Brief Bio:
Interested in how art can cross science, philosophy and knowledge, the Amsterdam based artist has been experimenting with contemporary methods and strategies of artistic presentation, having a thorough belief that Art should raise a question, widen our perception towards a better state of existence and a more aware human being; stating "It is a necessity to re-value our surroundings and essential elements in order to fulfil our existential authenticity and accept the full weight of our freedom in light of the absurd".
Born in Syria, graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University in 2013, and began his ongoing further exploration towards a multidisciplinary practice.
2019
2018
• AMARRE art residency, at Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre.
• Part of Mission Nose Out exhibition, a collaboration project between Municipality of Amsterdam and Gerrit Rietveld Academie.
• Part of Give Us The Museum at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam as an artist and co-curator.
• Part of, Samt's Sawt Iteration 2a, at Grey Noise, Al Serkal Avenue.
• Part of, Samt's
Qala 0.8900 - Sawt Iteration 2a, @satellite, Al Serkal Avenue.
2017
• Statement 2: No Land Is Your Land - No Land Is My Land - God Gave You Shit.
• Statement 1: What The Fuck.
• Part of the first volume of (sa mt. On Being Vertical Against Your
Horizon).
• Artist in residence at Kunst
Faam.
• Quit Smoking.
• Moved to Amsterdam.
2016
• Left Dubai.
• Sold my colors.
• Group exhibition at Sharjah Art Foundation (Vantage Point Sharjah 4) - Photography and digital collage: Self Portrait.
2015/2014/2013
Nothing really special.. Moved to Dubai, got a job as a graphic designer and got exposed to a high dose of capitalism and consumerism.
2012
• Group exhibition, (The Youth Forum at Damascus Historical Castle), the works were acquired by The Ministry of Culture and Arts.
• Group exhibition, The Faculty of Fine Arts' New Graduates 2012.
• Smoking heavily, reading a comparative study by Adonis, Sufism and Surrealism, and trying to figure out if I can paint something that doesn't exist, yet it reminds you of another thing that might exist, and still be genuinely itself. (That eventually became my graduation project).
2011
• The Syrian revolution begins.. a lot of adrenaline a lot of hope, then it becomes too complicated.
• Smoking heavily and trying to figure out if it's too late for me to be a musician.
2010
2009
• Art school begins.
.
Mazen Al Ashkar
I envisage my work in an open ended circumstantial trajectory, repeatedly shaped and reshaped; by passing through the myriad modes of thinking, sensing, empathizing through the body of the world, and by a continuous questioning of the shared humanist legacy of hierarchical binarism and human exceptionalism – their proliferations through histories, and their rendering and conditioning of my reality. Currently, playing with my new posthumanist umbrella, manoeuvring through the living structures AKA the legacy of humanism. At times, I find myself hanging on its boundaries, owning its territories or formulating temporal ones, at other times I try jumping over them, diluting or deconstructing them. All for fulfilling my existential authenticity and accepting the full weight of my freedom in light of the absurd :-\
Based in Amsterdam, born in Syria in 1989, graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University in 2013 and received an MFA in Artistic Research from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in 2021.
Exhibition History
2021
– “Graduation Show 2021”, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands.
– “Sun Kissed // Fog Off”, Master Artistic Research at Quartair, The Hague, Netherlands.
2020
– “Actuele Kunst In De Oude Bieb”, Utrecht Down Under, Utrecht, Netherlands.
– “See-Saw”, Just Shout #4, atelierroute Utrecht at 'de Kersenboomgaard' community,
studio number 12, Utrecht, Netherlands.
– “See-Saw”, Just Shout #3, Galerie 21, Vorwerkstift, Hamburg, Germany.
– “The Ongoing Conversation”, Master Artistic Research at 1646, The Hague, Netherlands.
– A Simple Fizz - Exhibition of MAR/KABK at Quartair, The Hague, Netherlands.
2019
– "Ma'rad", Group exhibition, at 3&55 Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
– “Qala 0.8900”, Samt, Darat Al Funun, Group exhibition, Amman, Jordan.
– “The Breadth of 104.5°”, Solo Presentation, Kaaistudio’s and Moussem Nomadic Arts Center, Moussem Cities: Damascus, Brussels, Belgium.
2018
– "Window", Galerie De Vijf Ramen, Group exhibition , Arnhem, Netherlands.
– “Mission Nose Out”, Beautiful Distress, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
– “Give Us The Museum”, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
– “Sawt (2a): Qala 0.8900”, Samt, Grey Noise, Al Serkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE.
2017
– Samt “On Being Vertical Against Your Horizon”, www.samt.co.
2016
– Sharjah Art Foundation, “Vantage Point Sharjah 4” Sharjah, UAE.
2012
– “The Youth Forum at Damascus Historical Castle", The Ministry of Culture and Arts, Damascus, Syria.
– “Graduation 2012”, The Faculty of Fine Arts, Swaida, Syria.
Residencies
AMARRE, residencies for artists in exile, Moussem Nomadic Arts Center, Brussels, Belgium, June 2018.
Artist in residence, KunstFaam, Schiermonnikoog, Netherlands, March 2017.
Other
Graphic designer, Dancing on the Edge, Amsterdam, 2019-present.
Graphic design and communication volunteer, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam, 2018-2019.
Graphic design intern, Dietwee merk ontwerp communicatie, Utrecht, 2017-2018.
Graphic designer, Franklin Covey Middle East, Dubai, 2015-2016.
Graphic designer, Al Sham Advertising, Dubai, 2013-2014.
Mazen Al Ashkar
A multidisciplinary artist whose work takes shape through various mediums, working with multimedia installations, sound, video and text. Water has been a recurring element in his work, following its routes through material and social structures. Participated in group and solo exhibitions in several spaces in Damascus, Sharjah, Dubai, Amsterdam, Brussels, Amman, The Hague and Utrecht. Currently based in Amsterdam, graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University in 2013 and received an MFA in Artistic Research from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in 2021.
Looking at the rhizome of relations in the intersection between the categories of human and non-human, and starting from an interest in the multiplicity of modes of understanding the world; questions that undercurrent the process of Mazen’s work can sound like: How would different perceptions of the attributes of the material in the world, form ways of valuing its beings? Would different modes of interacting with it change imagining the relation between one another? If technology was a revelation of human interaction in/with the world, could an amulet be hiding any clues to an alternative essence of technology? How softly are we touched by the hand of efficiency? How many seas do we need to dissolve a quantified world? And how precious did the world become after realizing our real distinction from it?
Exhibition History
2021
– “Graduation Show 2021”, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands.
– “Sun Kissed // Fog Off”, Master Artistic Research at Quartair, The Hague, Netherlands.
2020
– “Actuele Kunst In De Oude Bieb”, Utrecht Down Under, Utrecht, Netherlands.
– “See-Saw”, Just Shout #4, atelierroute Utrecht at 'de Kersenboomgaard' community,
studio number 12, Utrecht, Netherlands.
– “See-Saw”, Just Shout #3, Galerie 21, Vorwerkstift, Hamburg, Germany.
– “The Ongoing Conversation”, Master Artistic Research at 1646, The Hague, Netherlands.
– A Simple Fizz - Exhibition of MAR/KABK at Quartair, The Hague, Netherlands.
2019
– "Ma'rad", Group exhibition, at 3&55 Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
– “Qala 0.8900”, Samt, Darat Al Funun, Group exhibition, Amman, Jordan.
– “The Breadth of 104.5°”, Solo Presentation, Kaaistudio’s and Moussem Nomadic Arts Center, Moussem Cities: Damascus, Brussels, Belgium.
2018
– "Window", Galerie De Vijf Ramen, Group exhibition , Arnhem, Netherlands.
– “Mission Nose Out”, Beautiful Distress, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
– “Give Us The Museum”, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
– “Sawt (2a): Qala 0.8900”, Samt, Grey Noise, Al Serkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE.
2017
– Samt “On Being Vertical Against Your Horizon”, www.samt.co.
2016
– Sharjah Art Foundation, “Vantage Point Sharjah 4” Sharjah, UAE.
2012
– “The Youth Forum at Damascus Historical Castle", The Ministry of Culture and Arts, Damascus, Syria.
– “Graduation 2012”, The Faculty of Fine Arts, Swaida, Syria.
Residencies
– AMARRE, residencies for artists in exile, Moussem Nomadic Arts Center, Brussels, Belgium, June 2018.
– Artist in residence, KunstFaam, Schiermonnikoog, Netherlands, March 2017.
Other
– Graphic designer, Dancing on the Edge, Amsterdam, 2019-present.
– Graphic design and communication volunteer, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam, 2018-2019.
– Graphic design intern, Dietwee merk ontwerp communicatie, Utrecht, 2017-2018.
– Graphic designer, Franklin Covey Middle East, Dubai, 2015-2016.
– Graphic designer, Al Sham Advertising, Dubai, 2013-2014.
Statement No.2
White Utopia-std on black background.
Statement No.1
WTF
