2025.05.27 - 11.23

Massinissa Selmani: distances

Aranya Art Center North is pleased to present distances, the first museum solo exhibition in China by Algerian artist Massinissa Selmani, featuring the artist’s works in a variety of mediums including pencil drawings on paper, animated films, sculptures, and installations.

Introduction

Drawing is at the core of Massinissa Selmani’s creations. Here, he treats the exhibition as one giant drawing, sweeping the viewer up in a series of light-hearted and fascinating drawings, animations, and installations. Selmani shifts between mediums in a search for the expression of space and potential in drawing.

Though the forms are simple, Selmani’s works are always touching on key historical, cultural, and social topics. The intentional blank spaces and unfinished lines in the works, like the detached backgrounds, are important components of the works. When making preparatory sketches, the artist often begins with press photographs taken from newspapers, extracting the elements of truth and removing background information to intentionally produce a sense of “something missing,” inviting the viewer to draw from their own memory associations and visual references to interpret for themselves. His artworks do not engage in direct criticism, but use humor and satire to reexamine memories that have been overlooked or marginalized in the process of historical transitions.

This exhibition is organized by Assistant Curator Gao Liangjiao and Associate Curator Wu Yiyang at the Aranya Art Center.

List of Artists

Commissioned Artist*

Installation Views

Ding Yi

Three Flags

2023

Flag, air blower

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Chen Ruofan

Botanical Bank: 54 Objects Transplanted

2023

Stainless steel, LED, video

400 × 400 × 400 cm

55:92 min.

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Tom Friedman

Hazmat Love

2017

Stainless steel

150.5 × 118.1 × 107.3 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong,

Seoul, London and aranya plein air art project

Robert Mapplethorpe

Self Portrait

1981

Silver gelatin print

58.5 × 61 × 3.2 cm (framed)

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.

Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London · Paris · Salzburg · Seoul

Richard Long

Four Ways

2014

Delabole Slate from Cornwall

490 × 498 × 58 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi© Richard Long

Courtesy of Lisson Gallery and aranya plein air art project

Prinz Gholam

Stone Faces (Jin Shan Ling)

2023

Stone

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

David Zink Yi

Washingtonia

2017

Stainless steel

520 × 100 × 100 cm each

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin / Seoul

and aranya plein air art project

Haegue Yang

Migratory DMZ Birds on Asymmetric Lens - Duiitt Duiitt Vessel (Gray-Backed Thrush)

2020

Soapstone, 3D printed resin

158 × 89 × 147 cm

Installation view, aranya plein art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris

and aranya plein air art project

Charles Ray

School Play

2014

Painted fiberglass

193 × 58 × 39 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

© Charles Ray

Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery and aranya plein air art project

Alina Chaiderov

Phoenix

2023

Stainless steel, cable protection tube

512 × 300 × 100 cm

Produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Liang Shuo

Little House

2023

Mosaic tiles

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Vivian Suter

Untitled

Undated

Mixed media on canvas

Dimensions variable

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, Gladstone Gallery

and aranya plein air art project

Christine Sun Kim

A Permanent Tourist In A Foreign Language

2023

Inkjet printing on stainless-steel sign post

225 × 150 cm × 7 parts

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Sylvie Fleury

Giant Mushroom

2008

Fiberglass, metallic car paint

260 × 250 × 250 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of the artist, Almine Rech

and aranya plein air art project

Nabuqi

We

2023

3D printing resin, paint

235 × 146 × 75 cm

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun ShiCourtesy of aranya plein air art project

Katinka Bock

Parasite Fountain

2019

Bronze, transparent PVC tube, water pump

Fish: 85 cm

Column: 300 × 30 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Michelle Wang Yiyi

Red Berries

2023

Hawthorn berry, aluminum wire

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Zaiye Studio

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Chen Xiaoyi

Invisible Liquid

2023

UV print on aluminum plate

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Tony Cragg

Accurate Figure

2011
Carrara Marble
206 × 83 × 91 cm

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Isabelle Cornaro

Untitled (column #2 & column #3)

2014

Steel structure with black resin castings

66 × 274 × 66 cm each

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Su Chang

Intersect

2023

Plaster, aluminate, hemp and other mixed materials

Dimensions variable

Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023

Installation view, aranya plein air art project

July 7th to October 29th, 2023

Photography Sun Shi

Courtesy of aranya plein air art project

Installation Views

No items found.

About

Massinissa Selmani

Born in 1980 in Algiers (Algeria); lives and works in Tours (France) and Tizi-Ouzou (Algeria). ‍

In 2015, Massinissa Selmani received a special mention at the 56th Venice Biennale. He was also the winner of the Art Collector Prize (France) and the SAM Art Projects Prize for Contemporary Art (France) in 2016. In 2023, he was shortlisted for the Marcel Duchamp Prize (France). Selected solo and group exhibitions include the 56th Venice Biennale; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Sharjah Biennial 13, UAE; Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK; IVAM Valencia, Spain; Zachęta National Gallery, Warsaw; the 13th Biennale de Lyon, France; Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré (CCC OD), Tours, France; 11th Dakar Biennial, Senegal; UGM Maribor, Slovenia, among others. Collections include the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; MAC Lyon, France; Samdani Art Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Frac Centre Val de Loire, France; Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP), France and the British Museum, London, UK.

Selected Press