NOOR US SABAH SAEED

Born in Karachi, Pakistan. Lives and works in Berlin since 2022.

Saeed's current interest lies in institutional analysis – particularly in exploring the extent to which institutions adopt societal prejudices, which in turn shape their modes of operation. Such structural biases often result in the alienation of those very individuals these institutions are meant to serve. In her site-specific drawing performances, she explores the potential of drawing in public space and within public institutions. At the core of Saeed's artistic practice lies the question: How can drawing function as a form of resistance? She understands it as a means to disrupt spaces of alienation and to imagine – or even create – moments of refuge.

noor.s.saeed@gmail.com I Instagram I LinkedIn

EDUCATION

2015	Bauhaus-Universität, M.F.A in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies, Weimar
2010	University of Karachi, Visual Studies Department, B.F.A, Karachi

SELECTED ARTIST RESIDENCIES/ EXCHANGE/ SCHOLARSCHIPS

2024	Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, Berlin Year-Long Professional development project for female visual artists*
2022	Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, ZHdK, Zurich Research Academy on Performative Interventions with Florian Malzacher (Germany) and Dana Yahalomi (Israel)
2021-2022	Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems Fellowship, KUR – Kunst des Reisens, The Art of Traveling
2020	12.0 Contemporary, Islamabad Artist in Residence, Human And Non-Human Agency in Relation to Nature & Ecology [Postponed after two weeks due to COVID-19]
2019	Lacuna Lab Berlin Artist in Residence, designed in collaboration with Thomas Heidtmann
2019	Pause Kreativ, Karlsruhe International Artist Residency
2019	Murree Museum Residency, Murree Artist in Residence, Pouring Concrete, Curing Mountains

SELECTED ARTIST TALKS/ LECTURE PERFORMANCES /INTERVIEWS

2025	GUEST LECTURE on Public Art Interventions and Artist Talk, Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design (PIFD), Lahore, Pakistan (Online)
2024	INTERVIEW with Beate Scheder for Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt's Website
2024	GUEST LECTURE on Public Art Interventions and Artist Talk, Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design (PIFD), Lahore, Pakistan
2020	INTERVIEW with Veronica Jonsson for Art Connect Online Magazine, Berlin
2020	ARTIST TALK, hosted by Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi
2020	ARTIST TALK, What is your Mantiq, Mantiq of the Mantis, Lahore
2020	ARTIST TALK, Instagram live with Sabah Khan
2019	ARTIST TALK, Scope Sessions #85 - Noor us Sabah Saeed / Linda Havenstein SomoS Gallery, Berlin
2019	ARTIST TALK, Uqbar Project Space, Berlin
2018	LECTURE PERFORMANCE/ ARTIST TALK, Raze to the Ground/ Politics of Playgrounds, discussion moderated by Shahan Raajhani at Sanat Gallery, Karachi
2016	LECTURE PERFORMANCE/ ARTIST TALK, Utopia School at Byens Lys, Christiania, Copenhagen
2015	TALKS – Imaginary Bauhaus Museum, Berliner Herbstsalon, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin
2015	LECTURE PERFORMANCE, Bauhaus-Universität, Weimar

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2025	Upcoming, I AM DRAWING TO RESIST THE POWERLESSNESS, Site-Specific Drawing Performance, Galerie Wedding, Berlin
2024	I ONLY WORK WITH LOST AND FOUND, Kunstraum Bethanien/ Kreuzberg, Berlin
2024	SEEDS OF YESTERDAY, 25th Anniversary of the Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi, V.M. Art Gallery, Karachi
2022	THE EUROPEAN DREAM, Two person show, Made in Balmoral, Bad Ems
2020	FROM THE HILLS TO THE SEA II, POURING CONCRETE CURING MOUNTAINS, RESIDENCY SHOW New works and launch of artist’s books, AAN GANDHARA ART GALLERY KARACHI
2019	UNMAKING HISTORY, The Research and Publication Centre (RPC), Lahore
2019	A VITAL PIECE OF INFORMATION – Fragments of a Greater Context, Uqbar Project Space, Berlin
2019	POURING CONCRETE CURING MOUNTAINS, Resource Center Murree, Murree
2018	RIVER IN AN OCEAN- the collateral event, Lahore Biennale 01, Lahore
2018	LABORATORY OF PERFORMANCE [Bogota/ Karachi] Poéticas Corporales de Mujeres en Bogotá: Experiencias Artísticas en el Espacio Público" [Body Poetics of Women in Bogotá: Artistic Experiences in Public Space] In collaboration with the artist Gialev Velez (Bogota) conducted by Waja Foundation, Bogotá
2018	UTOPIA SCHOOL POP UP EXHIBITION, Flux Factory, NYC

GRANTS/ SCHOLARSHIPS

2021-22	9 Months Scholarship Award, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems
2020	Cash Prize, Winning Project, CORRESPONDENCE, Art Connect Berlin
2019	Travel Grant, Künstlerkontakte Programm, IFA, Stuttgart
2018-19	Lahore Biennale Research Grant, Lahore Biennale Foundation, Lahore
2015-16	Kreativfond, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
2014	SARAJEVO 2014/1914 Student Exchange Program,a project by the MFA-program, Public Art and New Artistic Strategies, Bosnia and Herzegovina, funded by DAAD
2010	Annual Scholarship for Final Year Thesis, V.M Art Gallery, Rangoonwala Trust, Karachi
2010	Travel grant for World Youth Congress Istanbul, Rangoonwala Trust, Karachi
2009	Karachi University Alumni Scholarship, Karachi

SELECTED CATALOGUES/ NEWSPAPERS

2022	Die Kunst Des Reisens/The Art of Traveling, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Print
2020	Murree Museum Residency, Pouring Concrete Curing Mountains, Print
2020	International Public Art Festival, I AM KARACHI, E-catalogue
2019	Unmaking History, Print
2019	Algorithmus und Indus, By Lorina Speder,taz.de
2018	River in the Ocean, E-catalogue

SELECTED SOCIAL PROJECTS

2016	One Week of Residential Forum Civil Society Welcoming Refugees in Europe, Berlin, Germany Organized by Balkan’s let get up and Initiative Mittel-und Osteuropa. At Bildungsstätte der Sportjugend Berlin
2015	Klimacamp (climate camp) im Rheinland, Germnay 2014 TAF! Photographic Action Workshop, Cough4Coal Campaign, Organized by Tool for Action at New Yorckim BethanienSüdflügel, Berlin
2014	Art Activism Workshop, Carbon Bubble, Berlin, Germany Organized by 350.org and Tool for Action at New Yorck im Bethanien-Südflügel, Berlin
2013	Global Power Shift (One week of Intensive workshops on Climate Change and Creative Activism), Istanbul, Turkey, Organized by 350. Org at İTÜ Ayazağa Campus 34469 Maslak – İSTANBUL
2012	South Asian Youth Conference, Islamabad, Pakistan Organized by Blue Ribbon movement (India) and HILA (Pakistan) at National University of Sciences and Technology. NUST Campus, H-12, Islamabad
2012	RangDayKarachi-an artist-led peace initiative, Karachi
2010	World Youth Congress (two weeks of residential conference) Organized by Peace Child International at Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

Born in Karachi, Pakistan. Lives and works in Berlin since 2022. Currently she is a participant of Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt* 2024.