CV
Issam Kourbaj
Visual Artist
Lector in Art at Christ’s College, Cambridge University
Visual Arts Centre, Christ’s College, Cambridge. CB2 3BU. United Kingdom
W: issamkourbaj.co.uk
Languages spoken
Arabic, English and Russian
Education
1993 – 94 Wimbledon School of Art, London, Theatre Design/ Scenography
1985 – 90 Repin Institute of Fine Arts, Leningrad (St Petersburg), Fine Art & Architecture
1980 – 84 Institute of Fine Arts, Damascus, Syria, Fine Art/Painting
Works in Public Collections
Dark Water, Burning World, is a collection of miniature boats (made from re-purposed discarded bicycle steel mudguards), extinguished matches and clear resin. An artwork inspired by the 5th century BC Syrian Sea vessels in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK, and deals with the way escaped Syrians now carry visible and invisible scars scorched into them by the separation from their homeland. acquired by the Departments of Britain, Europe & Middle East of the British Museum, 2018
Loose-leaf pages originally making up a wall installation. Ink and collage on paper. Acquired by the Department of the Middle East of the British Museum, 2008; displayed in Iraq’s past speaks to the present, an exhibition coinciding with and complementing the Museum’s exhibition Babylon: Myth and Reality, 2009, and Modern Syria Art, 2011
Acquired in 1997 by the Department of Prints and Drawings of the British Museum, containing studies made in St Ives, Italy and Spain between Sept 1994 and March 1995
The official gift to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from the City of Cambridge, to mark their first visit on 28 November 2012
Repin Institute of Fine Arts & Architecture, St Petersburg, Russia.
Contemporary Art Platform, CAP Kuwait.
Private and collections in England, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Syria and USA
Residencies
1998 – ongoing Artist in Residence, Bye Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge University
1992 Jul – Sep Artist in Residence at Na–Bolom Museum, Chiapas, Mexico
1982 – 84 Artist in Residence at the Soviet Culture Centre, Damascus
Art intervention
2018 Apr Dark Water, Burning World, at the Rotch Library, MIT, USA, in conjunction with Translating Destruction
2018 Mar Strike, Life performance, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2018 Mar Dark Water, Burning World, at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. 1000 miniature boats to mark the 7th anniversary of the Syrian Uprising
2017 Nov Dark Water, Burning World, in collaboration with Poet Ruth Padel The Lookout tower Poetry in Aldeburgh 2017
2017 Oct Dark Water, Burning World, in collaboration with Poet Ruth Padel. Arts & Humanities Festival 2017World| Service. Kings College, London
2017 Sep Strike, Life performance, Penn Museum in Philadelphia
2017 July Unearthed, part of Subbak Festival at The British Museum
2017 June Dark Water, Burning World, Victoria & Albert Museum
2017 June Scars, part of Living Historiesat The British Museum
2017 Mar Dark Water, Burning World, Fitzwilliam Museum
2017 April Lost, Museum of Classical Archaeology
Selected solo shows
2016 July Another Day Lost: 1,906 and counting …Budapest
2016 May Another Day Lost: 1,888 and counting … MAA Cambridge
2016 April Another Day Lost: 1,849 and counting …Alwan for the Arts, New York
2016 Mar Another Day Lost: 1826 and counting …Art Week Dubai
2016 Feb – Mar Another Day Lost: 1808 and counting …Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia
2015 Dec -2016 JanAnother Day Lost: 1735 and counting …Trinity Wall Street, New York
2015 July Another Day Lost: 1579 and counting …5 London locations, Shubbak 2016
2014 Sep – Oct Unearthed (In Memoriam)St Peter’s Church, Cambridge
2014 July Unearthedto support MSF Syria Crisis Appeal, P21 Gallery, London
2014 Jan Scattered, GatheredArtist books, with Nizar Sabour, CAP Kuwait, Kuwait
2013 Mar Excavating the Presentto support Oxfam’s Syria Crisis Appeal
2010 Nov Intimate DistancesCamera Obscura images of Christ’s College, Cambridge
2005 July The EyeCone, Cambridge, a Camera Obscura spire for Great St Mary’s Church
2004 July Last light, first light, Open Studios, Cambridge
2003 July Palimpsest, Open Studios, Cambridge
2002 July Recent work, Open Studios, Cambridge
2001 July Constant change, a farewell to my studio in Albert Street, works from 1990–2000
2000 Nov is / am, in collaboration with my then three–year–old son Mourad, Cambridge
2000 July Juxtaposition, with the Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photographs
1999 Nov “+ / –”,printing plates. July, KWAD, Open Studios, Cambridge
1998 Nov Sketch, with Fateh Moudarres. Open Studios, Cambridge
