Salwa Aleryani: Intending probability

Salwa Aleryani, born 1982 in Yemen, lives and works in Sana’a and elsewhere. She holds a BA in graphic design from the University of Petra in Amman, Jordan, and an MFA in painting from Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, USA. In 2009, she received a Fulbright Scholarship before taking part in the Home Workspace Program in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2014. Previously, she was an artist-in-residence at the foundation Dar Al Ma‘Mûn in Marrakesh, Morocco, and at Art Omi. Exhibitions in which she participated include the Biennale Jogja XII, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; The Garden of Eden, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and Altitude at Sana’a National Museum, Sana’a, Yemen. As a grant holder of KfW Stiftung, Frankfurt on Main, she is currently taking part in the International Studio Programme at the cultural centre Künstlerhaus Bethanien.

Salwa Aleryani’s installations represent a critical archaeology of public spaces which also takes into account its vulnerability and need for protection. Her works focus on the interdependency, interaction and modification of these spaces and of their infrastructure both in a physical and a socio-cultural sense. Aleryani explores places, structures and rituals of belonging by taking every-day objects and materials out of their context and rearranging them in novel ways in her installations.

For her most recent project, Aleryani has been researching conceptions of hope and promise in public and political ceremonial settings. Her exhibition Intending probability, which continues her series of works entitled “Erasure Studies” (2015), investigates forms and consequences of public rituals, such as laying the foundation stone of schools and hospitals. She highlights the fact that these often theatrical ceremonies celebrate something which does not yet exist (and which thus may still turn out to be a failure). For her, these ceremonies are a deliberate expression of the conviction that things are under control, indicating reliability, responsibility and hope for a better future.

By deconstructing this ceremony, Aleryani exposes diverging aspects of this interpretation. She takes different tools (trowels or plumb lines) and materials, like a marble stone which she turns into a wax model, and reconstructs them using different media and materials to display them in a different light. The exhibition also includes a collection of mis-struck silver coins from around the globe, which symbolise the discrepancy between the imperfections and the promises of public construction projects.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue published by Verlag Kettler (Dortmund) and edited by Marie-Hélène Gutberlet and Christoph Tannert.

Promoting cultural diversity is one of the primary goals of KfW Stiftung. Together with the art centre Künstlerhaus Bethanien, it has set up an artist-in-residence programme that seeks to stimulate intercultural dialogue by providing up-and-coming artists from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia with the opportunity to spend 12 months in Berlin. Besides encouraging artistic production and critical reflection, the programme facilitates encounters between those working in arts and culture. The infrastructure and the international environment of the cultural center offer a suitable setting, allowing participants to try out new ideas, engage in debates, and carry out projects.

For more information, please contact
Marie-Hélène Gutberlet, Deputy Programme Manager Arts and Culture, KfW Stiftung, Frankfurt on Main: marie-helene.gutberlet [​at​] kfw-stiftung.de / www.kfw-stiftung.de
Valeria Schulte-Fischedick, International Studio Programme, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin: schultef [​at​] bethanien.de