فير زملر غاليري Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Timo Nasseri

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. Read more

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.

Comanche, 2006, Apache Helicopter in plaster, wooden plinth, 175 x 190 x 40 cm
1/5Timo Nasseri, Comanche, 2006, Apache Helicopter in plaster, wooden plinth, 175 × 190 × 40 cm
Flag, 2006, Resin, varnish, 185 x 98 x 20 cm
2/5Timo Nasseri, Flag, 2006, Resin, varnish, 185 × 98 × 20 cm
New Rome, 2007, Neon on oxidized copper letters, 330 x 40 x 15 cm
3/5Timo Nasseri, New Rome, 2007, Neon on oxidized copper letters, 330 × 40 × 15 cm
Alef, 2009, Wood, steel, 160 x 160 x 42 cm
4/5Timo Nasseri, Alef, 2009, Wood, steel, 160 × 160 × 42 cm
Babel III, 2018, Steel magnets, 78 x 19 x 19 cm
5/5Timo Nasseri, Babel III, 2018, Steel magnets, 78 × 19 × 19 cm

Gallery Exhibitions

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

2025

  • By The Movement of All Things, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, UAE

  • Network Paris: Abstraction-Création 1931–1937, Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Germany

  • And All That Is In Between, 2nd Islamic Arts Biennale, Western Hajj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

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

  • Scholarship, Fondation Konrad-Adenauer

2011

  • Abraaj Capital Art Prize

2006

  • Saar Ferngas Förderpreis Junge Kunst

2003

  • Shortlisted for the Aenne Biermann Prize

Public Collections

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