Elias Sime: Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ
Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Elias Sime: Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ
Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
MEET THE ARTIST
Elias Sime
Born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Elias Sime has exhibited extensively around the world. His work has been shown internationally at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia which took in 2022; the Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar, Senegal; and in the United States at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Studio Museum in Harlem.
Sime is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at Hastings Contemporary, UK, which first traveled to Arnolfini in Bristol, United Kingdom, and will conclude at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf in Spring 2025. In the United States, The Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College presented his first survey exhibition in 2019, which traveled to the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio; the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri; and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada. Sime was also a subject of a solo exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum in 2020.
Sime’s work is included in the permanent collections of over 40 institutions, including Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Detroit Institute of Arts, MI; Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Newark Museum, Newark, NJ; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL; Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada; Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Utah Museum of Fine Arts,
Salt Lake City, UT; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA; and 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan.
MEET THE CURATORS
Meskerem Assegued
Meskerem Assegued is an independent curator, anthropologist, writer, and co-founder of Zoma Museum with Elias Sime. She conceived and curated Giziawi #1, an art happening in Addis Ababa. She then curated Divine Light by David Hammons and Green Flame, the visual art exhibition of the New Crowned Hope Festival by Peter Sellars in Vienna. She co-curated Eye of the Needle, Eye of the Heart at Santa Monica Museum of Art with Sellars; Curvature of Events at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden; Johannes Haile: With Different Eyes at Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Germany; and Vital Signs at Katzen Art Center, Washington, D.C. She recently co-designed and constructed the landscape and buildings at the Menelik Grand Palace and is currently constructing Zoma Village Entoto with Sime in Addis Ababa.
She has participated in various workshops and symposia, including those organized at MoMA and Tate Modern. She was awarded France’s Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres and has been a member of the selection committees for Dak’Art and the African Pavilion for the 52nd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2007. Her publications include Diving For Honey; Introducing Mulatu Astatke: The Making of Ethio-Jazz; and Zerihun Yetmgeta, The Magical Universe of Art.
Felicity Korn
Felicity Korn is a curator and Head of the Collection of 20th and 21st Century Art at the Kunstpalast, the municipal art museum of Düsseldorf, Germany. She holds an MA in Art Research and Media Philosophy, Exhibition Design and Curatorial Studies from the Academy of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe. Between 2012 and 2017 she worked in different curatorial positions in the Department of Modern Art at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main and was responsible for several exhibitions, including Emil Nolde. Retrospective (2014) and Battle of the Sexes. Franz von Stuck to Frida Kahlo (2016). Since 2017 she has been working at the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, where she was Head of Development before taking over her current position in 2023. She curated the exhibitions Women War Photographers. From Lee Miller to Anja Niedringhaus (2019) and Untold Stories. Peter Lindbergh (2020) and was the conceptual project leader for the renovation and new presentation of the collection wing that opened in November 2023.
ORGANIZING INSTITUTION
Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
The Kunstpalast is situated to the north of Düsseldorf’s historic city center between the Rhine and the Hofgarten. A major asset of the museum’s huge collection is its wide diversity which offers much scope for research, presentations, and educational work. Paralleled by few other museums, the Kunstpalast unites virtually all artistic genres and a variety of eras under one roof: paintings, prints and drawings, sculptures and decorative arts, a glass collection as well as a collection of modern art, photography, and time-based media. The museum ́s varied program constantly sets new impulses, picks up on contemporary topics and enables new perspectives. In addition, a broad concept of art allows surprising changes of perspective.
Supporters
James Cohan Gallery
James Cohan is a contemporary art gallery with two locations in New York's Tribeca neighborhood, and a third gallery space on the Lower East Side. Its diverse programming includes solo exhibitions of represented artists and two thematic group exhibitions every year, which often span the three galleries. In the fall of 1999, James Cohan opened on West 57th Street with an exhibition of early work by Gilbert and George. The gallery moved to Chelsea in 2002, where it operated for 17 years before a relocation of its flagship location to Tribeca in 2019.
In 2021, James Cohan opened a second Tribeca gallery space on the second floor of the historic 52 Walker Street building adjacent to the gallery’s landmarked 48 Walker Street location. For the inaugural exhibition at 52 Walker Street, the gallery presented an exhibition of new photographs by Delhi-based artist Gauri Gill.
For 25 years, James Cohan has been dedicated to championing the work of a global roster of exceptional artists that include Elias Sime, Yinka Shonibare CBE, Fred Tomaselli, Teresa Margolles, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Bill Viola, Eamon Ore-Giron, Kaloki Nyamai, Kelly Sinnapah Mary, and Gauri Gill.
ADDITIONAL Supporters
GRIMM Gallery
GRIMM is an international contemporary art gallery with locations in Amsterdam (NL), London (UK) and New York, NY (US). Since launching in 2005, it has been the gallery’s mission to represent and support emerging and mid-career artists who work in a diverse range of media. The gallery represents over 30 international artists, and in addition to its exhibitions programme, museum presentations and international art fairs, GRIMM maintains a popular publications series offering critical insight into its artists’ practices. GRIMM is a proud member of the International Galleries Alliance (IGA), Dutch Galleries Association (NGA) and the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC).
Southern & Partners
Southern & Partners (S&P) is an artist management organisation based in London (UK). Since its formation in 2020, S&P has supported the career and legacy of visual artists, in particular providing strategic guidance and support for relationships and projects with museums, public and private institutions and commercial galleries. Taking a personal and tailored approach, S&P fosters connections to create meaningful opportunities and advance long-term goals for artists and estates.
Contact Us
Visitor Information
Tanarte
Castello 2125
30122 Venice
Location of the exhibition space: to be found at Campo della Tana (Arsenale), at 30 metres from the entrance of the Biennale.
How to get there : Actv vaporetto line 1, stop: Arsenale. Rio de la Tana for private water access.
Hours
Today | Closed |
