The Shape of Distance
March 14 - May 7, 2016
Grey Noise Dubai
About the exhibition:
In 'The Shape of Distance', an intricate map is superposed to the map of the exhibition space. Horizontal distances are explored, which go back and forth in time and geography, as well as vertical distances, which go back and forth between above and below. The works measure, cancel, enhance or materialise these distances. Functioning sometimes by analogy, they become real where both directions meet.
A balloon, usually festive and light, is kept on the ground by the weight of the two breaths it contains. A pile of flowers dry, exhaling their perfume in the air. A car ornament rises and becomes a floating star. The moon is attracted by the charm of gold. Captured, it can be admired, like a small and precious jewel. A piece of sky from a childhood photograph is left outside. The blue sky doesn't betray all that it has witnessed. Will the fragile image resist this new exposure?
Text by Chiara Ianeselli: http://artlogicmailings.com/usr/uploads/greynoise/grey-noise_ste-phanie-saade-_the-shape-of-distance_text-by-chiara-ianeselli.pdf
About Stéphanie Saadé:
b. 1983, Lebanon / Lives and works between Beirut and Paris
Stéphanie Saadé's work takes as a departure point the moment when one becomes estranged from his surroundings. The artist explores the shape, or the shapes, of distance, and makes them visible, as well as the changes in shape of the individual that goes through this estrangement. A process of Artificial Nostalgia is developed, through which strange locations, familiar to the artist, are assembled. The nature of links is questioned, their persistence or their ephemerality. The created knots and ties form pairs, which never become doubles. Single objects are composed from differences brought together.
Saadé graduated in Fine Arts from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France and attended a post-graduate program at the China Academy of Arts, Hangzhou, China. She was an artist in residence at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands (2014/2015), and the Cité Internationale des arts, Paris, France (2015).
Her work has been exhibited at Home Works 7, Beirut, Lebanon / Parc Saint Léger hors les murs, Nevers, France / La Traverse, Centre d'Art Contemporain d'Alfortville, Alfortville, France / MuHKA, Antwerp, Belgium / Marres, Maastricht, The Netherlands / Frieze Art Fair, London, UK / Mosaic Rooms, London, UK / Casa Árabe, Madrid, Spain / Casa Árabe, Cordoba, Spain / La Conservera, Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Murcia, Spain / New Positions, Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany / Van Eyck, Maastricht, The Netherlands / Le 59e Salon de Montrouge, Montrouge, France / Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon / Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon / A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, Palestine / Qalandyia International Biennial, Qalandyia, Palestine / Grey Noise, Dubai, UAE / Akinci, Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Anne Barrault, Paris, France.
Forthcoming exhibitions include Say it with Flowers ! at Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, Germany, in June 2016.