Objects tell stories, belong to places, evoke memories and initiate encounters. Driven by the idea of being projected into the position of others, into their imaginary and lived-in worlds, artist Alex Ayed pursues an experimental and explorative practice with unpredictable outcomes. In a state of the improvised and chaotic, all manner of objects, whether discarded, sought-after, gifted or manufactured, are brought together in assemblages and spatial installations.

Taken out of their context and time, leaving only faded and intermittent traces, Ayed’s works elude clear attributions, yet at the same time establish new ones: correlations between the promise and its redeeming action, places and people, the hidden and the obvious are intuited, imagined, explored and recalled. Ayed’s exhibition, inhabited by a distinct moment of transience and able to express itself through a tactile and seemingly provisional nature, is therefore neither a point of arrival nor ending; instead, it is a poetically vague outlook on all that could still be to come.

Owls and Promises is Ayed’s first institutional solo exhibition in Europe, curated by Theresa Rößler.

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