PARASOPHIA 京都国際現代芸術祭2015

Nairy Baghramian
b. 1971 in Isfahan, Iran; based in Berlin

Work in exhibition
Fluffing the Pillows / Japan (Mooring, Gurney, Silos and Mop), 2015
Installation with 1 Mooring (casted painted aluminum), 1 Gurney (chromed pole), 3 Silos (fabric, rubber, pleather), 1 Mop (painted metal, wool, silicon), and 1 rope

See all installation views at higher resolution: www.flickr.com/photos/parasophia/sets/72157656461518668

Nairy Baghramian has been based in Berlin since 1985. Solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Basel (2006), Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2008), Serpentine Gallery (London, 2010), Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery (2013), SculptureCenter (Long Island, NY, 2013), the Art Institute of Chicago (2014), Serralves Museum (Porto, Portugal, 2014), and many more. Many group exhibitions, primarily in Europe. She has participated in international exhibitions such as Skulptur Projekte Münster 07 (2007), the 5th Berlin Biennale (2008), the 2011 Venice Biennale, and the 8th Berlin Biennale (2014). Baghramian’s formal, conceptual, and critical concerns, together with a deep understanding of the legacies of Modernism, Minimalism, design, and an interest in materials, craft, and the process of making, lead to a heterogeneous sculptural practice, one that is sensitive to the reality of contradictory or competing histories manifested in a variety of approaches to exhibition-making.
At Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015, Baghramian will be presenting a new configuration of her work Fluffing the Pillows (2012). Through abstract forms based on specific utilitarian and maritime objects, the artist investigates the notion of the “sculptural” as well as trade, industry, and gendered notions of labor and craft. The catalogue for her initial presentation of the work at Kunsthalle Mannheim, which was disguised as an upscale boating magazine, is also presented as a work in itself on the pages of Parasophia’s exhibition catalogue.

• Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art