Moving Archive by Salim Bayri

Visual artist Salim Bayri (1992) is forever traveling between different cultures, combining various media in his work. In this first museological presentation, visitors encounter Bayri’s unconventional visual archive and are taken on a journey through a unique world of associations in which the artist’s mind is always present. The exhibition Moving Archive – Salim Bayri is staged in CODA Museum from 12 September to 21 November.

The title of the exhibition Moving Archive seems contradictory. An archive is permanent and fixed, after all, while Salim Bayri’s oeuvre and artworks are in constant flux. Bayri: “I try to combine and juxtapose fixed things like museum artifacts on one hand, and ephemeral and more fluid systems of knowledge, like oral traditions and anecdotes, on the other.”

Bayri created an alter ego he calls Sad Ali, which is short for 'sad alien'. This cartoonish figure exists as a computer file, appears in drawings and texts, as a 3D print and even in graffiti. Sad Ali travels through platforms and seems to feel like an outsider; a character with no ‘home’. He does not take any action and, as opposed to cartoon characters, does not speak. He roams the world like a search engine, scanning his surroundings. Sad Ali is not just one of the artist’s creations; he also represents the artist’s process. Like Sad Ali’s gaze, Bayri’s eyes are drawn to one image after the other, and when something captures his interest, he scans, holds and transforms it into a new, different image. This, together with his textual contemplations – in which Bayri tells of situations he encounters, often combining text with film – forms a ‘store’ or archive.

But Bayri’s work has an even wider range. His visual language seems ambiguous; the work cannot be classified as western or non-western but is described by the artist as being ‘ambiguous in-between’. With his work, Bayri explores multimedia techniques and, for instance, 3D printing and VR modeling, but he also employs traditional crafts like jewelry-making, sand art, or ceramics. He uses the materials he chooses in unconventional ways, as can be seen in his series of objects that can be worn on the body. These objects are not to be classified as traditional jewellery, but are 3D-printed ‘wearables’ that are filled with epoxy and equipped with a metal chain.

The spectator cannot help but look for the cultural origins of all the depicted symbols, and for a connection between the various human figures and cartoon characters. But does this cohesion even exist? Bayri deliberately creates an intangible atmosphere in a constant state of the translation.

The Opening:
Sunday 12-September, 2:30pm.

Due to the corona restrictions, the entrance to the exhibition is with test, vaccination or recovery certificate before the opening of this exhibition.
Register in advance via www.coda-apeldoorn.nl/opening