Opening this weekend, Eregata እርጋታ is the first major solo European museum exhibition of one of Ethiopia’s leading contemporary artists, Elias Sime, introducing audiences to an artist of extraordinary craftsmanship and collaborative spirit.
Recently the subject of a major touring exhibition in North America, and a prominent artist in the Venice Biennale 59th international exhibition with The Milk of Dreams (2022), Sime’s approach to both life and art feels particularly vital in the present moment.
Sime’s work reclaims and re-examines our relationship to technology and our environment, using braiding, weaving and layering techniques to create vast mosaics composed of keyboards, circuits, wires, and all manner of electronic waste.
Eregata እርጋታ will primarily focus on work from the past six years, including Sime’s monumental Venice Biennale commission Veiled Whispers (2022), alongside intricately woven abstract topographies from the landmark series Tightrope (2009 to present), key works from his early stitch, yarn and button series, and the tactile fragility of Bareness, a large-scale ceramic installation from 2014.
