Artist, researcher and photographer Alaa Abu Asad develops alternative trajectories in which (re)presentation, translation, looking, reading and understanding can intersect. His work takes form in writing, image making and interactive installations, in which he visualises his research and methodology of exploring the boundaries of languages.
Curves of Inquiry is a Gerrit Rietveld Academie initiative that showcases the findings of nine artist-researchers who completed a fellowships trajectory in the previous academic year. Each of these projects is carried out in close collaboration with a department of the Rietveld Academie or Sandberg Instituut to foster relationships between educational programs, research activities, and societal issues.
In the Fellows-in-Process series the research fellows of the Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut 2022/2023 will share their process and findings with students and the Rietveld community at large. The series aims to aid interaction, while engendering meaningful conversations between the fellows, students and teachers of both institutes. To that end, events are open to Rietveld and Sandberg students and teachers. Below you can find all workshops. Note that for some workshops you have to sign up.
In his research-based project ‘The dog chased its tail to bite it off’, Alaa Abu Asad has been working with invasive species, focusing on the infamous plant of the Japanese knotweed (fallopia japonica). He delves deeper into the ethnobotany realm of the plant and her sisters, revealing societal, national, economic, and most importantly linguistic implications.