I forbindelse med finissage på vores aktuelle udstillinger præsenterer vi storytelling-eventet “SOUL Stories”, udviklet af kunstner Dina El Kaisy Friemuth, der bidrager til gruppeudstillingen “København-Berlin: Portalen til verden” med værkserien “ISIS”.
Arrangementet er realiseret med støtte fra Goethe-Institut Dänemark. Gratis adgang.
I flere af sine senere værker har Dina El Kaisy Friemuth indgået et tæt samarbejde med sin mor, Maha El Kaisy. Sammen skaber de rum, der fremhæver feministiske figurer gennem fortælling og hylder dialogen mellem generationer. Dinas mor Maha El Kaisy indgår i samtalen, hvor Dina også vil fortælle om betydningen af storytelling i sin kunstneriske praksis. Derudover vil Dina læse op fra “SOUL” – et zine, som samler en række af hendes projekter og omskaber dem til et nyt arkiv af tegneserier, tekster og bidrag fra blandt andre María Berríos, Agnieszka Roguski og Duygu Ağal. “SOUL” er skabt i samarbejde med grafisk designer Sibel Beyer og støttet af M.1 Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung og BPA// Berlin program for artists. Zinet vil kunne købes på aftenen.
Om SOUL Stories:
“SOUL Stories” (2021–nu) er en serie af møder og samtaler. Den første, “SOUL Stories / What cannot be said will be wept", blev præsenteret på KW Institute for Contemporary Art i Berlin (2022), og den anden i rækken, “SOUL Stories / I have flown to you like a child to her mother”, fandt sted hos Savvy Contemporary og Archive Books i Berlin (2023). Siden da har projektet bevæget sig videre gennem forskellige offentlige rum og private hjem.
Om Dina El Kaisy Friemuth:
Dina El Kaisy Friemuth udforsker temaer som tilhørsforhold og repræsentation gennem installationer, performances og sociale interventionsprojekter. Hendes arbejde har en stærk politisk dimension og sigter mod at udfordre normer og strukturer både i kunstverdenen og i samfundet. El Kaisy Friemuth er uddannet fra Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi i København og fra Universität der Künste Berlin og har siden 2017 boet og arbejdet i begge byer.
Om værket ISIS (2025):
Dina El Kaisy Friemuth arbejder med postkoloniale og feministiske spørgsmål og fletter gerne den lille og den store historie sammen i spørgsmålet om, hvem der tager ejerskab over fortællingen.
Værket “ISIS” består af en fotoserie med tre portrætter af kunstnerens familie: hendes nyfødte barn med barnets far, hendes mor og hendes kat. Udgangspunktet for fotoserien er blandt andet fremstillinger af gudinden Isis med Horusbarnet samt Akhenaton og Nefertitis familiebillede, som findes i Neues Museums egyptiske samling i Berlin. Her kom El Kaisy Friemuth som barn sammen med sin mor, der ville vise hende arabisk kultur, fortælling og fortid på en anden måde, end det ofte fremstilles i samfundsdebatten.
Akhenaton og Nefertiti ses i Neues Museum i et billede, der introducerer en monoteistisk tilgang med én gud, der lyser ned på deres lykkelige familie bestående af far, mor og tre døtre. Isis var en af de mest elskede gudinder i det gamle Egypten og blev ofte afbildet som ammende sin søn Horus.
Historien og ikonografien om Isis og Akhenaton er et tidligt vidnesbyrd om kulturelle sammenfletninger, men også om eurocentrisk historiefortælling. I sit værk med de tre portrætter refererer El Kaisy Friemuth både til den kristne ikonografi af Jomfru Maria med Jesusbarnet, som er inspireret af Isis-figuren, og til den monoteistiske religion. Samtidig spiller værkets titel “ISIS” på navnesammenfaldet med forkortelsen for Islamisk Stat, som skaber frygt og ofte forbindes med den arabiske verden.
Photo credit: Dina El Kaisy Friemuth
* English
In relation to the finissage of Nikolaj Kunsthal’s current exhibition, we present the storytelling event “SOUL Stories” by artist Dina El Kaisy Friemuth, who contributes to the exhibition “Copenhagen-Berlin: Gateway to the World” with her work series “ISIS”.
The event has been made possible with support from Goethe-Institut Dänemark. Free Admission.
In several of her recent works, Dina El Kaisy Friemuth has engaged in close collaboration with her mother, Maha El Kaisy. Together, they create spaces that highlight feminist figures through storytelling and celebrate intergenerational dialogue. Maha El Kaisy participates in the conversation, during which Dina will also discuss the significance of storytelling in her own artistic practice. In addition, Dina will read from “SOUL” – a zine compiling a selection of her projects, transformed into a new archive of comics, texts, and contributions from, among others, María Berríos, Agnieszka Roguski, and Duygu Ağal. “SOUL” was created in collaboration with graphic designer Sibel Beyer and supported by the M.1 Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung and the BPA// Berlin program for artists. The zine will be available for purchase during the evening.
About SOUL Stories:
“SOUL Stories” (2021–present) is a series of meetings and conversations. The first, “SOUL Stories / What cannot be said will be wept”, was presented at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin (2022), and the second in the series, “SOUL Stories / I have flown to you like a child to her mother”, took place at Savvy Contemporary and Archive Books in Berlin (2023). Since then, the project has continued through various public spaces and private homes.
About Dina El Kaisy Friemuth:
Dina El Kaisy Friemuth (b. 1988) investigates themes of belonging and representation through installations, performances, and socially engaged projects. Her work carries a strong political dimension, critically examining and challenging norms and structures both within the art world and in society at large. She graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and from Universität der Künste Berlin and has lived and worked in both cities since 2017.
The artwork ISIS (2025):
Dina El Kaisy Friemuth works with postcolonial and feminist questions, often intertwining personal and grand historical narratives to explore who claims ownership of stories.
The artwork “ISIS” is a photo series portraying three members of the artist’s family: her newborn child with the father, her mother, and her cat. The series draws inspiration from depictions of the goddess Isis with the child Horus, as well as from Akhenaton and Nefertiti’s family portrait in the Egyptian collection at the Neues Museum in Berlin. El Kaisy Friemuth and her mother frequently visited the museum when she was a child, where her mother sought to introduce her to Arab culture, storytelling, and history in ways that differed from dominant societal narratives.
At the Neues Museum, Akhenaton and Nefertiti are depicted in an image that introduces a monotheistic approach, with a single god shining down on their happy family of father, mother, and three daughters. Isis was one of the most beloved goddesses of ancient Egypt and was often portrayed nursing her son Horus.
The history and iconography of Isis and Akhenaton provide early evidence of cultural intertwinings but also of Eurocentric modes of historical narration. In her work with the three portraits, El Kaisy Friemuth refers to both the Christian iconography of the Virgin Mary with the Christ child, inspired by the figure of Isis, and the monotheistic religion. At the same time, the title “ISIS” plays on the coincidence of the name with the abbreviation for the Islamic State, which generates fear and is often associated with the Arab world.
Photo credit: Dina El Kaisy Friemuth
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