Adel Abidin

1973 (Bagdad)
Living in : Helsinski
Working in : Helsinski
Artist's webSite
Artist's gallery

Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad, then from the Academy of Helsinki, he represented Finland at the Venice Biennale in 2007. He uses humour to confront such strong subjects as fundamentalism, nationalism and religion. He also ironically points out some of the "curiosities" of his host country, Finland. The Vacuum project is remarkably simple: "someone has to do something about winter in Finland". Having suffered enough from the interminable Finnish winter, the artist decided to act. He went to the ice floe dressed in a mackintosh to be filmed vacuuming. On the ground, two glass plates topped with plastic break under the feet of visitors and recall the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow. Recently, the artist created abidintravels.com, a website offering holidays in Baghdad with sarcastic slogans: "Holidays to remember" and "Baghdad, much more than a holiday". Like this project, his works are often subversive, always ironic.



Artist's issues


Issue 26
Issue 47








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