Halim Karabibene

• Biography

  Born in 1962 in Bizerte (Tunisia), Halim Karabibene came to recognition in the 1990s due to his unusually sarcastic yet masterfully executed collages and oneiric paintings. Throughout his career, Karabibene has formally explored an alternative universe, one that is hybrid and playfully "staged" with a whole range of mythical neo pop characters.
  
  Since 2007, Karabibene has been pursuing a multidisciplinary performance in which he has been encouraging public authorities to inaugurate Tunisia's first National Museum of Modern and contemporary Art (MNAMC). With a pressure cooker as symbol and form of the future Museum, Karabibene uses social networks, events and exhibitions to effectively launch this pseudo fictional museum until it sees the light. Between 1982 and 1993, Karabibene has studied architecture and attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. From 1999 to 2001, he lived at the Cité Internationale des Arts of Paris.
  
  Represented by Elmarsa Gallery, Karabibene's work has been widely exhibited in private institutions and museums around the world, including at the ifa gallery in Berlin and Stuttgart, the Barjeel Foundation in Sharjah, the Museo Vittoriano in Rome, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Algiers, the Museo Pontevedra in Spain, etc. Karabibene lives and works between Tunis, Bizerte and Berlin.

  Exhibitions

  SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
  
  2018     “Subjective Landscapes“, Elmarsa Gallery, Dubai
  
  2016     “Epreuves d’Artiste - Gravures Paris/Berlin“, Projektraum Ventilator 24 – Berlin
  
  2015     “Cocotteries & Co“, Elmarsa Gallery, Tunis 2005 “Oniriades", Elmarsa Gallery, Tunis
  
  2002     “Rétrospective“, Galerie Regard-Sud, Lyon
  
  2001      Galerie L’œil du Huit, Paris
  
  2001      Galerie Les Cahiers de la Peinture, Paris
  
  2000      Galerie de la Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
  
  1999      “Nuit“, Elmarsa Gallery, Tunis
  
  1997      “Ville, Atelier, Nuit“, Galerie Air-Libre, El Teatro, Tunis
  
  SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
  
  2017    Dokumenta 14 Kassel – Performance MNAMC in public places.
             Berlin Artweek 2017    /Performance, Desaster de presentation, Kule, Berlin, Curated by HeikeMaria unVORStellBAR
  
  2016    “Yesterday is tomorrow’s memory: a group show of work from North Africa”, Elmarsa Gallery, Dubai
  
  2016    “THE TURN”, March 18 to May 14, 2016 at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna
  
  2014-16-17 Projektraum Ventilator 24, Berlin
  
  2013    FIAC Alger – Musée d’Art Moderne d’Alger - MAMA
             Museum of Manufactured Response to Absence, MinRASY PROJECTS.
  
  2012    Rosige Zukunft. Aktuelle Kunst aus Tunesien - ifa Gallery, Berlin / Stuttgart
             “Dégagements…la Tunisie une année après “, Institut du Monde Arabe – IMA, Paris
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUJ-HYTalN8
             “CARAVANE“ Barjeel Art Fondation / Maraya Art Center, Sharjah
  
  2011   Galerie Les Singuliers, Paris
             Art Tunis/Paris, Musée du Montparnasse, Paris
             9th Edition of the Printemps des Arts de la Marsa - Honour Guest
             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS9mBMaRhuQ
  
  2009    Exhibition of the BIAT - International Arab Bank of Tunisia, Tunis
             Printemps des Arts de la Marsa, Palais El Abdelliya, La Marsa
  
  2007    “L’uomo del Mediterraneo“, Museo Vittoriano, Rome 
  
  
  BIENNIALS
  
  2011        African Bienniale of Photography of Bamako, 9th Edition, Bamako
  
  2008        “Bienvenue, Welcome, Bienvenido“, XXXth Biennale of Pontevedra, Museum of Pontevedra; media art
                  installation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAlMxHuqYx0
  
  1997&2010  Biennale Méditerranéenne des Arts de la Ville de Tunis
  
  
  
