Re-annotations: Zine making workshop Saber Ali

First published in 1997, Annotations assembled art and ideas that have existed previously in a different context in multiple short accessible volumes. This workshop will focus on the theme of relational aesthetics to create new dialogues across wider topics of race, disability, sexuality, culture, and religion. We will be selecting quotes and images and create our own zines

In the 1990s, “Relational Aesthetics” was first coined by French curator, Nicolas Bourriaud to describe the “tendency to make art based on, or inspired by, human relations and their social context”. However, the art historian and critic Professor Claire Bishop critically investigates this topic in the text ‘Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics’ (2004) and points out the disassociation between art and the historical social context in Bourriaud’s description.

We will begin to unpick and contextualise the “social” that Bishop’s questions and interrogates by exploring those who make up society.  We will be focusing on race, disability, sexuality, culture and religion to examine the implications and/or successes when considering and placing them within the frameworks of relational aesthetics.

Scissors, paper, glue, and photocopies of key texts and images will be provided.

Biography

Saber Ali is a visual artist who is interested in the intersection of architecture and social politics. Working in the mediums of sculpture, video, animation, painting and collage, he uses these tools to negotiate spaces on flat surfaces to create new narratives. He received his BA in Fine Art Sculpture from the Wimbledon College of Arts in 2018.

Currently, he is the Digital Marketing Intern at Iniva, and is also a Teaching Assistant within a Special Educational Needs School. He hopes to combine these disciplines to explore his interest in making art more accessible.