Saadane Afif

Saâdane Afif (born 1970 in Vendôme, Loir-et-Cher Département, France) is a French conceptual artist.

Life and career Saâdane Afif graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Bourges and later received his 1998 postgraduate degree from the School of Fine Arts in Nantes (École des Beaux Arts). In 2001, he was in residence at the Villa Arson International Art School of Nice (France); in 2002, he was in residence at the Villa Médicis in Glasgow (Scotland). In 2003, he moved to Berlin, where he currently lives and works. Afif's work has been exhibited at many venues, including the Museum Folkwang (Essen, Germany) in 2004. In 2006, he was awarded the International Prize for Contemporary Art of the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 2009, he received the Marcel Duchamp Prize; as a result of winning this prize, he presented his artwork in the exhibition "Anthology of black humour" at Space 315, Centre Pompidou, Paris from September 2010 until January 2011. In 2011, he was the 46th most influential person in the French art world, according to the March issue of Eye Magazine.

Art Defined as ‘post-conceptual’, Saâdane Afif's work focuses on interpretation, exchange and circulation. He works in various media (performance, objects, sculptures, text, posters and works in neon). The complex procedures he uses are not categorised under any specific discipline. All of his works are subject to a continuous process of alteration. He integrates elements of art history, music, poetry and dance into his work, sometimes inviting authors to write texts based on existing artworks for other artists to set to music or use in drama. Afif himself refuses to appear in public, preferring to direct from afar.

In 2008, Afif began a project entitled the Fountain Archive. This currently contains about 500 images of Marcel Duchamp’s porcelain urinal. In this project, Afif collects and archives every single publication in which he finds a reproduction of Duchamp's urinal. As a found object, every page containing a picture of the urinal is torn out and then carefully framed. The frame, used both for its preservative and decorative purposes, is also part of the artistic process. Every step of the archiving process follows meticulous rules which form a part of this artistic process.

In April 2012, an exhibition took place at the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt. The MMK Zollamt was an exhibition outside the main exhibition space, presenting Saâdane Afif's "Anthologie de l’humour noir". It highlighted some aspects of African influence in a new and unusual light, since this was also connected to modern French art and literature. The centrepiece was a coffin made in Ghana which plays an ode to the deceased. The shape of the coffin is a reference to the Centre Pompidou and it was titled Humour Noir (a translation of "black humour"). This phrase was made famous by André Breton.

Lyrics In 2004, as part of his exhibition Melancholic Beat at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Saâdane Afif requested artist Lili Reynaud-Dewar to write lyrics relatedto the four works exhibited: Brume, Everyday, Black Spirit and Blue Time. This experience introduced a process that would radically affect his artistic practice. These song commissions follow very precise rules: Afif sends the authors a document in which he tells them about the art piece related to the song (title, form, context of appearance, intentions, sketches). In return, the song will have to keep the same title and a link with the object described. The texts are then presented on the walls, alongside the works to which they refer, imitating the presentation notes that usually punctuate the exhibition itinerary. Their poetic register, however, determined by the commission, consciously distances them from any didactic attention.

Titled Lyrics, the series now includes more than two hundred texts written by around one hundred people, part of which has been gathered in the book Paroles co-published by the WIELS Contemporary Art Centre and Triangle Books in Belgium in 2018. These mutant objects at the crossroads of two imaginations, both emanating from and extending the meaning of a given work, will then become essential material for the artist's work.

