ASSOCIATE ARTIST
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ELIAS KURDY
From September 6 to June 30, 2023
Born in Damascus, Syria, in 1990, Elias Kurdy began his architectural studies at the International Arab University in Damascus in 2008, before moving to Marseille in 2013 after the events following the revolution in his country. In Marseille, he studied at the school of architecture (ENSAM) until 2015, then at the school of art (Les Beaux-Arts de Marseille) where he obtained his diplomas in 2017 and 2019.
Elias Kurdy's sculptural practice disrupts the hegemonic historical imagination through a new and constant interpretation of cultural narratives and a reappropriation of materials. The artist analyses and investigates archaeological artefacts - frozen materials for historicisation and knowledge construction - as well as museums - archaeological sites or aimed at the dissemination and demonstration of knowledge. Over the years, he has based his practice on ways to dismantle the production of knowledge and the Western historical narrative, often considered fixed and objective, as preserved in books or institutions and, by extension, in collective memory. Fiction and imitation fuel this work, which often plays with humour and trickery to reflect the fragility of non-Western memory and the violence of historicisation. His works are often on the verge of tipping over, collapsing or disappearing. His characters tend to struggle to stay upright; they risk disappearing as easily as they appeared.