1996 July Old Laboratory, Newnham College, and Waterstone’s Booksellers
1995 July Round Church Studio, Cambridge
1994 April Churchill College, Cambridge
1993 Feb Emmanuel College, Cambridge
1992 City Theatre, Tuxtla, Chiapas, Mexico
1984 The Soviet Culture Centre, Damascus, Syria
Selected group shows
2018 April -May Actions. The image of the world can be different(part 1 &2), Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2017 Nov- 2018 Apr Living with gods at the British Museum
2017 April Cultures in the Crossfire: Stories From Syria and Iraq, Penn Museum, Philadelphia
2016 Sep Movement of the people– 2016, Art Exchange Gallery, University of Essex
2016 April Into Boundless space I leapMaxwell Centre, Cambridge
2015 Sep Another Day Lost: 1649 and counting ….Off-The-Wall, HQS Wellington, London
2015 May – Jun Between Thought and SpaceDilston Grove, London
2014 Sep – Nov Between Thought and Space 1Camberwell Space, London
2011 July –2012 Jan Modern Syrian Art, British Museum
2011 Mar – May Artists for Kettle’s YardKettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2010 April Modern Times: responding to chaos, De La Warr Pavilion
2008 Nov–Mar 09 Iraq’s past speaks to the presentThe British Museum
2008 13 to 23 Nov The ING Discerning Eye exhibition 2008 , Invited Artist
2006 Nov Kettle’s Yard Open 2006, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2006 Lines of Enquiry, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2003 Aug Cadogan Contemporary Gallery, London
2003 July RegArts Plus Gallery, Paris
2003 June Babylon Gallery, Ely, Cambridgeshire
2000 Kettle’s Yard Open 2000, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
1997 Kettle’s Yard Open 97Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
1991 Westminster Gallery, London
1989 Repin Institute of Fine Arts & Architecture, Leningrad, Russia
1988 International Cultural Friendship Centre, Moscow, Russia
1987 Aurora Publishers, Leningrad, Russia
1986 Institute of Russian Language, Baku, Azerbaijan
1984 – 85 Association of Fine Art, Damascus, Syria
Commissions
2011 River Severnand Cam, Glass sculptures in collaboration with Richard Bray
2009 Ten portable Camerae Obscurae, and six Camera Obscura photographs of Kettle’s Yard, as part of Upside down/inside out a retrospective of artists’ interventions within the house
2009 Light Within, Life Without: ten Camerae Obscurae, five adult-size and five child-size, for viewing on the University Botanic Garden as part of its Summer Garden Party, celebrating the University’s eighth centenary
2001 Imprint: garden structure, private commission, North Cambridge
2000 Without the action there is no reason, commissioned by the then Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern
1996 Migration: 17 wooden abstract structures at Waterstone’s Booksellers
1992 Dream: abstract mural for Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Scenography
2011 Let Newton Be!Stage production by Menagerie Theatre, UK & USA Spring Tour.
2009 Light Matter contemporary dance performance at the University Senate House, celebrating 800 Years of Science through Art
2009 Let Newton Be!Theatre production by Menagerie Theatre, in Trinity College. Cambridge, and subsequently in the University’s Lady Mitchell Hall
2009 Light Reproductionan installation to accompany the conference ‘In Vitro Human Embryos’ at Christ’s College Cambridge
2008 Liquid fire:an installation to accompany Gavin Alexander’s reading of Book I of Milton’s Paradise Lost, at the English Faculty, University of Cambridge
Works on Loan
1995 – 2000 Select paintings from my times in Mexico, Russia & England, exhibited at the residence of Prof. Sir Aaron Klug, former President of the Royal Society
Limited Edition
2009 A Cambridge Palimpsesta layered map puzzles, in collaboration with the Cambridge Archaeological Unit and the letterer Jon Harris; published by CUP
2010 Intimate Distances, a collaborative work, images of Christ’s College: exteriors projected into historic interiors by pinhole, recorded by digital photography
Teaching Experience
2017 – ongoing Life Drawing classes at Royal Drawing School
2010 – 2016 “The Making of Art”Seminars, Dept of History of Art. Cambridge University
2010 – 2014 Design Review, Department of Architecture, Cambridge University
2008 RMJM Architects, Cambridge, experimental drawing workshops
2000 – 2011 Visiting Artist at the Department of Architecture, Cambridge University
2003 –06 Visiting Artist at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University
1990 – 2017 Fine Art Tutor at Cambridge School of Visual &Performing Arts, Cambridge.
