Catalogue > At random

Camels are whispering I & II is a 2-channel video installation by Ibrahim Quraishi, exploring change in human relations. Heart of the work are 2 videos of the artist with his mother, questioning that impactful relation of self-identification. Around it we hear voices of artists, activists & thinkers; people who dare to go against the grain. People who take an exceptional position & don’t vote with the majority in times of trauma, conflict or change. In a cross cultural, transgender, cross historical mix of pre-recorded statements, these outsiders are talking about why they felt change is needed. The public will be learning, sometimes laughing or crying from accounts of the participants who tell short stories no longer than 3 minutes. The selected voices of artists, philosophers, activists are: Angela Davis, Judith Butler, Marina Abramovic, Serge Latouche, Nawal Al Saadawi, Noam Chomsky, Yuval Noah Harari, Assia Djebar, Hanna Schygulla, Jessica Ekomane, Komi Togbonou, Seyran Ate?, Yara Mekawei a.o. This video installation was conceived together with the ecological architectural collective, RaumlaborBerlin, winners of 2021Golden Lion Venice Biennale for Architecture. Sound compositions are by Eunice Martins, Heidrun Schramm, Mike Ladd and mixed by composer Norscq. Videographer & animation by Alex Weiss.

The art of Ibrahim Quraishi focuses on change, inter-cultural resistance of our socio-political realities. The ”2017 List of 50 most exciting artists in Europe right now/ART NET Survey” stated: "Quraishi is a visual artist whose work encompasses various media such as video, film, analog photography, painting & performance installations. Quraishi is characterised by a nomadic existence & divides his time between several cities across Europe & the Middle East. He consciously explores the dynamics of migration and he engages in research, teaching & creative work simultaneously in various cities & spaces”. Quraishi recently launched a research group on integrated ecology & artistic practice in Lahore called “Electric Rickshaw” with The School of Moving Images in Teheran. He is currently a member of the Fine Arts Department at Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam. He was guest professor at Netherlands Film Academy Amsterdam 2014-2017 & he thought at Art University of Amsterdam between 2007-2014. He is in the midst of finishing his first feature film “Holy Mama.”. He is a regular cultural columnist for taz, die Tageszeitung DE & counterpunch US. In 2021-22 he was fellow of Stiftung Kunstfonds Germany. Most recently, Kino Arsenal Berlin screened the rough cut of his film “Baumchen Wechsel Dich”about multiple notions on migration, children & identity.