ALI KAAF, born in 1977 in Oran, Algeria to Syrian parents, lives and works in Berlin. He graduated from the Institut des Beaux-Arts in Beirut, Lebanon, and continued his studies at Universität der Künste (UdK) in Berlin under the supervision of Professors Marwan Kassab Bachi and Rebecca Horn.

In 2004, he was awarded the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Prize for Outstanding International Students assigned by UdK in Berlin. He was also awarded the Young Collectors for MAXXI prize by the Young Collectors Association in Rome in 2010, and in 2014 he was awarded the Honorary AIR Award by the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. He was artist in residence at the German Foreign Office through the Berlin Gallery Association’s AArtist in Residence Program.

He previously showed his work in numerous solo exhibitions such as at Darat al Funun-The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman (2004); the Khan Ashad-Bacha in collaboration with Goethe Institute, Damascus (2006); Solidere, Beirut (2005); Galerie Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin (2008); Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch, Rome (2009); Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana (2010); the Moontower Foundation, Bad König-Zell (2013); C&K Gallery, Berlin (2020); the Pergamon Museum, Berlin (2021); Documenta 15, Kassel (2022) and Darat al Funun, Amman (2023). Kaaf is participating in Design Doha, Qatar Museums, Doha (2024) and Art Dubai, Ayyam Gallery, Dubai (2024).

Studies

2000-05    Degree in Fine Arts – supervision: Rebecca Horn and Marwan, Universität der Künste (UdK) Berlin, Germany

1994-98 Degree in Fine Arts, Institut des Beaux-Arts, Beirut, Lebanon

Awards and Residencies

2023 Artist in residence, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

KUNSTFONDS_Stipendium, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn, Germany

2020    AArtist in Residence, German Federal Foreign Ministry and Landesverband Berliner Galerien (lvbg), Berlin, Germany

2015    Artist-in-Residence, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, USA

2014    Honorary AIR Awardees, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, USA  

2010    Young Collectors for MAXXI 2010, Young Collectors Association - Fair ROMA, The Road to Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy

2005-06    Solidere's Artists in Residence Program, Beirut, Lebanon

2004 German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Prize for Outstanding International Students, assigned by UdK Berlin, Germany

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023 “I Know the Emptiness of this House”, Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2021    “I AM A STRANGER. TWOFOLD A STRANGER”, Museum of Islamic Art, The Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany 

2020    “Between Yes and No Flies the Soul”, C&K Galerie, Berlin, Germany

2018     “Dins un garbell no es pot guardar el sol”, Galeria Maior, Palma, Spain

               “The Byzantine Corner”, C&K Galerie, Berlin, Germany

2016     “Box of Pain”, Kühlhaus Berlin, Germany   

               “The Colour of The Water is The Colour of its Vessel”, The Bumiller Collection, Studio Berlin, Germany

            “Unsilenced”, Pacific Felt Factory, San Francisco, USA

2015    “Papier und Glas”, Kunsthaus Langenberg – Alldiekunst, Velbert, Germany

2014    “RISS” (with Said Baalbaki), C&K Galerie, Berlin, Germany

            “Scherben Mantra”, Bomb Gallery, Mostar, Bosnia

2013    “Mihrab”, Moontower Foundation, Bad König-Zell, Germany  

2012    “Hollowing Light”, Custer County Art & Heritage Center, Miles City, USA

2010    “Fragile Strength”, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings (MT), USA  

         “Gubar”, Gallery Rafia, Damascus, Syria

2009    “Eclipse”, Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch, Roma, Italy

2008    “Oh nein Oh”, Gallery Naprzeciw, Poznan, Poland

           “RAS RAS/Der Schwarze Garten”, Galerie Sakamoto Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

2007    “Schwarz”, Galerie Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany

2006    “Ali Kaaf, Discovery Planet”, Solidere, Beirut, Lebanon

              “Ali Kaaf, Khan Ashad-Bacha”, in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Damascus, Syria

2004 “Aswad”, Darat al Funun, Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

Design Doha Biennial for Architecture and Design , M7, Qatar Museums, Doha, Qatar

Art Dubai, Ayyam Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2023

“Gedanken spielen Verstecken – A Contemporary Art Exhibition for Kids and Adults” Group exhibition with Karin Sander, Olafur Eliasson, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Tomás Saraceno, among others. Curated by: Rebecca Raue, Haus Kunst Mitte – House for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany

2022

“Those swept away by the waters/rose up as clouds”. Video/Sound installation Ali Kaaf with Khaled Mzher, fC*, Documenta 15, Kassel, Germany

Downfalls – From Dystopia to Disruption, curated by Simon Santschi, Kunsthalle Trier, Germany

In Memory of Edith Stein, curated by Hubert Salden, The Museum Stift Stams, Tirol, Austria

2021

“Görsel Belleğin Bilgeliği” (Wisdom of Visual Memory), curated by Beral Madra, Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Center, Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Istanbul, Turkey

2020

'“IN WEITER FERNE SO NAH, curated by Marc Wellmann, Haus am Lützow Platz, Berlin, Germany

2019   

“FOURFOLD Positions from Berlin”, Group exhibition with Silvina Der-Meguerditchian, Ali Kaaf, Anton Roland Laub and House of Taswir, curated by A. S. Bruckstein Çoruh, Salon Galic, Split, Croatia

“8 Künstler, 8 Unikate, 8 neue Editionen”, Group exhibition with Jáchym Fleig, Martina Geccelli, István Haászr, Vera Röhm, among others. YC youngcollectors as guests in Raum 2810, Bonn, Germany

“For Birds’ Sake", Group exhibition with Amador, Norbert Bisky, A.R. Penck, Cornelia Schleime, among others. C&K Galerie, Berlin, Germany   

“A Journey of Belonging - Part II”, CAA. Group exhibition with Tammam Azzam, Rebecca Raue, Nasan Tur, among others. Bikini-Haus, Berlin, Germany

2018

“Caravane Culturelle Syrienne”, Kunstverlag Galerie Till Breckner, Düsseldorf, Germany

„Festival ME_MMIX 2018“, Video Installation accompanied by “48 Variations for Two Pianos” by John McGuire, Festival ME_MMIX 2018, Es Baluard Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Palma, Spain

2017

“Syria: Into the Light”, Group exhibition with Fateh Moudarres, Marwan, Louay Kayyali, Youssef Abdelke, Mohamad Al Roumi, among others. Atassi Foundation, Concrete - AIserkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE  

2016

“The Red Gaze”, Group exhibition with Ahmet Elhan, Memed Erdener a.k.a. Extramücadele, Erdem Gündüz, Aisha Khalid, Şükran Moral, Erkan Özgen, Imran Qureshi, Sarkis, Arnold Schoenberg, Eşref Yıldırım. Curated by A. S. Bruckstein Çoruh, Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, Germany   

“As If, At Home”, Artists in Europe, Group exhibition with Mirosław Bałka, Norbert Bisky, Michaël Borremans, Irina Botea, Valérie Favre, Lia Kazakou, Marie Lund, Šejla Kamerić, Flo Kasearu, Sean Scully, Ali Kaaf and other artists. Curated by Jurriaan Benschop. Freiraum in der Box, Berlin, Germany

2015

“Ortstermin mit Leoni Wirth - Modelle und Entwürfe aus dem Atelier von Leoni Wirth und zeitgenössische Positionen zu Abstraktion und Moderne”, Kunsthaus Dresden, Dresden, Germany

“Living with endangered Languages in the information age”, Root Division, San Francisco, USA

2013 

“SyriArt, Institut du Monde Arabe”, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

2012

“Maribor Project - Rebecca Horn and Guests”, Contemporary Art Museum, Maribor, Slovenia

2009

„Taswir – Islamische Bildwelten und Moderne“, group exhibition with Etel Adnan, Maliheh Afnan, Song Dong, Mona Hatoum, Susan Hefuna, Rebecca Horn, Idris Khan, Wolfgang Laib, Marwan, Walid Raad, among others. Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany   

2008

“Rites of Passage”, Galería Maior, Pollença, Spain

Professional Activity and Publications 

2024

I Know the Emptiness of this House عَرَفتُ المَنزِلَ الخالي, Catalogue | Darat Al Funun – The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan

2023

Art Unlimited Special Edition, Publication, Wednesday Society. The Couch of Meret O., House of Taswir & Friends, Berlin, Germany

Conceptual and Visual Intersections, Artist’s talk, Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan

Arbeitsstipendien Bildende Kunst für 2023 (The Visual Arts Research Fellowship), Jury member, Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin, Germany

2015–22

Lecturer,*foundationClass, Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin, Germany

2022

Ali Kaaf: Ich bin ein Fremder. Zweifach Fremder., Publication, Hatje Cantz, Germany

2021

Geometrie des Lichts – Kamal Boullata, Panel Discussion, Galerie Pankow, Berlin, Germany

AJYAL: A Programme to Support Arts Education, Jury member, Ettijahat, Beirut, Lebanon

Summer School 2021, Lecturer, *foundationClass, Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin, Germany

2020

Lecture at Prof. Dr. Alexandra Von Stosch’s class on contemporary art, Lecture, Barenboim-Said Akademie, Berlin, Germany

Visual Arts, Shababek for contemporary art, Jury member: Visual arts, Gaza, Palestine

Neue Räume / Neue Perspektiven, Workshop with Ali Kaaf, Stiftung Mercator, Berlin, Germany

Laboratory Of Art: 4th Edition, Jury member: Visual arts, Ettijahat & Goethe Institute, Beirut, Lebanon

2019

The Byzantine Corner: Lecture and Artist’s talk, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley (CA), USA

Symposium and Lecture at the British Museum — Yemen and Syria: making art today. Artists’ panel: Anna Wallace-Thompson, Buthayna Ali, Fadi Yazigi, Ali Kaaf and Kevork Mourad. British Museum, London, UK

Beyond the Painting: Artist’s Talk, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings(MT), USA

Workshop with the students of MSU Billings, Montana State University Billings, Billings (MT), USA

2016

Artist’s Talk: Jurriaan Benschop in conversation with Ali Kaaf, Kühlhaus, Berlin, Germany

Artists’ Talk with Mirosław Bałka, Valérie Favre and Ali Kaaf. Moderation by Jurriaan Benschop. Freiraum in der Box, Berlin, Germany

2015

“Intima”, visual direction & creative content, dance project in cooperation with Dawson Dance SF and choreographed by Gregory Dawson, San Francisco, USA

2012-14

Working alongside the curatorial team of the exhibition “Kunststoff Syrien”, Forum Factory, Berlin, Germany

2013

Book: “Ali Kaaf: Paper and Glass”, with a poem by German artist Rebecca Horn, texts by Paris-based art historian Doris von Drathen and Robyn G. Peterson, Executive Director of Yellowstone Art Museum. Produced by Moontower Foundation and Meta Space Foundation, Leipzig, 76 pages

Issue No. 104 of “Künstler – Kritisches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst” features my recent glass and paper works. The text “Ortsteilung” was written by art historian Doris von Drathen.

2011-13

Four blowing glass workshops with glass artist James Mongrain, Seattle WA, USA

Works in Collections    

The Khalid Shoman Foundation Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan 

Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, USA

Collection Solidere Beirut, Lebanon  

MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma / MAXXI - Nationalmuseum für die Kunst des XXI. Jahrhunderts, Rome, Italy   

Moontower Foundation, Frankfurt am Main, Germany   

Museum für islamische Kunst/ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,Germany  

Peter-Raue-Sammlung, Berlin, Germany   

and other international private collections.