Sporadic Cambridge workshops in: Kettle’s Yard House and Gallery, the Arts Theatre, the Institute for Manufacturing, the Institute of Astronomy, Botanic Garden, in five museums (Fitzwilliam, Whipple, Sedgwick, Zoology, Anthropology & Archaeology), two public studios (White House Arts and Cambridge Artworks Studios), at 2005 and 2006 University Science Festivals, and at 2008 and 2009 University Festivals of Ideas.
Collaborations
2009 Dec Analemmaanimation with Dr Nicholas Mee, Plus Magazine
2009 Nov Transmutations, workshop with poet Ruth Padel on Word and Image, held in Christ’s College, Cambridge
2009 Sep Revisiting the Familiar, workshop with phenomenological psychotherapist and psychiatrist Dr Miles Clapham, held at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2009 July Learning to See, with the poet Helen Mort, held at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2008 Mar The Planets, creative arts-science workshops with astronomer Dr Carolin Crawford, held at Cambridge University Institute of Astronomy
2006 July Drawing with the paleontologist Dr Jenny Clack, conducted at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2006 Mar The Wonderful World of Buckminster Fuller, part of Starting at Zeroworkshop with engineers Allan McRobie, Simon Guest and Bob Connolly, held at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
Public talks
2018 Apr Drawing on Erasure Translating Destruction MIT, USA
2014 Oct In conversation with Andrew Nairne Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2017 June With Ruth Padel and Louisa Macmillan Victoria & Albert Museum
2017 May With Ruth Padel Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge
2017 Mar With Venetia Porter Uprising artYorkshire Sculpture Park
2017 Mar Seminar on Performance and Visual Culture, Queen Mary, University of London
2017 Mar With Ruth Padel to mark the 6th anniversary of the Syrian Uprising. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
2017 Mar TED x UAL Homeland: drawing on erasure
2016 Nov With Dr. Dominic Johnson Sacred Homeland Festival, London
2016 Oct With Jess Twyman Art Exchange Gallery
2014 Oct In conversation with Andrew Nairne. Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2014 Jul Unearthedevent with Venetia Porter. P21 Gallery, London
2012 Feb Tracing my journey Alwan for the Arts, New York
2011 Dec Modern Syrian ArtThe British Museum.
2008 Nov Proposals for new Art Installations, Homerton College, Cambridge University.
2008 Feb My Journey as an artist, Christ’s College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge University.
2006 Nov The EyeCone Project, Great St Mary’s Church, City seminar CRASSH (Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) Cambridge.
2006 May The EyeCone Project, Martin Centre for Architectural & Urban Studies, Department of Architecture, Cambridge University.
2006 Mar The EyeCone Project, Lady Mitchell Hall, Science Festival Cambridge University
Media Coverage
2018 Alive in the UniverseNature Middle East
2017 The artist whose work speaks of the plight of millions Cambridge University
2016 An Art Installation Reflects on the Syrian Crisis and Extinguished Hopes New York Times
2015 Another Day Lostat Trinity Wall Street Huffington Post
2015 Lighting a Match for Every Day of the Syrian Uprising Hyperallergic
2015 Syrian Artist Issam Kourbaj’s Installation Another Day Lost Continues Street Art NYC
2015 Art installation turns garbage into advocacy for Syrian refugees Anglican News
2015 Artist Measures Days Lost in the Lives of Syrian Refugees Tribeca Trib
2015 Art exhibit renders refugee camp in miniature, Christiane Amanpour CNN
2015 An art installation on Syrian refugee camps BBC World Service News
2015 Lilliput for Syria’s refugees: An artist is pricking consciencesin the West End Chatham House
2014 Issam Kourbaj: I worry about family and friends in Syria The Times
2014 Outpouring of grief Gulf News
2014 Unearthed: Syrian Artist Responds to War in His Homeland Huffington Post
2014 Monocle Radio
2014 Art is my way to recompose my life, Alquds
2012 British Museum showcases Syrian artists’ take on art, politics and brutality, Arabnews
2008 From Syria’s Mountains to Cambridge Spires Cambridge University
2008 Christ’s Artist work on show at the British Museum Cambridge University
2001 Sins of the Fathers, essay by Andy Martin Tate Art Magazine
2001 Apr Imagination, creativity, and human mind, BBC Open University
2000 Nov Helping dad with his work, article by Andy Martin, the Guardian the Guardian
2000 Oct Work in progressBBC Radio 3.
2000 Sept Issam Kourbaj and Cambridge University Collection of Air Photographs Antiquity Magazine
1998 Aug Road from Damascus, profile by Andy Martin The Independent on Sunday