Asim Waqif
APT8
Born 1978, Hyderabad, India
Lives and works in Delhi, India
Asim Waqif creates large-scale installations built from detritus and found objects, which are informed by principles of architecture, urban planning and interactivity. For APT8, Waqif has created a site-specific work entitled All we leave behind are the memories 2015 in GOMA that expands through gallery spaces and limits. In the lead-up to the exhibition, Waqif visited Brisbane to explore the history of building and demolition in the city. His installation is constructed from the worn and aged timbers typical of vernacular south-east Queensland architecture. Embedded with lights and sound sensors to be triggered by the viewer, this precarious seeming structure is designed to be entered and explored. Waqif's production technique is intentionally unplanned and labour-intensive. Many of his early works were site-specific, creating interventions in abandoned, decaying or neglected urban spaces. Concepts of waste, sustainability, heritage and the contrast between the industrial and the handcrafted are important to his work.
Asim Waqif / India b.1978 / At Your Own Risk 2014 / Tarafa materials and labour, reused wood, ropes and nails / Site-specific installation Famous Studios, Mumbai / Image courtesy: The artist and Gallery Nature Morte, New Delhi / © Asim Waqif
Asim Waqif / India b.1978 / All we leave behind are the memories 2015, installed in GOMA's Long Gallery (1.2) for APT8, 2015 / © Asim Waqif / Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA