Sibylle Jazra

Studio: Funkhaus Berlin, Nalepastraße 18, 12459 Berlinwww.jazra.de Mail: sibylle@jazra.deTel: +49 151 116 65176Instagram: sibylle_jazra

Statement:

In my work I am mainly interested in society and its products, cultural leftovers and waste. Every object that catches my eye has the potential to become something new and surprising. I work with sculptures, installations, collages and generally a very diverse range of objects that I arrange in a new way through destruction, abstraction and layering. Decomposing recurring elements of urban scenes, I develop a personal narrative structure by intertwining everyday objects and banal materials with social and personal contexts. Assemblages may appear chaotic at first, due to the heterogeneity of the materials, but they follow an inner logic and create new contexts of meaning. Through this recombinatory work I strive for an autonomous artistic commentary.

works 2013 - 2019

untitled (Chrrr), 2018Collage on paper, framed, 40 x 50 cm

t.b.a, 2019Collage on paper, framed, 40 x 50 cm

DONNI, 2019

My latest sculpture Donni, from 2019, is actually based on the cruel immigration ban of currently six Muslim countries signed by Donald Trump. With it he once again fueled the racist debate over Western immigration policy.Donni consists of six umbrellas, which are attached to a hanging wooden ball at symmetrically opposite sides. Four umbrellas are only skeletons, two are covered with black fabric. The bare umbrellas look cold and impersonal, but also vulnerable. In contrast to them, the umbrellas with fabric symbolize covering and protection. The sculpture, through its hanging from the ceiling, also resembles a satellite, or a defense screen, so that military interventions and an international surveillance apparatus can also be perceived. The helplessness of the individual biography on the one hand– its vulnerability, its fate – and the impersonal, cold handling of the underlying personal rights on the other, are in focus here.The title of the sculpture, a nickname for Donald, trivializes the exposed drama.

DonniIron powdercoated, umbrellas, wood, 380 cm, diameter 145 cm Installationview Schickeria Sieben LAGE EGAL, 2019

Installationview structural disobedience, ACUD GALLERY Berlin, 2019

TAKE A SEAT BUT DON´T FORGET THE WEED (ETHNO STYLE), 2019

The sculpture consists of two black chairs with a striking pattern on the seats, which in turn are pierced by red metal bars. Attached at the end of each bar are small, glazed ceramic heads, which always represent the same Donald Duck figure. The iron bars dissolve the primary function of the chair as an object of daily use. Rather, that usage is even made impossible, and also the notion of the chair is rendered absurd by the Donald Duck heads and the title of the installation. The seat fabric is worn and the pattern is not contemporary in its appearance.The resulting scene is a poetically humorous statement to be seen in the context of ubiquitous cultural pessi-mism. It appears as a narrative of nonsense, which, at the same time, makes sense.

Take a seat and don’t forget the weed (80´s style), 2019chairs, fabric, iron rods powdercoated, ceramics, paint, 110 x 100 x 60 cm

Installationview structural disobedience with Janine Eggert, ACUD GALLERY Berlin, 2019

SCHICKERIA, 2018

The work Schickeria plays with elements of pop and music culture. The title refers to the rather mocking name for supposedly prominent people whose party escapades are made accessible to the lusting public by the Yellow Press. The colorfulness, patterns and fabrics of the work pick up the haunting and glaring moment of those party excesses. All of it finally culminates in the appearance of a cheap chain of fashion jewelery, in which all the attributes referring to this social stratum come together.

Schickeria, 2018fabric, imitation leather, paint, glas, wood, costume jewelry, 55 x 83 x 100 cm

Schickeria, 2018Installationview Not so a white cube with Peter FreitagLAGE EGAL, Berlin 2019

UNTITLED (GRUPPE), 2018

The work untitled (Gruppe) deals with the shift of given structures towards a new order: straight lines are being displaced, orders reversed, grids destroyed, elements duplicated. A big, dented head of a comic bear figure counteracts the newly won system by its presence and renders it absurd. Through this alliance new meaningful connections are being generated, which essentially form a humorous, absurd statement.

untitled (Gruppe), 2014 - 2018wood, plastic, iron rods, paint, ca. 90 x 200 x 320 cm, size variableInstallationsview Potluck with Kyle Fitzpatrick, LAGE EGAL, 2018

SWING, 2013

On display are four bare firs, which were placed symmetrically on a wooden board. This structure hangs on chains from the ceiling. Red iron bars are balancing in the branches and lean at the board. Their topographical orientation points to invisible points in the distance. The gray wooden board functions like a horizon, which reflects the firs on a water surface.