  ART FAIRS
  
  2012  Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi
  
  2011 Cutlog, Paris
           Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech
           Art Dubai  2011, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai
           Abu Dhabi Art  2011, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi
  
  2010 Zoom Contemporary Art Fair, Miami Beach
          Abu Dhabi Art  2010, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
          Marrakech Art Fair, Palais Essaadi, Marrakech
          Art Dubai 2010, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai
  
  2009 Art Dubai 2009, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai
  
  2008 Art Paris-Abu Dhabi 2008, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
  
  2008 Art Paris 2008, Grand Palais, Paris
  
  2007 Art Paris-Abu Dhabi 2007, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi 
  
  2007 Gulf Art Fair, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai
  
  
  ARTISTIC RESIDENCY
  
  2002-03 Centre des Arts Vivants de Radés, Tunisia
  
  1999-2000 Cité Internationale des Arts de Paris, France
  
  PRIZES
  
  2000  National prize of artistic creation, Tunisian Ministry of Culture
  
  2002  Prize of Tunisian Ministry of Environment
  
  1995  “Faucon d’Or” International and national prize for short film “Images 1”, FIFAK, Tunisia 
  
  
  NEW MEDIA / VIDEO ART
  
  2012 “Drop charges against Tunisian Artists” video 5 minutes 30, Berlin
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt39low5XXI
  “Le pays ne supportera pas un autre Janvier“ video 12 minutes
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYYXK_ja8kY
  2011 “Communiqué N°1 – 19 Janvier 2011“ video 3 minutes https://youtu.be/QUKi0uvxDfs
  “Popcorn Révolution“ une vidéo de 3’ Biennale Africaine de la Photographie, Bamako
  9ème Edition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H51SZb_078
  “La cocotte et le papillon“ video 13 minutes, Printemps des Arts, La Marsa, May 2011
  https://youtu.be/OS9mBMaRhuQ
  2010 “A la recherche du MNAMC à New York“ video 13 minutes 24
  https://youtu.be/kc5_WZFIHNA
  “The Wall“, video 7 minutes presented at Zoom Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, FL
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8DThCU1-zQ

  News

  THE TURN المنعرج
  

  Art Practices in Post-Spring Societies

  Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Herrengasse 13, 1010 Vienna

  March 17 – May 14, 2016

  Curated by: Christine Bruckbauer und Patri
  
  cia K.Triki
  
  Artists: 
  
  transparadiso , Faten Rouissi, Hamdy Reda, Sofiane Ouissi, Selma Ouissi, Huda Lutfi, Halim Karabibene, Johanna Kandl, Helmut Kandl, Inkman, Reem Gibriel, Moufida Fedhila, Stijn Lernout, Irena Eden, Mohamed Allam, Noutayel Belkadhi, Arslane Bestaoui, Omar Abusaada
  
  
  
  
  MNAMC, Halim Karabibene, Soldier #1, 2012, Drop Charges against Tunisian Artists, performance, Berlin   © photo: Halim Karabibene
  
  The changes and new beginnings brought about by the Arab revolution that started five years ago in Tunisia have made an impact far beyond the Arab world. Not only have people rebelled out of anger at their old regime and out of a burning desire for political and social change; this democratic movement has also effected a paradigm change in local art practices, and artists have begun to claim public space and to act as agents of civil society.
  
  The exhibition THE TURN المنعرج presents several interventions that took place in public spaces in urban and rural post-revolutionary Tunisia. As expressions of socio-political issues and direct social engagement, they are rooted in the tradition of the “Social Turn” (Claire Bishop) in contemporary art history.
  
  This exhibition includes not only relicts of performances and installations, but also objects (some of which have been adapted to the white cube) and was designed by the curators with the following issues in mind: What remains of these projects, which international artists also took part in and which were largely funded by foreign institutions? Can we measure their effectiveness?
  
  What role does art play in times of transformations?
  
  At the conference THE TURN المنعرج on March 18 in the Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, these questions will be discussed in-depth by artists, other participants, art theorists, and representatives of funding institutions from Austria, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia.
  
  In conjunction with the exhibition a book will be published by Verlag für moderne Kunst.