S.M.A.K. devotes a solo exhibition to the recent video works, performances and installations of Hiwa K (North Kurdistan, Iraq, 1975).

In the 1990s, the artist fled his native country. More than 10 years later, he settled in Germany. This emotional and social disruption marks his artistic practice, which is fuelled by both his personal biography and everyday encounters and stories from his surroundings. Also at Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens, recent video works and sculptures of Hiwa K confronted us with the absurd and fragmented experience of the refugee existence.

As a consequence of personal and pragmatic challenges characteristic of the fragility and unpredictability of life, Hiwa K’s work is also permeated by a broader social and geopolitical reality. The artist transforms experiences and accounts into new situations that provide a highly individual view of globalisation and its impact on our world: “Ultimately, much of my work revolves around the circulation of culture, the way cultures have for centuries influenced each other and become embedded in each other, on both the micro and macro levels.”