Exhibitions

2023 : The Coalman, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany 2023 : In Search of the Heptahedron, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany 2023: Enigma, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany 2022 : The Fountain Archives [Index], Galerie Michèle Didier, Paris, France 2022 : Broken Music Vol. 2, 70 Years of Records and Sound Works by Artists, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany 2022 : Ridiculously Yours! Art, Awkwardness and Enthusiasm, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Germany 2021 : The Fountain Archives and Beyond..., Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain 2021: Dwarf Lift Dwarf sings Pirates’ Who’s Who, Beaufort Biennale, Belgium 2019 : Das Heptaeder, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany 2019: The Fountain Archives, Fundacion Jumex, Mexico, Mexico 2019 : The Fairytale Recordings, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, France 2019 : Der Traum der Bibliothek, Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, Siegen, Germany 2018 : Musiques pour Tuyauterie, mor charpentier, Paris, France 2018 : This Is Ornemental, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria 2018 : Paroles, Wiels, Brussels, Belgium 2018 : Black Chords, Le Guess Who Festival, Utrecht, The Netherlands 2018 : RE-SET: Appropriation and Transformation in Music and Art since 1900, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland 2018 : The Reservoir of Modernism, Museum Liechtenstein, Liechtenstein 2018 : Posters, Frac Normandie Rouen, Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France 2017 : Ici., Leopold-Hoesch-Museum & Papiermuseum Düren, Düren, Germany 2017 : Là-bas., La Panacée, Montpellier, France 2017 : The Fountain Archives, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco 2017 : The Fairytale Recordings, Frac Franche-Comté, Besançon, France 2017 : The Fountain Archives 2008-2017, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 2017 : Performance! The collection of the Centre Pompidou, Tripostal, Lille, France 2017 : Oh les Beaux Jours, une esthétique des moyens disponibles, 9th Biennale of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium 2016 : Quoi ? - L'Éternité, Atelier Hermès, Seoul, South Korea 2016 : Vice de Forme: Das Kabarett, SCORES - Musical Works by Visual Artists, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany 2016 : Mount Moon Takes Monte Carlo, Nuit Blanche de Monaco, Monaco 2016 : Parler en langues, Nuit Blanche Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France 2015 : Das Ende der Welt, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany 2015 : Political Populism, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria 2015 : Her Ghost Friend, Three Tokyo Sessions, Tokyo Art Meeting VI – "TOKYO" - Sensing the Cultural Magma of the Metropolis, MOT, Tokyo, Japan 2015 : Threads: Fantasmagoria about Distance, Kaunas Biennale, Lithuania 2015 : 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 2015 : The Laguna’s Tribute, All the World’s Futures, 56th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 2014 : Là-bas., 8th Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany 2014 : Là-bas., Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland 2014 : Ici., Günther-Peill-Stiftung am Leopold-Hoesch-Museum & Papiermuseum Düren, Düren, Germany 2014 : Affiches & Fontaines, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium 2014 : Blue Times, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria 2014 : Souvenirs: Leçon de Géométrie, Where are we now?, 5th Marrakech Biennale, Marrakech, Morocco 2014 : Sept notes sur le travail de Peter Roehr, Mouse On Mars – 21 AGAIN Festival, Hebbel Am Ufer, Berlin, Germany 2013 : Blue Time, Blue Time, Blue Time..., Institut d'Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne, France 2013 : Sept notes sur le travail de Peter Roehr (with Peter Roehr), Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany 2013 : Mount Moon, The Basel Tour, Liste 18, Basel, Switzerland 2013 : The Fairytale Recordings, WWTBD – What Would Thomas Bernhard Do, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria 2013 : The Present Order is the Disorder of the Future, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Germany 2013 : Héritages, Re:emerge-Towards a New Cultural Cartography, 11th Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates 2012 : Anthologie de l’Humour Noir, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany 2012 : L’S BELLS – The Busker of the Gray Line, Ludlow 38, New York, United States of America 2012 : Made in Germany 2: Internationale Kunst in Deutschland, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany 2012 : Art and the City, Public Space Project, Zurich, Switzerland 2011 : The Fairytale Recordings, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany 2011 : Echoes, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France 2011 : Melanchotopia, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2011 : Meeting Points 6: Locus Agonistess – Practices and Logics of the Civic, Argos, Brussels, Belgium 2011 : Meeting Points 6: Locus Agonistess – Practices and Logics of the Civic, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanono 2010 : A Lecture, A Recording & Few Witnesses, OPA Oficina para Proyectos de Arte, Guadalajara, Mexico 2010 : Saâdane Afif – Anthologie de l’Humour Noir, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 2010 : Morality, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2010 : ACT VII: Of Facts and Fables, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2010 : La Carte d’après Nature. An Artist’s Selection by Thomas Demand, Villa Paloma, Monaco, Monaco 2009 : Feedback, EACC Espai d’Art Contemporani de Castelló, Castelló, Spain 2009 : Vice de Forme : In Search of Melodies, Galerie Michel Rein, Paris, France 2008 : TWO..., FRAC Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain Basse-Normandie, Caen, France 2008 : ONE, FRAC Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France 2008 : Technical Specifications, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2007 : 58:22 & Some Words, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Germany 2007 : Airs de Paris, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 2007 : Black Chords, Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany 2006 : Power Chords, Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco, Monaco, Monaco 2006 : La Répétition, Galleria Maze, Turin, Italy 2006 : Power Chords, Cité de la Musique, Paris, France 2006 : Expats/Clandestines, Wiels, Brussels, Belgium 2005 : Lyrics, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France 2005 : One Million BPM, Cimaise et portique, Albi, France 2005 : 3rd Tirana Biennale, Tirana, Albania 2005 : Down at the Rock’nRoll Club, 1st Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Art, Lenin Museum, Moscow, Russia 2004 : Melancholic Beat, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany 2004 : Playlist, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France 2001 : Mise à flot, Le Creux de l’Enfer, Thiers, France 2001 : Parallèle Parallaxe Paradoxe, Maison Populaire, Montreuil, France

Awards and grants 2015 : Prix Meurice pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France 2012 : Prize of Günther-Peill-Stiftung, Düren, Germany 2009 : Marcel Duchamp Prize, Paris, France 2006 : Prix International d’Art Contemporain de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco, Monaco 2002 : Award of Villa Medicis Hors les Murs (Residence) in Glasgow, Scotland 2001 : Scholarship (Residence), Villa Arson, Nice, France

Collections Saâdane Afif's work can be found in numerous museums and public collections around the world. Selected museum collections include the Paris Museum of Modern Art; the Centre Pompidou; the New National Museum of Monaco; the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein in Vaduz; the National Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo, Japan; the Haus Konstruktiv Museum in Zurich, Switzerland; the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, Germany; the MUDAM, Contemporary Art Museum in Luxembourg; and the Institut d'art contemporain in Villeurbanne.

Selected public collections include numerous regional contemporary art funds ("fonds régional d'art contemporain, FRAC"), notably those of the Île-de-France, Poitou-Charentes, Champagne-Ardenne and Pays de la Loire regions, as well as the FRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur; the collection of the Lafayette Anticipations foundation; the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) and the Kadist foundation.