Saâdane Afif

Saâdane Afif 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. In 2001, he was in residence at the Villa Arson International Art School of Nice ; in 2002, he was in residence at the Villa Médicis in Glasgow. 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 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. 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. Each new archived image has its own inventory card, which acts as a certificate of authenticity. Publications which discuss Afif's project are also included in the Fountain Archive project: these, though, are treated as special objects as they constitute a historical echo of the original work. This is the only exception to the generally strict rule that each photograph can only be included in the Fountain Archive once.
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. 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. 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, the series now includes more than two hundred texts written by around one hundred people, part of which has been gathered in the book co-published by the WIELS Contemporary Art Centre and 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,, Berlin, Germany
2023 : In Search of the Heptahedron,, Berlin, Germany
2023: Enigma,, Berlin, Germany
2022 : The Fountain Archives,, 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,, Germany
2021 : The Fountain Archives and Beyond..., Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain
2021: Dwarf Lift Dwarf sings Pirates’ Who’s Who,, Belgium
2019 : Das Heptaeder,, Berlin, Germany
2019: The Fountain Archives,, Mexico, Mexico
2019 : The Fairytale Recordings,, Paris, France
2019 : Der Traum der Bibliothek,, Siegen, Germany
2018 : Musiques pour Tuyauterie,, Paris, France
2018 : This Is Ornemental, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
2018 : Paroles, Wiels, Brussels, Belgium
2018 : Black Chords,, 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.,, Düren, Germany
2017 : Là-bas.,, Montpellier, France
2017 : The Fountain Archives,, 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,, 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,, 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.,, Switzerland
2014 : Ici.,, 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?,, 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...,, Villeurbanne, France
2013 : Sept notes sur le travail de Peter Roehr ,, Berlin, Germany
2013 : Mount Moon, The Basel Tour,, 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,, 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,, New York, United States of America
2012 : Made in Germany 2: Internationale Kunst in Deutschland, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
2012 : Art and the City,, Zurich, Switzerland
2011 : The Fairytale Recordings,, Berlin, Germany
2011 : Echoes,, 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,, 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,, 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,, Berlin, Germany
2007 : Airs de Paris, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2007 : Black Chords, Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany
2006 : Power Chords,, 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,, Albi, France
2005 :, 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, 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 in Glasgow, Scotland
2001 : Scholarship, 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, 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 and the Kadist foundation.