Swing, 2013fir tree, wood, iron rods, paint, ca. 400 x 220 x 180 cm, size variableInstallationsanview Alpha with Matthias Pabsch, Thomas Craemer gallery, Berlin, 2013

PICKNICK, 2017

The site-specific work Picknick from 2017 was created during my residency at Künstlergut Prösitz e.V. The starting point for this work are materials that I found on site. Later on they were completed by objects specifi-cally created for it. Among other things, I added a hula hoop, a stool made of colored plexiglas and finally a photo print on an umbrella, showing pieces of garbage that I photographed on site. This photo print adds another layer to the work and indirectly integrates A reference to the place where it was created. Also, some elements of the sculpture are marked in color. The title Picknick takes up the old ritual of picnicking, which in this case is the temporary, artistic lingering in a certain place, the artist residency.  

Picknick, 2017two umbrellas, print on fabric, Hula Hoop, wood, paint, objècts trouvées,Sockel, 170 x 150 x 100 cmInstallationview: Silent Empire, Funkhaus Berlin, 2017

Picknick, 2017Installationview: Silent Empire, with Vera Kox and Antonia Low, Funkhaus Berlin, 2017

WHAT IS IT THAT KILLS?, 2015

This installation was created for the exhibition arcadia unbound at the Funkhaus Berlin, the building that housed the former GDR’s main broadcasting station. It consists of furniture and other materials, such as stools, chairs, stones, iron rods, fabric and wood, which I found there. Additionally, the installation contains text snippets which together form the statement: “what is it that kills?” Placed in the magnificent world famous recording studios of the Funkhaus, the installation makes a great contrast to these graceful wooden halls. In this environment the work is displayed confidently, not unlike a political poster. It proclaims anarchic imperfection, the unfortunate, but the honest. The lettering, at the same time the title of the work, engages us to think about a political revolt. Images of favelas and underdogs arise – a wagging finger pointed at the political elite?

Rea Mc Namara in Curating in a Loaded Void: Art in Berlin’s Vacant Communist Architecture auf dem internationalen Kunstblog ArtFCity aus New York:Sibylle Jazra’s rough-shodden assemblage of mass-manufactured furniture pieces brought to mind the anarchy of imperfections, the ever-growing garbage pile that can be everyday objects.

What is it that kills, 2015stools, iron rods powdercoated, stones, plastic, records, table, wood, fabric, paint 350 x 180 x 100 cm, Installationview Arcadia Unbound, Funkhaus Berlin, 2015

What is it that kills, 2015Installationview Arcadia Unbound, with Dennis Feddersen and Anton Henning, Funkhaus Berlin, 2015

Installationview Arcadia Unbound with Bjørn Melhus, Funkhaus Berlin, 2015

PRO RO Aftershrine, 2015

PRO RO Aftershrine humorously treats the object of the shrine as repository of precious, sacred things. The sculpture becomes a shrine itself, an expression of artistic grandeur. On display are everyday objects as a balancing act, hanging from the ceiling. A chair, a rope, small plastic buckets, a bare fir, form the core elements of this sculptural structure. The arm of a cartoon character on the left side takes on a special role: it symbolizes both figurative and human traits and makes a connection to pop and comic culture. The pun in the title underlines the humoristic moment.

Installationview Moabit Mash Up with Kanta Kimura, Caroline Bayer, Christopher Sage and Janine EggertAtelierhof Kreuzberg, Berlin, 2015

PRO RO Aftershrine, 2015fir tree, chair, plexiglas, record, iron rod, foil, buckets, robe, objècts trouvées, paint, 380 x 190 x 140 cm

PREMASTER BUDDING BLASTER THEORY (ETHNO STYLE), 2013

PREMASTER BUDDING BLASTER THEORY (ETHNO STYLE) is an abstract sculpture which consists of old found chairs, stools, metal rods, words written from old fabrics, paint and ethnoprints. The different materials form a tower of banality which exists as an artistic postulate in the tradition of dadaism, being the antidote to latest trends and tendencies in Art. The pun of the title charges the artwork with humor and un-derlines its parodistic meaning. Since the artwork also proclaims to be a “theory,” it is involuntarily lifted up to an intellectual, academic level. At the same time this “upgrading” is questioned ironically, as too often these “theories” can be unmasked as a pretentious efforts to make works appear stronger than they are.

Anna-Lena Werner on artfridge.de: PREMASTER BUDDING BLASTER THEORY (ETHNO STYLE) does not need to be feared. The installation by Berlin based artist Sibylle Jazra is an accumulation of chairs, slogans and textiles that has to be taken as it is. Questioning the seriousness (and sacredness) of text- and theory based art, Jazra‘a work instead celebrates absurdity and nonsense.

Premaster budding blaster theory (Ethno Style), chairs, stools, iron rods, fur, fabric, paint ca. 280 x 350 x 140 cmInstallationview BERLIN WEEKLY, Berlin, 2013

Stoffarbeiten 2016 - 2019

Vanessa Nica Müller, curator, in the press text of the exhibition softspotshots Kunsthaus Faktor, Hamburg 2018:

In her most recent textile work, Sibylle Jazra piles several layers of fabric over one another. Cracks and holes of the material bring out various patterns. They are relief-like, abstract, different in structure, color and consistency.The seemingly arbitrarily injured material layers make references to spatial and temporal markings and refer in their dissolution of the fabric destruction and decay. For example, in the work „Sunburners“, the central circle seems to decompose itself from within, it almost seems to erupt. The circle edge dissolves slowly and the bordering ornament of the textile lying overhead hardly seems to restrain it.In „Miami“ the cut surface buckles and distorts under its own weight. The pale, semi-transparent material looks like a tattered cloak that threatens to reveal, after a long time, what lies beneath. Through techniques of destruction such as cutting and tearing, Sibylle Jazra takes up a social mood that is proclaiming the end of the prevailing order trough conspiracy theories and doomsday scenarios.Jazra transforms social and personal contexts into a structure that is not only communicating about material and biographical, but also personal and collective references, such as fabrics offered illegally on the beaches of the Spanish coastal regions by street vendors or found materials with traces of use.

Sonnenbrenner, 2018fabric, imitation leather, 220 x 204 cm

Miami, 2017fabric, imitation leather, 225 x 155 cm

Sniper, 2018fabric, imitation leather, 157 x 110 cm

Metal works 2017 - 2019

In her metal works, Sibylle Jazra uses a flex saw to treat the surface of the metal. Applying different grin-ding wheels she creates markings, traces, even injuries to the surface. Using acrylics these are partially or fully covered again. Thus, layer by layer, she builds up a surface structure that consists of gestural and figurative elements.

four possibilities to drain your thoughts I, 201790 x 60 cm, paint on traffic sign

four possibilities to drain your thoughts II, 201790 x 60 cm, paint on traffic sign

four possibilities to drain your thoughts III, 201790 x 60 cm, paint on traffic sign

four possibilities to drain your thoughts VI, 201790 x 60 cm, paint on traffic sign

gelbes Brot, 201990 x 60 cm, paint on traffic sign

dunkler Hund, 201960 x 42 cm, paint on traffic sign

untitled, 201990 x 60 cm, paint on traffic sign

Luftikus, 2019125 x 85 cm, paint on traffic sign

Abrakadabra, 2019125 x 85 cm, paint on traffic sign

CV Sibylle Jazraborn in Heidelberg, lives and works in Berlin

Sibylle Jazra was born in Heidelberg, raised in Osnabrück and educated in Münster, Enschede and Amsterdam / Netherlands where she graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam. She skipped school for a short trip to South America (Columbia) together with her Syrian father, learned to play Clarinet and likes to play Volleyball. She was trying out rowing, did Propdesign for a movie production in Cologne, got herself several pets, tried out to smoke, but didn´t like it, tried out to be short-haired, but didn´t like it either, was sculpting in Pietrasanta / Italy and travelled Canada, before she moved to Berlin, where she is currently living and working, married with three kids.

Grants:Selection artist feature, MURZE Magazin, UK, 2019Project funding Silent Empire Bezirksamt Treptow / Köpenick, Berlin 2017Künstlergut Prösitz e.V. Leipzig, 2017Elastic Collisions funded by Vienna cultural district, 2017Art Residence Aley Beirut, Libanon, 2013selected for XVI. German International Grafic TriennalKunstverein zu Frechen e.V., 2011working grant Enschede, Niederlande, 2005Newcomer Prize Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche Osnabrück, 2003

Soloexhibitions (selection):Structural Disobedience (duo with Janine Eggert), ACUD Galerie, Berlin,2019Schickeria Sieben (duo with Lukas Glinkowski) LAGE EGAL, Berlin, 2019Current mood SONNTAG BERLIN, Berlin, Juli 2017Heroes among losers LARRY´S SHOW, Berlin, April 2016Hello Art Residence Aley Beirut, Libanon, 2013Premaster Budding Blaster Theory (Ethno Style) BERLIN WEEKLY, Berlin, July 2013Alpha Gloria Berlin in cooperation withThomas Craemer Galerie, Berlin (duo)was außen glänzt und innen hohl ist Kunstverein Heidenheim, Heidenheim, 2010 (catalogue)Du weisst doch gar nicht, was hier los ist. Du bist ja anderweitig beschäftigt weissfaktor – contemporary artspace, Berlin, 2009Propellerpunk Stadtgalerie Osnabrück, Osnabrück, 2005 (catalogue)de gast uit Enschede Kunstzentrum Hengelo/Ateliers93, Hengelo, Niederlande, 2005cosmic Heinrich Boell foundation, Rostock, 2004

Groupexhibitions (selection since 2012)2019L´oiseau présente: All in, cubiculum, BerlinPump up the volume Atelierhof Kreuzbergnot so a white cube I LAGE EGAL, BerlinUrsulasalon Galerie Ursula Walter Dresden

2018soft spot shots Galerie Bridget Stern im Künstlerhaus Faktor, HamburgIf I ruled the world Bar Babette, BerlinPotluck LAGE EGAL, Berlinsiste Stadtgalerie Grimma (catalogue)

2017lush fancy nasty studios, Miami, Florida, USAsilent empire Funkhaus Berlin, in cooperation with Berlin Art Weekliving room tête BerlinIf this then that 2 Reinbeckhallen, curated by Pierre GranouxElastic collisions Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Wien (booklet)

2016the artist as curator`s art vol.VI Schaufenster - Raum für Kunst, Berlin Sie müssen keine Meinung haben, seien Sie einfach nur schön! Schaufenster - Raum für Kunst, Berlin, 2016

2015Arcadia Unbound Funkhaus BerlinMoabit Mash up Atelierhof Kreuzberg, BerlinGrand Final Lady Fitness Contemporary, Berlin

2014zum Zufall Kunsthaus Potsdam (catalogue)About sculpture #5 the shape of things to come, Lady Fitness Contemporary, Berlin noetics and the red room Kunstverein croxhapox, Gent, Belgium in a wilderness of mirrors Galerie Ursula Walter, Dresden, Dutch Courage 48 Stdn NeuköllnKunststoff Syrien Forum Factory Berlin

2013Stipendiaten Art Residence Aley, Aley Lebanon, #Cluster LAGE EGAL BerlinSlick Art Fair Brüssel mit Thomas Craemer Galerie Berlinnervus rerumThomas Craemer Galerie Berlin

2012Form from Function REH Kunst Berlinthe humans are dead Kreuzberg Pavillon @documenta, KasselLooking skywards in a superstore ROKKAS showroom, Berlin

Curatorial:

If I ruled the world Bar Babette, 2018silent empire Sound Chamber of Funkhaus Berlin, 2017elastic collisions Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Wien, 2017Sie müssen keine Meinung haben, seien Sie einfach nur schön! Schaufenster - Raum für Kunst, Berlin, 2016Arcadia Unbound Funkhaus Berlin, Berlin, 2015

Lecture performance:

seven minutes studio, Kunsthalle Osnabrück, 2019

Texts und publications (since 2010):

upcoming: Monografie published in KERBER Verlag, 2020

MURZE Magazin, issue seven, UK, 2019visitmytent.com (Blog)19.9.17 Gallerytalk.net13.9.17 Deutsche Vogue OnlineElastic Collisions Kunsthalle Exnergasse Vienna (booklet)Elastic Collisions global: artfair goes: art TVSiste Stadtgalerie Grimma, 2018 (publication)18.9.15 ArtFCity (Blog)5.11.14 Potsdamer Neue Nachrichtenzum Zufall Kunsthaus Potsdam, Potsdam, 2014 (publication)happy identity Galerie Thomas Crämer Berlin (Solopublication), Berlin, 201322.7.13 Artfridge (Blog)XVI. Deutsche Internationale Grafiktriennale Frechen, Kunstverein zu Frechen e.V., Frechen, 2011 (Katalog)Was außen glänzt und innen hohl ist Kunstverein Heidenheim (Solopublication), Heidenheim, 2010