“Saâdane Afif ‘s work stands outside the usual networks of French contemporary art with a career and outlook that is increasingly international. Afif’s sculptures and installations exhibit a melancholic yet festive beauty. They delight in their own materiality and frequently incorporate light, sound, and movement, seducing the audience with a compact spectacle of son et lumière. His works demonstrate a whimsical poetry and robust sense of mortality; ghosts appear with regularity and there are repeated references to the passing of time and the inevitability of death, most clearly manifested in the recurrent motifs of the skull and the ticking clock. A fascination with music and music culture is also discernible in his works featuring microphones, amplifiers, and musical instruments. Many also include music as an active ingredient, particularly in the form of playlists or as outcome of an abstract translation of ideas. Since 2004, music has also influenced the creation and presentation of Afif’s work. At that time, he began inviting writers to create lyrics inspired by his works, a process of artistic delegation that he continues to expand today. Afif describes himself as a particle accelerator, provoking the imagination of others. […]” – Independent curator Zoë Gray

Saâdane Afif (born 1970, Vendôme, France) lives and works in Berlin.  He has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Witte de With, Rotterdam;  MOT and Mori Museum, Tokyo; Wiels, Brussels; OPA, Guadalajara; Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin; Documenta 12, Kassel. He is represented by Gallery Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin; RaebervonStenglin, Zurich; Gallery Michel Rein, Paris and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels.