Featuring Latifa al-Zayyat, Geta Brătescu, Moyra Davey, Amit Dutta, Haris Epaminonda & Daniel Gustav Cramer, Iman Issa, Paul Neagu, Olaf Nicolai, Sergei Parajanov, Mohammad Rabie, Walid Raad, and Valeska Soares, as well as a loan from Museum Rietberg: Kunst der Welt in Zurich
Image: (right) Manbi, Nô mask of a young woman; Japan, Edo period, 18th century; (left) Deigan, Nô mask of a ghost of a middle aged women; Japan, Edo period, 18th century; Courtesy Museum Rietberg Zürich, Photo: Iman Issa
Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing is an exhibition curated by the artist Iman Issa (born in 1979, EG), whose work often takes the form of displays featuring multiple elements and where text plays a central role. Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing is Issa’s first opportunity to reflect on her artistic methodology through the prism of a group exhibition. In order to unfold this introspective venture, the exhibition brings together works by artists, writers, and filmmakers, who each create their own parameters and universes within their practice. Many of the selected works touch upon notions of illustration, portraiture, and self-narration.
Curated by Iman Issa
Assistant Curator: Léon Kruijswijk
Exhibition leaflet (PDF)
The Berlin Sessions: Conversation between Renée Green, Iman Issa and Mason Leaver-Yap about the exhibitions Renée Green: Inevitable Distances and Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing
Latifa al-Zayyat, Awraq Shakhsia, 1992, commissioned audio book, 2021. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the narrator; Al Karma Publishers, Cairo; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Photo: Frank Sperling. And Geta Brătescu, Faust, 1981. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy The National Museum of Art Romania, Bucharest, Photo: Frank Sperling
Walid Raad, I thought I’d escape my fate, but Apparently I-IX, 2015. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist und Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut / Hamburg, Photo: Frank Sperling
![Olaf Nicolai, Foucault In [205 words from Simeon Wade’s manuscript Foucault in California]
Published in 2018. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist; Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig / Berlin, Photo: Frank Sperling.](https://www.kw-berlin.de/files/211025_KW_0436_LQ-1024x683.jpg)
Olaf Nicolai, Foucault In [205 words from Simeon Wade’s manuscript Foucault in California]
Published in 2018. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist; Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig / Berlin, Photo: Frank Sperling.
Deigan, Nô-mask of the spirit of a middle-aged woman (left), Manbi, Nô-mask of a young woman (right), 18th century, mid-Edo Period, Japan. Courtesy Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Donation Balthasar Reinhart, Photo: Frank Sperling
Haris Epaminonda and Daniel Gustav Cramer, The Infinite Library, seit 2007, Details. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artists, Photo: Frank Sperling.
Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist, Photo: Frank Sperling
Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist, Photo: Frank Sperling
Iman Issa, Proxies, with a Life on Their Own, since 2019, a selection of five out of a series of eight selfportraits: Self-Portrait: Self as Doria Shafik, 2020. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist; carlier | gebauer, Berlin; Rodeo Gallery, Piräus / London, Photo: Frank Sperling
Iman Issa, Proxies, with a Life on Their Own, since 2019, a selection of five out of a series of eight selfportraits, from left to right: Self-Portrait: Self as Hannah Arendt, 2021; Self-Portrait: Self as Taha Hussein, 2020; Self-Portrait: Self as Alenka Zupančič, 2020; Self-Portrait: Self as Doria Shafik, 2020; Self-Portrait: Self as William S. Burroughs, 2019. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist; carlier | gebauer, Berlin; Rodeo Gallery, Piräus / London, Photo: Frank Sperling
Valeska Soares, Doubleface (Oxide of Chromium Green) (left), 2018, Doubleface (Mineral Violet) (right), 2018. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW
Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy Luiz Antonio de Sampaio Campo, Rio de Janeiro, Photo: Frank Sperling
Haris Epaminonda and Daniel Gustav Cramer, The Infinite Library, seit 2007, Details. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artists, Photo: Frank Sperling.
Valeska Soares, Linea de Tiempo II, 2011, Details. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo / Rio de Janeiro, Photo: Frank Sperling
Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist, Photo: Frank Sperling
Valeska Soares, The House of Exile (from Bindings), 2011. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy Luiz Antonio de Sampaio Campo, Rio de Janeiro, Photo: Frank Sperling
Latifa al-Zayyat, Awraq Shakhsia, 1992, commissioned audio book, 2021. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the narrator; Al Karma Publishers, Cairo; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Photo: Frank Sperling. And Geta Brătescu, Faust, 1981. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy The National Museum of Art Romania, Bucharest, Photo: Frank Sperling
Walid Raad, I thought I’d escape my fate, but Apparently I-IX, 2015. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist und Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut / Hamburg, Photo: Frank Sperling
Olaf Nicolai, Foucault In [205 words from Simeon Wade’s manuscript Foucault in California]
Published in 2018. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist; Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig / Berlin, Photo: Frank Sperling.
Deigan, Nô-mask of the spirit of a middle-aged woman (left), Manbi, Nô-mask of a young woman (right), 18th century, mid-Edo Period, Japan. Courtesy Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Donation Balthasar Reinhart, Photo: Frank Sperling
Haris Epaminonda and Daniel Gustav Cramer, The Infinite Library, seit 2007, Details. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artists, Photo: Frank Sperling.
Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist, Photo: Frank Sperling
Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist, Photo: Frank Sperling
Iman Issa, Proxies, with a Life on Their Own, since 2019, a selection of five out of a series of eight selfportraits: Self-Portrait: Self as Doria Shafik, 2020. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist; carlier | gebauer, Berlin; Rodeo Gallery, Piräus / London, Photo: Frank Sperling
Iman Issa, Proxies, with a Life on Their Own, since 2019, a selection of five out of a series of eight selfportraits, from left to right: Self-Portrait: Self as Hannah Arendt, 2021; Self-Portrait: Self as Taha Hussein, 2020; Self-Portrait: Self as Alenka Zupančič, 2020; Self-Portrait: Self as Doria Shafik, 2020; Self-Portrait: Self as William S. Burroughs, 2019. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist; carlier | gebauer, Berlin; Rodeo Gallery, Piräus / London, Photo: Frank Sperling
Valeska Soares, Doubleface (Oxide of Chromium Green) (left), 2018, Doubleface (Mineral Violet) (right), 2018. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW
Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy Luiz Antonio de Sampaio Campo, Rio de Janeiro, Photo: Frank Sperling
Haris Epaminonda and Daniel Gustav Cramer, The Infinite Library, seit 2007, Details. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artists, Photo: Frank Sperling.
Valeska Soares, Linea de Tiempo II, 2011, Details. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo / Rio de Janeiro, Photo: Frank Sperling
Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist, Photo: Frank Sperling
Valeska Soares, The House of Exile (from Bindings), 2011. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy Luiz Antonio de Sampaio Campo, Rio de Janeiro, Photo: Frank Sperling
![Olaf Nicolai, Foucault In [205 words from Simeon Wade’s manuscript Foucault in California]
Published in 2018. Installation view of the exhibition Understudies: I, Myself Will Exhibit Nothing in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021. Courtesy the artist; Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig / Berlin, Photo: Frank Sperling.](https://www.kw-berlin.de/files/211025_KW_0436_LQ-1920x1281.jpg)
