Alex Ayed

Critical text

Each work by Alex Ayed (b. 1989, Strasbourg) is evidence of a journey¾collected components and subtle transformations that reference routes travelled, and experiences had along the way made “in a series of elegant and playful gestures”, as described by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie in Mousse. His poetic and playful objects are often foraged from his travels and include items such as dried-out insects and plants, fragments of marble, soap, and bone, along with personal possessions. Each element carries particular significance and connects to larger histories of migration and trade, conquest, and exploration. Using earthy and ephemeral materials, or discarded, donated, found, and cast objects, Ayed’s sculptures often fold in symbols of the Mediterranean, such as hanging drapes, sand, and olive oil, in installations sometimes populated by the fossilized presence of creatures.

Text by Saim Demircan, Maurin Dietrich