“Thick Atmospheres” – Nebula, Fondazione In Between Art Film

As part of ‘Nebula’ – an exhibition commissioned and produced by Fondazione In Between Art Film on the occasion of the 60th Venice Biennial – Bianca Stoppani has curated an accompanying discursive program titled ‘Thick Atmospheres’ .

Produced in collaboration with Palazzo Grasso, Pinault Collection Venezia to which Karimah Ashadu has been invited to talk about her award-winning work Machine Boys, in conversation with Mark Rappolt, Editor-in-Chief of ArtReview. The symposium will take place on October 17–18, 2024. 

“The Miraculous Arms” – Group show at François Ghebaly, LA

“Machine Boys“, 2024 and “Cowboy“, 2022 will show at François Ghebaly, LA in a group show curated by Martha Kirszenbaum. Titled “The Miraculous Arms” which takes its point of reference from the writings of Martinican writer and later politician Aimé Césaire.

“The exhibition brings together a heterogeneous ensemble of paintings, drawings, photographs, films, sculptural installations and sound elements produced by seven international artists who explore the social, political, intellectual, and cultural complexity of our post-colonial realities and spaces. The presented works challenge our gaze on the fetishized and marginalized body, and tackle relationships of domination, power, and questions of race.”

François Ghebaly, Los Angeles
until August 24, 2024

Participating artists:
Karimah Ashadu, Mohamed Bourouissa, Salim Green, Senga Nengudi, Christelle Oyiri, Pol Taburet, and Minh Lan Tran

Forthcoming show at Camden Art Centre Announced – Autumn 2025

Karimah Ashadu’s (b. 1985, London, UK) first institutional solo show in the UK at Camden Art Center will include a major new moving image commission, produced with Fondazione In Between Art Film, and presented within a site-specific installation. Ashadu’s practice employs an intimate and singular lens to examine notions of labour, formations and perceptions of the self, masculinity, and patriarchal systems within the economic, social, and cultural context of West Africa. The exhibition is the second in Fondazione In Between Art Film’s “Unison” series—a commissioning programme for moving image-based exhibitions in collaboration with international institutions. Commissioned by Camden Art Centre and Fondazione In Between Art Film. 

Save the Date – October 3–December 28, 2025

Silver Lion Award for a Promising Young Participant – 60th Venice Biennale

Karimah Ashadu is awarded the “Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant” at the International Art Exhibition of the 60th Venice Biennale, with her film installation ‘Machine Boys’ (2024). 

She extends much gratitude to the Jury who explains:

“With a searing intimacy, she captures the vulnerability of young men from the agrarian north of Nigeria who have migrated to Lagos and end up riding illegal motorbike taxis. Her feminist camera lens is extraordinarily sensitive and intimate, capturing the bikers’ subcultural experience as well as their economic precarity.”

The artist thanks her family, Adriano Pedrosa and the entire Curatorial and Biennale teams, Fondazione in between Art Film – Beatrice Bulgari, Leonardo Bigazzi and Alessandro Rabottini, Moin Film Förderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Bikers, Crew and post-production teams.

The 60th International Art Exhibition runs until Sunday 24 November, 2024. Ashadu’s work can be seen in the Arsenale.

“Machine Boys” – World premiere at Visions Du Réel Festival, Nyon, Switzerland

“Machine Boys” receives its world premiere at the International Medium Length and Short Film Competition of Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland.

“Machine Boys”, which also competes in the International Medium and Short film competition, premiers on the 17th April and screens again on the 19th April.