Timo Nasseri

Timo Nasseri, A Universal Alphabet, 2019, Exhibition view, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut
Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut, 2019


Timo Nasseri (b. 1972, Berlin, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. He received his diploma in photography from the Lette-Verein, Berlin in 1997. His work uses the means of natural science to open up a perspective for the poetic and fantastic. Inspired by Ibn Muqla, Nasseri started an in-depth research on Arabic writing and alphabet, giving particular attention to forms and aesthetics. His practice discusses the infinity and boundlessness, transcendence and metaphysics in a wider context and writing as the beginning and the end.

Nasseri has had solo exhibitions at Stichting Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen (2018); Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah (2017); and AK Vienna (2016). His work has also been shown at Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2019); the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (2017); the Melbourne Triennale (2017); Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt (2016); KW-Kunstwerke, Berlin (2015); and the Drawing Room Biennial, London (2015). He was also the winner of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2011.
 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2019 A Universal Alphabet, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2018 Uncertain Phases, Stichting Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Vijfhuizen, Netherlands
2017 All the letters in all the stars, Maraya Art Center, Sharjah, UAE
2016 Florence - Baghdad, AK Vienna, Austria
2015 The More Beneath My Feet The Skies I See, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2012 O Time Thy Pyramids, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2009 Ghazal, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
One of Six, Half a Dozen of Another, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg, Germany


Selected Group Exhibitions

2023 THE FOLLOWER  The Sentinels, Public commission at Alserkal Avenue, Alserkal Arts Foundation, UAE
Inspiring Writing, Salon der Gegenwart, Montblanc Haus, Hamburg, Germany
2022 Reflections / Spiegelwelten, Museum Konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt, Germany
Spieglein, Spieglein, Kunstmuseum Heidenheim, Germany
Geometrische Opulenz, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Switzerland
2021 Drawing Biennial 2021, Drawing Room, London, United Kingdom
Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa, The British Museum, London, United Kingdom
2020 GARTENDERGEGENWART, Garten der Gegenwart, Hamburg, Germany
WO DIE ZITRONEN BLÜHEN...“, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2019 Constellations and Trajectories, in collaboration with Franziska Furter, Mallorca, Spain
Lesage, Simon, Crépin, LaM - Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France
Negative Space, Trajectories of Sculpture, The ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany
Konkrete Gegenwart, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
2017 Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada
National Gallery of Victoria Triennial, Melbourne, Australia
2016 Temporal Turn: Art and Speculation in Contemporary Asia, Spencer Art Museum of Art, Kansas, USA
Under Weapons. Fire & Forget 2, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
Wendezeiten, CCA Andratx, Andratx, Spain
2015 Gallery 3010, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Fire and Forget. On Violence, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
Drawing Room Biennial, Drawing Room, London, United Kingdom
2014 WIR - The Purpose of Politics is Freedom, Klinger Forum, Leipzig, Germany
Young Collections, Collection Dominic and Cordula Sohst-Brennenstuhl, Weserburg, Bremen, Germany
2013 Fellbach Triennal of small-scale sculpture, Fellbach, Germany
Schönheit der Mathematik, Schloss Agathenburg, Agathenburg, Germany
Modifications, ZK/U Berlin - Center for Art and Urbanistics, Germany
DYNAMO! A century of light and motion in art, 1913-2013, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2012 Sculpture is Everything, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Morel Brain, Superamas Phase 2, Center d’art, Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Chkoun Ahna. On the Track of History, National Museum of Carthage, Tunisia
The Elephant in The Dark, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, India
Defense-Survival Strategies in Nature, Economy, Politics and Everyday Life, Charles + Agnes Vögele Foundation, Pfäffikon, Switzerland
Ever Living Ornament, Micro Onde, Center d’art de l’Onde, Vélizy-Villacoublay, Paris, France
In Other Words. Black Market of Translation - Negotiating Contemporary Cultures, NGBK, Berlin, Germany
WUNDER, Art Religion and Science from the 4th century to the present, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
2011 WUNDER, Art Religion and Science from the 4th century to the present, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany
Abraaj Capital Art Prize, Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2010 Philip Taaffe, Christine Streuli, Timo Nasseri, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
In mirror, projections on folklore, Fri Art, Fribourg Art Center, Fribourg, Switzerland; CRAC - Centre d’art, Altrich, France
2009 Animated, Centre d’Art Bastille, Grenoble, France
Taswir - Pictorial Mappings of Islam And Modernity, Berliner Festspiele, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
Mashq: repetition, meditation, mediation, Green Cardamom, London, United Kingdom
2008 Phoenix vs Babylone, Espace Paul Ricard, Paris, France
Democracy In the Age of Branding, Parsons The New School, New York, USA
Eurasia. Geographic cross-overs in art, Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art of Trento and Roverto, Italy
The New World, Artnews Projects, Berlin, Germany
Echo, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2007 Dark Matter, Artnews Projects, Berlin, Germany
Photo Espana, Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid, Spain
Saar Ferngas Förderpreis Junge Kunst 2006, TUFA Trier, Germany
2006 Saar Ferngas Förderpreis Junge Kunst 2006, Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern, Germany;Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Germany
2005 7+, Gate 205, Berlin, Germany
2004 Else-Heiliger-Fond, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin, Germany
2003 The Rest of the World, Palais Neuffer, Pirmasens, Germany
Aenne Biermann Prize, Museum of Applied Arts, Gera, Germany
2002 Corporate Identity, Art Zurich 02, Switzerland


Awards and Residencies

2020 Casa Wabi, Oaxaca, Mexico
2012 Scholarship, Ilse-Augustin Foundation
2011 Abraaj Capital Art Prize
2006 Saar Ferngas Förderpreis Junge Kunst
2012 Scholarship, Fondation Konrad-Adenauer
2003 Shortlisted for the Aenne Biermann Prize



Public Collections

  Art Jameel Collection, Jeddah; Barjeel Foundation, Sharjah; Boghossian Foundation, Brussels; British Museum, London; Cohen Collection, Tallahassee; DaimlerChrysler Collection, Berlin; David Roberts Collection, London; Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi; Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis; Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich; Museum Konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt, Ingolstadt; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Spenser Museum of Art, Kansas; The Farjam Foundation, Dubai; The Mohammed Afkhami Collection, Dubai; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; 


Publications

2018 All the Letters in All the Stars, published with Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE
2017 I saw a brokem Labyrinth, published with Ab-Anbar Gallery, Iran
2015 O time thy pyramids, Artist Book, 100 limited edition copies with a special edition of 10 original etchings
2011 Nasseri, published by Distanz Verlag, Berlin, Germany



Education

1997 Photography Diploma, Lette-Verein, Berlin, Germany