CV
Visual Arts Centre – Christ’s College, Cambridge. CB2 3BU. United Kingdom.
- Lector in Art at Christ’s College, Cambridge University.
- Fine Art Tutor at Cambridge School Visual and Performance Arts.
- 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
- Sound Palimpsest, 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.
- Sketchbook 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.
- A Cambridge Palimpsest: the official gift to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from the City of Cambridge, to mark their first visit on 28 November 2012. https://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/default/news/palimpsest-presented-duke-cambridge
- Contemporary Art Museum, Chiapas, Mexico.
- 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. |
Selected solo shows
| 2016 July | Another Day Lost: 1,906 and counting … , Budapest. https://spp.ceu.edu/article/2016-06-29/syrian-artist-issam-kourbaj-reflects-home-through-intricate-installations |
| 2016 May | Another Day Lost: 1,888 and counting …, MAA Cambridge. http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/about-us/heritage/CHS17 |
| 2016 April | Another Day Lost: 1,849 and counting … , Alwan for the Arts, New York. http://www.alwanforthearts.org/event/1134 |
| 2016 March | Another Day Lost: 1826 and counting … , installation, Art Week Dubai. http://alserkalavenue.ae/en/event/8a3e700a-def3-11e5-a61e-f23c9161897b/index.php |
| 2016 Feb – March | Another Day Lost: 1808 and counting … , installation, Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia . http://twelvegatesarts.org/exhibitions/anotherdaylost |
| 2015 Dec – 2016 Jan | Another Day Lost: 1735 and counting …, installation- Trinity Wall Street, New York. https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/artasadvocacy |
| 2015 July | Another Day Lost: 1579 and counting …, installations in 5 London locations, part of Shubbak. http://www.shubbak.co.uk/another-day-lost/ |
| 2014 Sep – Oct | Unearthed (In Memoriam), installation in St Peter’s Church, Cambridge. http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/exhibitions/2014/kourbaj/index.php |
| 2014 July | UNEARTHED, to support MSF Syria Crisis Appeal, P21 Gallery, London. http://www.p21.org.uk/UNEARTHED.aspx |
| 2014 January | Scattered, Gathered, Artist books, with Nizar Sabour, CAP Kuwait, Kuwait. http://capkuwait.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/SCATTERED-GATHEREDSmall.pdf |
| 2013 March | Excavating the Present, in collaboration with Oxfam’s Syria Crisis Appeal. http://www.issamkourbaj.co.uk/flash_site/assets/FinalPressRelease.pdf |
| 2010 Nov | Intimate Distances, Camera Obscura images of Christ’s College, Visual Arts Centre, Christ’s College, Cambridge. |
| 2005 July | The EyeCone, Cambridge, a Camera Obscura spire for Great St Mary’s Church. |
| 2004 ≈≈ | Last light, first light, Open Studios, Cambridge. |
| 2003 ≈≈ | Palimpsest, Open Studios, Cambridge. |
| 2002 ≈≈ | Recent work, Open Studios, Cambridge. |
| 2001 ≈≈ | 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 | Newnham College, Old Laboratory and Waterstone’s Booksellers. |
| 1995 ≈≈ | 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
| 2016 April | Into Boundless space I leap. Maxwell Centre, Cambridge. http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/events/maxwell/ |
| 2015 September | Another Day Lost: 1649 and counting …. installation, off-the-wall, HQS Wellington, London. http://issamkourbaj.co.uk/off-the-wall/ |
| 2015 May – Jun | Between Thought and Space. Dilston Grove, London. http://www.cgplondon.org/exhibition_thumbs.php?exhibition_id=491&show_rand=0&show_biog=0&locale=DILSTON%20GROVE |
| 2014 Sep – Nov | Between Thought and Space. Camberwell Space, London. http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2014/9/29/Between-Thought-and-Space/ |
| 2011 July – Jan 2012 | The British Museum, Modern Syrian Art. https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/BM%20Syrian%20Art%20Booklet%20FINAL.pdf |
| 2010 April | De La Warr Pavilion, Modern Times: responding to chaos. |
| 2008 Nov – March 09 | The British Museum, Iraq’s past speaks to the present. http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/Room%2034%20Islamic%20Gallery%20Booklet%20FINAL.pdf The ING Discerning Eye exhibition 2008, Invited Artist. |
| 2006 Nov | Kettle’s Yard Open, 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. |
| 1997 and 2000 | Kettle’s Yard Open, Kettle’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 Severn and 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. 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/installation
| 2011 | Let Newton Be! stage production by Menagerie Theatre, UK & USA Spring Tour. http://www.menagerietheatre.co.uk/productions/archived/newton/creative-team/ |
| 2009 | Light Matter: contemporary dance performance at the University Senate House, celebrating 800 Years of Science through Art. Let Newton Be! Theatre production by Menagerie Theatre, in Trinity College. Cambridge, and subsequently in the University’s Lady Mitchell Hall. Light Reproduction: an 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 and England, exhibited at the residence of Prof. Sir Aaron Klug, former President of the Royal Society. |
Limited Edition
| 2009 | A Cambridge Palimpsest: a layered map puzzles, in collaboration with the Cambridge Archaeological Unit and the letterer Jon Harris; published by CUP. http://www.cambridge.org/uk/bookshop/news/news_0005.htm |
| 2010 | Intimate Distances, a collaborative work, images of Christ’s College: exteriors projected into historic interiors by pinhole and recorded by digital photography. |
Teaching Experience
| 2010 – ongoing | “The Making of Art” Seminars, Dept of History of Art. Cambridge University. |
| 2010 – ongoing | 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 – ongoing | 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 | Analemma, animation with Dr Nicholas Mee, Plus Magazine http://plus.maths.org/issue53/features/mee/ |
| 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 March | The Planets, creative arts-science workshops with astronomer Dr Carolin Crawford, held at Cambridge University Institute of Astronomy. |
| 2006 July | Drawing workshop with the paleontologist Dr Jenny Clack, conducted at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. |
| 2006 March | The Wonderful World of Buckminster Fuller, workshop with the engineers Allan McRobie, Simon Guest and Bob Connolly, held at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. |
Public talks
| 2014 Oct | In conversation with Andrew Nairne. Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/learning/talks/lectures/ |
| 2014 Jul | Unearthed event with Venetia Porter. P21 Gallery, London. |
| 2012 Feb | Tracing my journey, Alwan for the Arts, New York. http://alwanforthearts.org/event/820 |
| 2011 Dec | Modern Syrian Art, 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, in Great St Mary’s Church, as part of the City seminar organised by 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 March | The EyeCone Project, Lady Mitchell Hall, Science Festival, Cambridge University. |
Media Coverage
| 2014 | http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/visualarts/article4245925.ece http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainment/performing-visual-arts/outpouring-of-grief-1.1363408 http://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-monocle-weekly/263/ http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/veronique-mistiaen/syria-crisis_b_5530726.html |
| 2012 | http://www.arabnews.com/node/403575 |
| 2001 | Sins of the Fathers, essay by Andy Martin, Tate Art Magazine. http://www.andymartinink.com/?page_id=55 |
| 2001 April | Imagination, creativity, and human mind, BBC Open University. |
| 2000 Nov | Helping dad with his work, article by Andy Martin, the Guardian. |
| 2000 Oct | Work in progress, BBC 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. |