ABOUT
THE ARTIST
Biography
Karimah Ashadu (b. London 1985) is a British-born Nigerian Artist and Film Director living and working between Hamburg and Lagos. Ashadu’s practice is concerned with labour, patriarchy and notions of independence pertaining to the socio-economic and socio-cultural context of Nigeria and its diaspora.
Her work has been exhibited and screened at institutions internationally, including the 60th Venice Biennale, where she was awarded the Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant in the International Exhibition. Upcoming exhibitions include Camden Arts Centre in London, Canal Projects, New York and MoMA PS1. Her work has been shown at Kunsthalle Bremen, Tate Modern, London, Secession, Vienna, Kunstverein in Hamburg, South London Gallery, London, Museum of Modern Art, New York and Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève.
Ashadu is the recipient of other awards such as the Prize of the Bötterstraße in Bremen (2022) and the ars viva prize (2020). Public collections include MoMA, the City of Geneva Contemporary Art Collection and the Federal Collection of Contemporary Art, Germany. Fellowships include the Abigail R. Cohen fellowship at the Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris. In 2020, Ashadu established her film production company Golddust by Ashadu, specialising in Artists’ films on black culture and African discourses.
Education
2014 – 2016
De Ateliers, Amsterdam
2011
Chelsea College of Art and Design, London
M.A. Spatial Design (film specialism)
2007
The University of Reading School of Arts and Communication, Berkshire
B.A (Hons) Fine Art and History of Art and Architecture (painting, video)
Solo Shows
2025
(Title TBC) Camden Art Center, London (Forthcoming)
(Title TBC) Canal Projects, New York (Forthcoming)
2023
“Plateau” (“Interwoven Histories”), Galerie Ursula Walter, Dresden
2021
“Plateau”, Secession, Vienna
“Plateau”, Produzentengalerie (with Neue Kunst in Hamburg e.V), Hamburg
2018
“Power Man”, De Ateliers (Amsterdam Art Weekend)
Selected Group Shows
2025
“The Gatherers“, MoMA PS1, New York, curated by Ruba Katrib
”Shelf Life’’, Trautwein Herleth, Berlin
2024
“The Miraculous Arms“, François Ghebaly, LA, curated by Martha Kirszenbaum
“Foreigners Everywhere“, Venice Biennale, Italy, curated by Adriano Pedrosa
“Sous la terre, les dragons“, Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou
2023
“Who Are We if Not Nature”, M.Bassy, Hamburg
2022
“A Different Now is Close Enough to Exhale on You”, Goodman Gallery, J’burg/Cape Town
“Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße“, Bremen Kunsthalle, Bremen
“The Show is Over”, South London Gallery, London
“Identity not proven” (new acquisitions of the federal collection) Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, NEUES MUSEUM, Nürnberg and Museum Gunzenhauser Chemnitz
“Penumbra”, Fondazione in between Art Film, Ospedaletto and Church of Santa Maria dei Derelitti, Venice
2021
Rotary Contemporary Art Prize, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
“Scratching the Surface”, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
2020
Taipei Biennial 2020, “Shoreline movements”, Taiwan
ars viva 2020, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, DE
Selected
Screenings/Festivals
2025
Kunsthal Charlottenburg, Copenhagen, DK (“Machine Boys”, Jan 14th – Mar 9th)
Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (“Machine Boys”, forthcoming Feb 4th)
“Unsettled Grounds”, Monangambee, Lagos, G.A.S. Foundation, Lagos
“Unsettled Grounds”, ICA, London (forthcoming)
2024
13th Avant-Garde Film Festival, Greece
Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, France
Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland (“Machine Boys”)
VIENNALE, Vienna (“Machine Boys” Austrian Premiere)
IDFA, Amsterdam (“Machine Boys” Dutch Premiere)
La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival France (“Machine Boys” French Premiere)
62nd New York Film Festival, New York (“Machine Boys” North American Premiere)
Notes on Air, Salt Beyoğlu Forum, Istanbul
Sole Luna Doc Film Festival, Palermo, Italy
Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland (“Machine Boys” World Premiere)
Sepik River Film Festival, Papau New Guinea
2023
“History is not the past”, Wolf Cinema, Berlin (Palais Populaire, Deutsche Bank)
“Karimah Ashadu: “Double Feature”, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
2022
“Karimah Ashadu: Plateau” – “Another Eye” series, Kunstverein Düsseldorf
“Penumbra Expanded”, MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy
“Karimah Ashadu: Plateau”, Tate Modern (Starr Cinema), London
Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland
2021
“Black is not a Colour”, Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt
2020
Short Film Festival Hamburg, “Hamburg Positions: Spheres of the Colonial”, MARKK Museum, Hamburg
“KunstBewusst x Afrika Film Festival”, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
“From Soil, Sand, and Salt Crystals: Films and Natural Processes”, University of Chicago, Film studies center
Residences/Fellowships
2021
Abigail R. Cohen Fellow- Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris
2020
Fogo Island, Canada (postponed)
Filmography
2024
“Machine Boys”
08:50 mins, HD digital film, colour with 5.1 surround sound
Single channel
2022
“Cowboy”
10:00 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
Two channel
“Plateau”
30:00 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
Single channel
2021
“Plateau”
27:00 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
Two channel installation
2020
“Brown Goods”
12.00 mins, HD digital film, colour with mono sound
Publications
2024
Foreigners Everywhere | Catalogue of the 60th International Art Exhibition, Edizioni La Biennale di Venezia Publishing (IT)
2023
ZEIT Foundation Grantees, catalogue (postponed)
“Penumbra”, Fondazione In Between Art Film (text by Taylor Aldridge), Mousse Publishing (IT)
2022
“Gestures of Labour”, Prize of the Boetterstrasse in Bremen catalogue, Matthew Anthony Barrington
Arts of the working class (Issue 21 “Around the World in 80 Pages”), Maria Inez Plaza Lazo
2021
“Open Shields”, Secession, Vienna (artist’s book with text by Erika Balsom), Revolver Publishing (DE)
“Hitherto” (in association with Neue Kunst in Hamburg – artists’ book with text by Leonie Radine ), Textem Verlag (DE)
Artline>Nord Magazine (Nov 2021), Hamburg (cover feature and review)
2019
ars viva catalogue “Of Men and Boys”, Greg de Cuir, Kerber Verlag (DE)
Talks/Workshops/Other
2024
“Thick Atmospheres” Symposium – “Nebula” (in conversation with Mark Rappolt), Fondazione in Between Art Film, Venice
2023
“Double Feature”, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (inc. Artist Talk and Interview)
2022
“Another Eye”, Kunstverein Düsseldorf (inc. Artist Talk with Kathrin Bentele)
“Vanishing Points”, Karimah Ashadu in conversation with Osei Bonsu, Venice (Public talk program for the exhibition “Penumbra”)
“An Evening with Karimah Ashadu”, Tate Modern, London (inc. Artist Talk with Valentine Umansky)
2021
Visiting Artist (studio visits), De Ateliers, Amsterdam
“Yielding to Resilience: A Visual Inquiry into Practices of Independence”, Columbia University, New York
2020
Artist Talk with Leonie Radine, Museum Ludwig, Cologne (KunstBewusst x Afrika Film Festival)
Bronnbacher Stipendiaten Workshop (Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft) “An instinctive approach to the moving image”, Hamburg
Artist Talk with Bettina Steinbrügge, Kunstverein in Hamburg
2019
Workshop,”The Camera as public instrument”, Merz Akademie, Stuttgart
Awards
2024
Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant in the International Exhibition, 60th Venice Biennale
2023
Longlisted – Film London Jarman Award
2022
Prize of the Böttcherstraße, Germany
Longlisted – Film London Jarman Award
2021
Shortlisted – Wi Di Mimba Wi :: The AKB & SAVVY Contemporary Commission Prize
Longlisted – Preis der Nationalgalerie, Germany
2020
Contemporary art prize, Rotary Club Bonn, Novara and Strasbourg
2019
ars viva prize, Germany
Grants
2024
Moin Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (via Golddust by Ashadu U.G)
2022
Fine arts project funding, Department for Culture and Media, Hamburg
2021
ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius scholarship
Production grant, Department for Culture and Media, Hamburg
2020
Script development grant, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein
Travel grant, Neue Kunst in Hamburg, Hamburg
Production grant (Chrysalis Fellow), Media City Film Festival, Ontario
Production grant, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein
Production grant, Hamburg Kulturstiftung
Selected Collections
The Art Institute of Chicago, USA
Akeroyd Collection
Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany
FRAC des pays de la Loire, France
Fondazione in between Art Film, Italy
Federal Collection of Contemporary Art, Germany
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
Fonds Municipal d’Art Contemporain de la Ville de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland