Join us for a Summer Apero and Final Viewing of Nadim Abbas’ solo show ‘Poor Toy’ on Thursday 22 August, 5pm – 9pm, at VITRINE, Basel. Coinciding with the new St’ Johanns Markt in the square; serving food, beer, wine, coffees and other refreshments every Thursday, 4 – 9pm.
‘Poor Toy’ has been created from hacked flatpack furniture, cast concrete, and custom-made mattresses, incorporating references from IKEA, modern horror, Edward Hopper and kodokushi, positioning the domestic space as a site of horror.
Abbas has drawn heavily from the IKEA aesthetic that pervades homes around the world and the installation embodies the bland banality of this shared domestic language.
Abbas’ work takes thematic inspiration from literature, science, and psychology. Weaving together historical and contemporary references from the horror genre, ‘Poor Toy’ pays homage to writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, whose short stories and novels frequently explore the domestic as a site for disturbing exchanges with supernatural forces.
In a recent interview in My Art Guides about his show, Abbas stated “Who hasn’t had that humbling moment in an IKEA megastore, trapped in a vortex of repetition; where life slides into an empty void of meaningless consumption?”. Read the interview here.