A Visual Exploration of Borders and Identity | Nadia Kaabi-Linke
Nadia Kaabi-Linke talked about her work as a visual artist and her process for creating pieces and holding exhibitions.
Nadia Kaabi-Linke graduated from the University of Fine Arts, Tunis, in 1999, and earned a Ph.D. at Université Paris-Sorbonne, in 2008. Growing up between Tunis, Kyiv, and Dubai, and now residing in Berlin and Kyiv, Kaabi-Linke has a personal history of migration across cultures and borders that has greatly influenced her work. Using a variety of materials and methods, Kaabi-Linke often works in-situ on projects that relate directly to their exhibition sites. Between 2011 and 2014, she realized Meinstein, a permanent public artwork in Berlin that reflects processes of ethnic segregation. For her recent installation, “Walk the Line” (2015), volunteers wrapped two poles with thread the length of the Texas-Mexico border until it formed a dense wall. Flying Carpets (2011), which was shown at the Venice Biennale that year, gives physical shape to the immigrant merchants of Venice who often display their wares on sheets that they can be quickly swept up upon the arrival of authorities. Mapping the movements of the vendors and their blankets on a single bridge, Kaabi-Linke recreated the forms in steel, aluminum, and thread, suspending them above the viewer. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2011) and many more. Kaabi-Linke lives and works in Berlin, Germany, and Kyiv, Ukraine.
Outline
This podcast series features a process-focused conversation that looks at a guest's individual projects rather than their full bodies of work. It sketches the journey of the project: the spark of curiosity that led to its birth, the process of implementing the idea, the obstacles that emerged throughout the implementation, and the aftermath of the project, including new questions and new ideas.
