Portrait of Nadim Karam. Courtesy of Nadim Karam & Atelier Hapsitus
Nadim Karam
(born 1957) is a multidisciplinary
Lebanese artist, painter, sculptor and architect
Nadim Karam (b.1957) – an artist and architect working from Beirut – holds a degree in architecture from the American University of Beirut, then earned a doctorate in architecture from the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he lived for 10 years.
With Atelier Hapsitus, the pluri-disciplinary group he founded in 1996 in Beirut, he has realised temporary and permanent urban interventions in cities worldwide.
“There are invisible governing networks that apply differently to different encounters and places on earth, creating fragmented negotiated freedoms.”
SCULPTOR
PAINTER
URBAN ARTIST
ARCHITECT
Education:
1982 Bachelor of
Architecture, Faculty
of Engineering and
Architecture, American
University of Beirut
1985 Master of Architecture,
Faculty of Architecture &
Engineering, University
of Tokyo 1989 Doctor of Architecture,
Faculty of Architecture &
Engineering, University
of Tokyo
With a background that fuses Oriental and Japanese theories of space, Nadim Karam has developed his own concepts, based on ideas like “micro pluralism,” “the architecture of performance” and “story-telling architecture.”
With a background that fuses Oriental and Japanese theories of space, Nadim Karam has developed his own concepts, based on ideas like “micro pluralism,” “the architecture of performance” and “story-telling architecture.”
Publications:
2013: Stretching Thoughts, Booth-
Clibborn Editions, London
2007: The Cloud, the Desert
and the Arabian Breeze, Booth-
Clibborn Editions, London
2006: Urban Toys, Booth-
Clibborn Editions, London, with
introduction by Paul Virilio
2000: VOYAGE,Booth-Clibborn
Editions, London
“Urban art projects are a negotiation with the city. They can never be imposed. There is a need for a give-and-take between the city and me until an understanding is reached. The resulting project is the visual expression of our dialogue.”
“The power of creativity is continuous and everything to a certain extent is creative and regenerates itself. Everything moves. So being able to find something that doesn’t move is impossible. What if this point existed somewhere? Could it be possible; a non-moving entity in this universe? I doubt! For it not to move, it will have to accumulate all the energy of the world, and that act by itself is movement!”
NADIM KARAM IS PARTICIPATING IN THE EXHIBITION TITLED PERSONAL STRUCTURES, ORGANIZED AND SUPPORTED BY THE EUROPEAN CULTURAL CENTRE IN ITALY. THIS EXHIBITION IS PART OF THE 58TH VENICE BIENNALE COLLATERAL EVENTS.
SHORT ARTIST STATEMENT ON POLITICS OF DIALOGUE:
THE MERRY-GO-ROUND Politics of Dialogue: The Merry- Go-Round addresses the theme of PERSONAL STRUCTURES exhibition Time, Space and Existence by considering the challenge of creating effective communication in an era marked by hyperconnectivity. Dialogue assumes the creation of a level playing field. However, it often happens in isolation from the area or population of concern. Detached from its purpose, it becomes ineffective. Politics of Dialogue: The Merry- Go-Round is about communication turning in circles; a trapped dialogue, rotating upon itself, and offered to the observer on a carousel-like platform.
EXHIBITION TITLE:
PERSONAL STRUCTURES – Identities
HOSTING INSTITUTION: European Cultural Centre – Italy
LOCATION: Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora
and Giardini Marinaressa, Venice, Italy
PROMOTER: European Cultural Centre
ORGANISERS: Valeria Romagnini, European
Cultural Centre – Italy Lucia Pedrana, Sara
Danieli, Claudia Piovan, Bérénice Freytag,
Bianca Bonaldi, Rocco Schenkel, Elena
Volpato, Cristina Sakura, Debora Bae, Micaela
Skerl, Mila Sarkisyan, Svetlana Eroshina
OPENING PERIOD: May 11-November 24, 2019
AT BIENNALE
Location: Giardini Marinaressa
A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN PRINT IN SELECTIONS #49