AdelAbidin:MusicalManifest
When the world slowed down during the pandemic, Adel Abidin started to investigate his identity and perspective. Music was the best path to pursue this exploration, and Abidin made six music videos where he sings and acts as the protagonist. Intermixed from many different songs, the lyrics resonate with the contemplation of his meanings in his life. Abidin works with the themes of identity, power, fear, clichés, slippages, and uncertainties in language by manipulating well-known pop song lyrics once used to express love, hope, and dreams. The rearrangement of these lyrics illustrates a harsh yet honest tool that represents what we hide or are afraid of making known.
Musical Manifest is the most recent work by Adel Abidin, a six-channel video installation that will premiere in Europe at Flow Festival, and executed together with Creative Technology. The work is on display at Cirko for the entire Flow weekend.
Adel Abidin is an artist born in Baghdad, currently residing in Helsinki. He received a B.A. in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad and an M.F.A from the Academy of Fine Arts in Time and Space Art in Helsinki. Since he represented Finland at the Nordic Pavilion in the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007), his work has been the subject of major exhibitions, and galleries both in private and public collections worldwide. Abidin’s art uses various media such as videos, video installations, multi-media sculptures and sound-based installations, and photography to explore the issues of the contemporary world that we live in. His main point of departure is always linked to his intention to explore the complex relationship between visual art, politics, and identity.