Selma Selman: Flowers of Life

From June 20 to September 15, 2024, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting two new works by the artist Selma Selman (*1991) in a major solo exhibition. Only a few years ago, she boldly and confidently entered into the spotlight of the international art world, describing herself as “the most dangerous woman in the world.” Together with her family, Selman disassembles former status symbols like Mercedes-Benz cars in front of an audience, in order to acquire the few precious metals that are still usable. The spoken performances by this artist with a Roma background are usually loud, for she gives expression to anger and her urge to reverse power relationships.

In a variety of media, Selman’s art explores experiences of discrimination, violence, sexism, and patriarchy in a striking way. Her multilayered work comprises performances, sculptures, paintings on car parts and scrap metal, drawings, and video. At the Schirn, the artist presents colored pencil drawings, small sculptural works made from precious metals, and two performances that pick up on central themes of her oeuvre, as well as two newly created works: The installation Flowers of Life (2024) and the film Crossing the Blue Bridge (2024).

Dr. Sebastian Baden, Director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, emphasizes: “Selma Selman is one of the most dynamic artists of the younger generation. She works closely with her family in her highly emancipatory work. In her performances, she transfers the reality of life for non-privileged minorities to the exhibition space. Selman’s work calls for a cultural and economic reinterpretation of seemingly established norms, values, and attributions. For the exhibition at the Schirn, the artist has created two new, expansive works. She draws on the traumas of her parents’ generation and works through them with powerful, poetic gestures.”

The exhibition centers around the newly conceived work Flowers of Life (2024), which gives the exhibition its title. This expansive installation gestures to her family’s livelihood, which involves collecting and reselling scrap metal. It consists of four used multipronged grabs, typically found on construction sites and scrap yards. In Selma Selman’s appropriation, the massive machines are transformed into flower-like kinetic sculptures powered by a motor, their blossoms slowly opening and closing. Inside, they reveal paintings by the artist.

The film Crossing the Blue Bridge (2024) is based on her mother’s memories of experiences in her hometown of Bihać during the Bosnian War (1992–95). Selman takes these family experiences as a point of departure to situate herself as a feminist and activist artist who now campaigns internationally for her community.

The two major new productions at the Schirn are complemented by additional selected works from Selman’s oeuvre, including two seemingly minimalist objects, Platinum (Axe) (2021) and Motherboards (A Golden Nail) (2023), that have emerged from intensive body art performances. Two series of colored pencil drawings, Superpositional Intersectionalism – Sleeping Guards (2023–ongoing) and Superpositional Intersectionalism – Ophelia's Awakening (2024), depict intimate observations of female figures whose metamorphose into surreal hybrids with fluid identities. Live performances by the artist will take place over the course of the exhibition. At the opening of the exhibition, Selman will present You Have No Idea (since 2015). For the closing event, the artist will perform the work Letters to Omer (since 2021).

Matthias Ulrich, curator of the exhibition, on the artist: “Selma Selman combines participatory art, institutional critique, activism, and performance in her work. At the heart of it all is the artist herself. It is with a protesting voice and visionary presence that she speaks out in her art. She literally puts herself on show and uses her body, her voice, and her identity as a medium for her artistic practice and self-empowerment. Real social change and societal transformation, the visualization and empowerment of marginalized groups and their community always remain the absolute goal of her art.”

Crossing the Blue Bridge is realized in a collaboration between Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg, and the European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut 2024.

The exhibition Selma Selman: Flowers of Life is supported by the SCHIRN ZEITGENOSSEN with additional support from the Kummer-Vanotti Foundation and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

A catalog Selma Selman: Flowers of Life edited by Matthias Ulrich, with an interview with the artist by Hans Ulrich Obrist, contributions by Theresa Dettinger, Catherine Nichols, and Matthias Ulrich, and foreword by the director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Sebastian Baden, will be published in a German-English edition.

Director: Dr. Sebastian Baden / Curator: Matthias Ulrich, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt / Press contact: Johanna Pulz (Head of Press/Public Relations): presse [​at​] schirn.de, T +49 (0) 69 29 98 82 148 / Press material: here.