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
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
2019
ars viva 2020, GfZK, Leipzig, DE
2018
64th Robert Flaherty Seminar, Syracuse, New York
2017
Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Faena Art Center, Buenos Aires
Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Faena Forum and Bazaar, Miami Beach
2016
Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement), Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Arbeitsstipendium für bildende Kunst (shortlisted), Kunsthaus Hamburg
VISIO: Outside the Black Box, Florence
Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Marl Medienkunst-Preise (shortlisted), Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl
“Potlatch”, De Ateliers, Amsterdam
“Dey your lane!: Lagos Variations”, Bozar, Brussels
2014
Maison des arts George Pompidou (centre d’art contemporain), Cajarc, France
Selected
Screenings/Festivals
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
2018
“An Evening with Karimah Ashadu”, MoMA, New York
64th Flaherty Seminar, Syracuse, NY
“MANJAR”, Solar dos Abacaxis, Rio de Janeiro
“Affinities or The Weight of Cinema”, National Gallery of Art,Washington DC
2017
frameless series, Munich
2016
54th Ann Arbor Film Festival, Michigan
VIDEOFORMES International Digital Arts Festival, Clermont-Ferrand
2015
Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Jihlava, Czech Republic
EUROVIDEO Festival, Aachen, Germany
“Does Not Equal”, W139 Space for contemporary art, Amsterdam, NL
Triangle Gallery, Chelsea College of Art, London
2014
Bienal de la Imagen en Movimiento, Buenos Aires
Athens Video Art Festival, Athens
Split Film Festival, Croatia
Traverse City Film Festival, Michigan
ICA Artists’ Film Biennial, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
European Media Arts Festival, Osnabrück
52nd Ann Arbor Film Festival, Michigan
2013
Festival Internacional de VideoArte, Buenos Aires
Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago
VIDEOEX Experimental Film and Video Festival, Zürich
Media City Film Festival, Windsor, Ontario
2012
European Media Arts Festival, Osnabrück
Transmediale Festival for Art and Digital Culture’, Berlin
Residences/Fellowships
2021
Abigail R. Cohen Fellow- Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris
2020
Fogo Island, Canada (postponed)
2019
Künstlerhaus Edenkoben, Edenkoben
2018 – 2020
Edith Breckwoldt Foundation (studio fellowship), Künstlerhaus FRISE, Hamburg
2016
Association de la Ferme-Asile, Sion, Switzerland
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
2018
“Power Man”
05.00 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound – 2 channel installation
2016
“Red Gold”
18.00 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound – 2 channel Installation
“Destiny”, (projected on steel plates, dimensions variable)
09.00 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
2015
“Makoko Sawmill”
20:00 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
“King of Boys (Abattoir of Makoko)” 05.00 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
2013
“Lagos Sand Merchants”
09:21 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
“Apapa Amusement Park”
02:38 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
“Hindsight – a horse’s tale”
03:36 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo sound
2012
“Lagos Island”
4:44 mins, HD digital film, colour with stereo 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)
2017
VISIO Outside The Black Box exhibition (catalogue), Florence, Mousse Publishing (IT)
Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement Catalogue (CH) “In Conversation with Dominic van den Boogerd”, Mousse Publishing, (IT)
2016
“Potlatch” exhibition (catalogue), De Ateliers, Amsterdam
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
2018
Visiting Artist (lecture), Merz Akademie, Stuttgart
Visiting Artist (studio visits), De Ateliers, Amsterdam
Artist talk with Dominic van den Boogerd, De Ateliers, Amsterdam
Featured Artist, 64th Flaherty Seminar, New York
Visiting Artist, Workshops/Lectures, Maxsine Global Art Education, China
2013
Featured Artist, ‘Film as Measure’ Symposium, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London
Awards
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2019 2015 2014
Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant in the International Exhibition, 60th Venice Biennale
Longlisted – Film London Jarman Award
Prize of the Böttcherstraße, Germany
Longlisted – Film London Jarman Award
Shortlisted – Wi Di Mimba Wi :: The AKB & SAVVY Contemporary Commission Prize
Longlisted – Preis der Nationalgalerie, Germany
Contemporary art prize, Rotary Club Bonn, Novara and Strasbourg
ars viva prize, Germany
Nominated – Hans Nefken Foundation-Arco, Madrid Video Art Production Award
“Video Innovation prize”, EUROVIDEO 2015 Festival, Belgium
“Special Award”, Split Film Festival, Croatia
“Best of the Festival” Jury prize, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Michigan
ARTE Creative Newcomer Award” Jury Prize, European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück
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
2019
Production grant, The African Culture Fund, Bamako
2018
Studio grant (Künstlerhaus FRISE, Hamburg), Edith Breckwoldt Foundation and Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media
2017
Production grant, The Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust, UK
2016
Production grant, Foundation AVL-MUNDO, Rotterdam, NL
2015
Production grant, Artists’ Benevolent Fund, London, UK
2014 – 2016
Studio grant, De Ateliers, Amsterdam
2014
Arts Council England and British Council “AIDF” Grant, UK
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