PRESENTATION: Iman Issa-Das Spiel
Iman Issa’s work is driven by her intense interest in history and her insistence on questioning the preconceptions that govern knowledge. She asks how we come to know a place, an object, or a piece of history; how memory intersects with understanding; and how imagination can help us to radically re-envision what we think we know. “In art,” Issa has said, “you can show someone a chair and say it’s a table, and they might believe you. The magic is in the possibility that the chair is both unique to itself and that it can signal a lot more besides”.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Albertinum Archive
Iman Issa’s work works challenge the status commonly designated to the images, objects, descriptions, and subjects in the exhibition space by proposing different relationships between them. Each sculptural object, for example, is assigned a text precisely describing in straightforward language an existing object, painting, film scene, et cetera, however these written descriptions are incongruent with the sculptures presented. Although characterized by a high degree of precision and clarity, the individual elements of each work interact with each other and the viewer in a manner resembling a complicated conversation where basic terminology still needs to be negotiated . . . a process of perception that opens up essential questions instead of closing them. Iman Issa has been awarded the 13th Ernst Rietschel Art Prize for Sculpture. The history of museums and collections is a key focus of her work, in which she explores spaces, artworks, and their displays, emphasizing how context shapeds perception. Her objects, often reduced to clear and precise forms, are frequently combined with texts that reveal unexpected perspectives. As part of her exhibition “Das Spiel” Issa presents her works in two locations within the Albertinum. In the Sculpture Hall on the ground floor, four works from the ongoing series “Proxies, with a Life of Their Own” are on display. This series consists of a collection of sculptural, abstract self-portraits that simultaneously serve as portraits of other individuals. Each self-portrait originates from a basic form that is varied in multiple ways. These formally reduced sculptures function as stand-ins for great thinkers, with accompanying texts that characterize the depicted figures and grant them individuality. This interplay invites viewers to perceive the abstract works as individuals and engage with their biographies. Issa’s second work was created specifically for the exhibition and also gave it its title, “The Game”. In the display depot on the first floor, ten photographs are presented. Visitors can choose a caption for each photograph from multiple options, but only one is correct—who will be able to identify it? Connections exist not only between these individual texts; the artist also engaged with other museum texts and labels, paintings and images, as well as objects in the display cases, creating links to historical and contemporary events. Additionally, Issa exchanged artwork labels, replaced some, and left others in their original place. This exploration of the mutability of titles prompts a shift in perspective for the audience, altering their perception of individual artworks.
Photo: Iman Issa, The Game: Guess Which of the Given Captions Is the Correct One, 2025, © & Courtesy the artist
Info: Albertinum, Tzschirnerpl. 2, Dresden, Germany, Duration: 8/2-11/5/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-17:00, https://albertinum.skd.museum/
