, Istanbul
2011
Adel Abidin, Darat al Funun - The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman
Ping Pong, Artopia Gallery, Milan
Anne De Villepoix Gallery, Paris
Ping Pong, Galeri Zilberman, Istanbul
Adel Abidin, Wharf: Centre D'art Contemporain de Basse, Normandy
2010
The DA2 Domus Artium 2002, Centre of Contemporary Art in Salamanca, Spain
Location One Gallery, New York
Adel Abidin, KIASMA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
2009
Jihad, Finnish Institute, Stockholm
2008
Assume, MAC/VAL, Musée D’art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France
Three Works, Gallery 300m3, Gothenburg
Abidin Travels, White Box Gallery, New York
Abidin Travels, SPACE/Contemporary Art Gallery, Bratislava
Hypothesis, MUU Gallery, Helsinki
2007
Abidin Travels, Montalvo Arts Center, Triple Base, San Francisco
2006
Argument, Kluuvi Gallery, Helsinki
Void, Premier of a short film, Kino Theatre, Helsinki
About me, Huuto Gallery, Helsinki
2004
Two Projects, Art Academy Gallery, Helsinki
Selected group exhibitions
2013
Love, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Terms and Conditions, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Mäntän Kuvataideviikot, Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä, Finland
This is not a Love Song. Interfaces between pop music and visual arts, La Virreina: Centre de la Image, Barcelona, Spain
Trade Routes, Hauser and Wirth, London
(One) Hope Map, Bruges, Belgium
Biennial of Contemporary Art, D-0 ARK Underground, Konjic, Bosnia
From Geographies to Inner Landscapes in Arab, Iranian, and Turkish Contemporary Art, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver
Workplace, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, UK
2012
In Other Words, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin
Unveiled Body, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
Aftermath, Akbank Art Center, Istanbul
Reoriented, Havremagasinet as Art Museum, Boden, Sweden
Contemporary Art from the Arab World, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Come Invest in Us. You Will Strike Gold, BrotKunsthalle, Vienna
Move (Hamle), Arter- Space for Art, Istanbul
Bread of Life, Sous-face 37, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
Consumption of War, CDA - Projects & Galeri Zilberman, Abu Dhabi Art Fair, UAE
Adel Abidin – My Work, Internationale Kurzfilmtage, Winterthur, Switzerland
201154th Venice Biennale, Iraq Pavilion
10th Sharjah Biennial, Plot for a Biennial, UAE
SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway
Continuity, Center for Contemporary Arts Celje, Slovenija
Patria o Libertad! On Patriotism, Immigration and Populism, MOCCA, Toronto
The Changing Room, Spazio Qubi in association with Metro Quadro Gallery, Turin
Choosing another strategy, Machine-RAUM, Vejle Art Museum, Denmark
Intolerance, Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Center, St. Petersburg
Island Artists, Arts, Talks and Sensations, Abu Dhabi
2010
Told/Untold/Retold, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
The Beauty of Distance, 17th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney
2009
Regis Center for Art- Minneapolis- USA
Normal Invitation, Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen
Coping with contingency: Seven Methods, Art Moscow
Summertime, Moen44, Moen Island, Denmark
Thinking About Death, MAP, Mobile Art Production, Stockholm
Variations on Transcending the Finiteness of Human Vision, Riga Exhibition Hall, Latvia
Contact (Tawassol), Artericambi Gallery, Verona
Crossings. Mawazine. Rythme du Monde, Rabat, Morocco
Tracking Traces, KIASMA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Video Screening ABIDIN TRAVELS, IMPAKT Festival, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2008
The Other, 11th Cairo Biennial, Cairo
Shrink-Wrapped, Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Crossings, Darb Cultural Center, Cairo
Arctic Hysteria Onscreen, MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Utopia, Contemporary Art Tower, Vienna
The Rebirth, Demolition Party, Hotel Royal Monceau, Paris
The Contemporary European Art, Domaine Pommery, Reims, France
Artget Gallery, Belgrade Cultural Center, Belgrade
The Natural Of Evil, Burg Schlaining's European Museum of Peace, Austria
Traversées, Exhibition, Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris
East Without Borders, Espace Galley of Contemporary Art, Louis Vuitton, Paris
Artist's symposium ORTung, Gallery 5020, Salzburg
Nine Voices, Nine places, Camões Institute, Lisbon
Status, CRAC Alsace, Centre Rhénan D'art Contemporian, France
Season screenings: Winter, Alti Aylik project, Space of Contemporary Art, Istanbul
On The Margins, The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St.Louis, USA
2007
Walfare – Fare Well, 52nd Venice Biennale, Nordic Pavilion, Venice
Rethinking Dissent, Gothenburg Biennial, Gothenburg
The Renaissance Society, The University of Chicago, Chicago
The Rencontres Internationales, Film Festival, Paris
Political/Poetical, Tallinna Kunstihoone, Tallinn
The Natural Of Evil, Museum of Photography, Helsinki
IMPAKT Festival, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Void, 37th Tampere Short Film Festival, Tampere, Finland
2006
Naked Life, MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei
Art, Life & Confusion, October Saloon 47, Belgrade
5 Tage bis zum Ende der Kunst, Fredericianum Khunsthalle, Kassel, Germany
Collective exhibition, Museum of Photography, Helsinki
EXIT.SAW Video + Galerie Saw Gallery, Ottawa
Images Festival, Toronto
2005
The Rencontres Internationales Paris, Berlin-art & action film festival
Workshop, Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul
The Holden Gallery, Manchester
Galleria Rantakasarmin, Suomenlenna, Helsinki
Tennispalatsi Art Museum, Helsinki
2004
Blank Space, Screening, New Contemporary Space, Sydney
Seller, Katakomben, International Festival, Berlin
Finnish - Russian Exhibition, Lahti, Finland
Off Project, London Biennial, Area 10, London
Grants & awards
2012
The Art Council of Finland - Five year grant
2011
Ars Fennica nominee
The Art Council of Finland - Exhibition Grant
AVEK - Promotion for Audiovisual Culture - Production Grant
09-11 Finnish Cultural Foundation - Three Years Grant
2010
Swedish Cultural Fund - Curating a group exhibition in Cairo
AVEK - Promotion for Audiovisual Culture - Production Grant
2008
The Art Council of Finland - Exhibition Grant
Alfred Kordelinin Foundation - Production Grant
2007
AVEK - Audio Visual Cultural Prize
FRAME- FUND for Art exchange - Venice Biennial Project
AVEK - Promotion for Audiovisual Culture - Venice Biennial Project
Finnish Cultural Foundation - One Year Grant
AVEK - Promotion for Audiovisual Culture - Production Grant
2006
Finnish Cultural Foundation - Production Grant
AVEK - Promotion for Audiovisual Culture - Production Grant
2005
The Art Council of Finland - Travel Grant
Finnish Cultural Foundation - Production Grant
AVEK - Promotion for Audiovisual Culture
LUKSUZ film festival - Audience award- Slovenia
2004
The Academy of Fine Arts - Graduation Production Grant
2003
The Arts Council of Finland - Exhibition Grant
2002
First Prize - Contest of Young Iraqi Artists/Painters
1999
Third Prize - Contest of new Iraqi Sculpture
Essays in books & catalogues
2011
Catalogue: ADEL ABIDIN - Major solo exhibition at Darat Al Funun
Art of Flying - David Rosenberg - in collaboration with Air France and Klm - Bread of Life and I'm Sorry
Catalogue: Pavilion of Iraq - biennale Arte 2011 - Aqua Ferita (Wounded Water) - Venice Biennial 2011 - Rijin Sahakian - Consumption of War
Catalogue: Illumination - Venice Biennale Catalog 2011
Catalogue: Westend, June, On the Seam, a Socio-Political Contemporary Art Museum
Out of Rubble - Sisanne Slavick
2010
Catalogue: Adel Abidin - Major solo exhibition at Kiasma
Told/Untold/Retold - Mathaf - Arab Museum of Modern Art
Catalogue: Sydney Biennale
Alomst (t) here - new bearing from contemporary artists in Europe
Booklet: DA2 Domus Artium 2002 – Salamnca - Spain. Solo exhibition, Memory and Assumption – July 10 - Sept. 2010
Catalogue: Adel Abidin, Cave (Contemporary Arab Video Encounter)
2009
Catalogue: Tracking Traces - Kiasma catalogue for a group exhibition - Foam
Crossing - (Contemporary Arab artists)- Brahim Aloui
Islamic Art: Past and the Modern
Catalogue: Export-Import - Art Hall - Helsinki
2008
The Other - 11th Cairo Biennale
In the Arab World Now
Crossing "TRAVERSÉES" - Touring collective exhibition
On the Margins - Carmon Caolango - Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
Modernism and Iraq
Catalogue: Baltic - Musuem of Contemporary Art, Sczecin- Poland
2007
Think with the Senses-Feel with the Mind - 52nd Venice Biennale
Frame magazine - Venice Biennale 2007, Nordic Pavilion 2007
2006
Art, Life & Confusion - 47th October Salon
Catalogue: Naked Life – Tiwan - curators: Manray Hsu, Maren Richter
Catalogue: Art, Life & Confusion – Curator: René Block- 47th October Salon - Belgrade
2001
Stokes of Genius, Contemporary Iraqi Art - editor: Maysaloun Faraj
Interviews & conversations
2011
Blurring the Lines (When Art and History Converge), Review Amman by Sandra Hiari
A Humorous Artist, Jo Magazine, April by Matthew Davis
A Protest Song, Art Asia Pacific, May/June by William Pym
Stiletto by Adel Abidin – Stiletto Magazine
Freeze Magazine - June-July - August 2011- Bread of Life, image
Consumption of War - Adel Abidin at the 2011 Venice Biennale, Levantine Review by Lina Sergie Attar
The Beauty of Conflicts: Q&A with Adel Abidin, Aslan Media by Erin Joyce
2010
Global Nomadism (An interview with Adel Abidin), Art Pulse, Winter 2010/11 by Javier Panera
Adel Abidin, Suomen Kuvalehti by Hannele Jaameri & Markus Pentikainen
Have a Coke for Islam! Arty Parade by Lauren Hasty
El Humor Del Otro, Exit Express by Amber Gibson
2009
X-ART Contemporary Art Quality magazine - Article about the 11th Cairo biennale by Nizan Shaked - on Tasty - L.A. - Volume 11, Number 4 - Summer 2009
2007
Adel Abidin, Robert Kluijver – Borders
Adel Abidin: This Land Is Your Land, an essay accompanying the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Framework, no. 7, 80-87 by Laura Marks