Mohammed Kazem Fixing Nothing

25 March 2021
Mohammed Kazem auf YouTube
6:40

Mohammed Kazem, born 1969 in Dubai, is counted among the most important representatives of Contemporary Art beyond the United Arab Emirates, where he is hailed as a Shooting Star. Since his extraordinary participation in the 55th Venice Art Biennial at least, his name has become known internationally.

Kazem was born into a time of change. Only three years before his birth, oil has been found in Dubai and two years later, the United Arab Emirates were founded. Those historical events lead to profound changes in society as well as environment: where view could get lost in the distance, skyscrapers rise up into the sky today.

At the young age of 14, Mohammed Kazem became student of Hassan Sharif. Sharif is one of the first and most renowned Conceptual and Performance artists of the United Arab Emirates.

In the 90s, after gaining experience in painting as well as performances, Mohammed Kazem started working on his series called Scratches. This series showcases some of the most oustanding features of his artistic hand. He likes to alter the materials he employs while also bringing his works into the third dimension. In addition, he favors to visualize immaterial things – like sound, light, space and time – to create his works of art. This concept is shown very clearly in Kazem’s series Collecting Light. In it, the artist collects something intangible, light itself. He showcases different nuances of light and its absence, as in shadows of objects and how they change over the course of the day (when the sun is moving).

His Fixing Nothing works open up a similar philosophical dimension. Physically, those works can be described as aluminum bases with holes in it, through which screws – fixated by nuts – protrude. Effectively, those screws are fixing nothing. Those works embody what differentiates artworks from other items: they are freed of functionality. Apart from that, the works are – besides their clear form – very poetic, especially when you consider the interplay of light and shadow caused by the embossments of screws and nuts.

Works

Mohammed Kazem - Sounds of Angles No. 1f Blue (1) big
Mohammed Kazem
Sounds of Angles No. 1f Blue (1) big ‧ 2018
Papier geritzt mit blauer Farbe, 70 x 50 cm
Mohammed Kazem - Fixing Nothing (green)
Mohammed Kazem
Fixing Nothing (green) ‧ 2015
Edelstahl Schrauben und Muttern, Aluminium, 120 x 120 x 9 cm, 3 Ex. + Ap
Mohammed Kazem - Sound of Triangle No. 1
Mohammed Kazem
Sound of Triangle No. 1 ‧ 2018
geritztes Papier, grüne Farbe, 70 x 70 cm

Inquiry

Publications

Collecting Light
Mohammed Kazem
Collecting Light

Reihe Dokumente unserer Zeit – Band 54

2019

25,– €
Zahlen – Zeit – Zeichen
Zahlen – Zeit – Zeichen
Numbers – Time – Signs

Reihe Dokumente unserer Zeit – Band 30

2003

20,– €

Publications about Mohammed Kazem

Dr.  Dorothea  van der Koelen

Gallery