Follow Fluxus 2015 /

Mehreen Murtaza

The Follow Fluxus – After Fluxus 2015 grant for young contemporary art called by the Hessian State Capital of Wiesbaden and the Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden / NKV goes in its eighth year to Mehreen Murtaza (born 1986, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, lives and works in Pakistan).

Follow Fluxus – After Fluxus supports young international artists whose work suggests ideas inherent to the Fluxus art movement in order to keep the art current alive. The establishment of the grant was inspired by the “Fluxus Festival of Very New Music† which took place in Wiesbaden in 1962. This Fluxus event provided the first real broad impact for the new art movement and started off what is now seen as the first international movement operating in a global network. The endowment of 10,000 Euro is provided annually for a residency in Wiesbaden from June through August. Living quarters and studio space is provided by NKV during this time. The work stipend concludes with an exhibition of the artist’s created work in the following year between the end of August 2015 and May 2016 and includes a publication.

The jury of five persons consisted of Prof. Gregor Schneider (Artist and Professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München), Lilian Engelmann, (Curator at Frankfurter Kunstverein), Michael Berger (Collection Berger, Wiesbaden), Dr. Isolde Schmidt (Cultural Department of the city of Wiesbaden) and Elke Gruhn (Chairwoman, Artistic Director and Curator, Nassauischer Kunstverein / NKV). 43 artists were nominated for 2015.

In her artistic work Mehreen Murtaza collages elements of folklore, pop culture, science fiction, religion, spirituality and technology. Her work consists of small works on paper as well as the digital media and complex space installations. With ironic absurd drama, the Pakistan-based artist explores topics of Islam and the Sufi culture. Murtazas works are based on "Factions" - a subtle blend of facts and fiction, with which she draws attention to current, cross-border and society penetrating issues, hereby she challenges the idea of progress of modern civilization and illuminates fundamental questions of human existence.