Between the scenes

Swiss-Tunisian artist Sonia Kacem (born in 1985; Geneva) completed her BVA and MVA at HEAD (Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design, Genève). Kacem’s practice has been characterized by voluminous in situ, ephemeral or permanent sculptures/installations, which attempt to redefine abstraction, its formal identity and its narrative scope. She collects images, forms and stories, and manipulates ideas and materials, in order to deploy pallets of colors and shapes in which the body is brought to wander.

Since 2012, Kacem’s work has been nominated and awarded by art prizes, such as the Swiss Art Awards (2013) and Premio Artsiti per Frescobaldi (2018). As well, she was selected in residency programs like Residency Rijksakademie van beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (2016–2017) and The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2019). Spring 2020, she’s going to develop further her research related to the rupture with figuration and its impact on contemporary visual culture in the Arab region by spending a three months residency in Tunis.

Kacem’s work has been exhibited in Switzerland and internationally since 2011. In collaboration with artist Bea McMahon, she presented her first performance, Dear Wattana, at Centre d’art Neuchâtel (2018). And more recently in Tilburg Delirious , during the 10th edition of Lustwarande , 2019. On 18th of October 2019, she opened her solo show, Between the Scenes at Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster. This last show will be the subject of her talk. She will develop this specific process of making a show tightly related to her 6 months residency in Cairo (from February to January 2019), the long term dialog that was build with the curator Kristina Scepanksi, and the possibility to give an outcome to this residency in Cairo through an exhibition ( https://www.westfaelischer-kunstverein.de/en/exhibitions/sonia-kacem/ ).