Born on 1978 in Hyderabad, Asim Waqif is a Delhi based artist, who is popular for his large scale installations that are built from debris and objects. His art is a crossover between architecture, art and design, with a strong contextual reference to contemporary urban planning and the politics of occupying, intervening in, and using public spaces.
Early Life of Asim Waqif
Asim completed his Bachelor"s degree in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi on 2000. And being an alumnus of that college, he also served as their visiting faculty and later in 2018, he was the visiting scholar at the Rhode Island School of design in USA. In 2011, Asim Waqif was a resident at the Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in Maine, USA and later in 2018, he was a resident at the Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio Centre in Italy.
Before trying his hand at art, Asim worked as an art director for film and television. But eventually later, he got into making independent video and documentaries before moving into a dedicated art practice. He is accomplished in his field and has worked in sculpture, site specific public installation, video, photography and more recently with large scale interactive installations that combine traditional and new media technologies. Other than these, he is also a member of the Peer Group, Khoj International Artists" Association in Delhi.
Works by Asim Waqif
Asim Waqif"s works have always had concepts of waste, sustainability, heritage and the contrast between the industrial and the handcrafted. He has held solo shows at Nature Morte, New Delhi and Galerie Templon, Paris in 2013, and the Palais Tokyo, Paris in 2012. His works have recently been included in the Asia Pacific Triennal 8 at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; the Queens Museum, New York; Blain or Southern Gallery, Berlin; the Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Noida.
Asim"s most recent art project was on October 2019, for the Durga Puja pandal for the "Arjunpur Amra Sabai Club" in Kolkata. The project was called "Loy" and the structure of the pandal was built from bamboo, cane, cloth and rope structure embedded with an interactive electronic and acoustic system. Some of his other recent art projects and residences are the 2018 thematic residency called "Science for Development" in Italy and the Frieze Art Fair at London. Asim"s first installation was a part of an Associate Residency at Khoj in 2005. This piece was called `Baans` and was made from bamboo, rope and mango wood. Critically acclaimed worldwide, Asim"s works are quite popular.
