Elias Kurdy

Born in Damascus, Syria, in 1990, he began studying architecture at the International Arab University of Damascus in 2008, before moving to Marseille in 2013 following the events following the revolution in his country. In Marseille, he studied at the architecture school (ENSAM) until 2015, then at the art school (Les Beaux-Arts de Marseille) where he obtained the DNA in 2017 and the DNSEP in 2019

Elias Kurdy’s sculptural practice disrupts the hegemonic historical imagination through a new and constant interpretation of cultural narratives and a reappropriation of materials. The artist analyzes and investigates archaeological artifacts - frozen materials for the historicization and construction of knowledge - as well as museums - archaeological sites or those aimed at the dissemination and demonstration of knowledge. Over the years, he has based his practice on the means to dismantle the production of knowledge and the Western historical narrative, often considered fixed and objective, because preserved in books or institutions and, by extension, in collective memory. . Fiction and imitation fuel this work, which often uses humor and tricks to reflect the fragility of non-Western memory and the violence of historicization. His works are often on the verge of toppling over, collapsing or disappearing. His characters tend to struggle to stay upright; they risk disappearing as easily as they appeared.