Zeigam Azizov (Зейгам Азизов) is British artist and philosopher. He was born on the 13th of April 1963 in the former USSR, (Azerbaijan SSR) and currently lives and works in London (UK). His work is addressing questions of time, image and technics through the narrative procedures of globalisation in relation to the languages of migration, media and the new mimesis. He uses material that resembles means of writing and media images and transforming them into the conceptual art to comment on the philosophical elaboration of the technologically constructed time.

He was trained in art, philosophy and cultural theory in the UK, France and Austria. He completed his studies in philosophy in England in the early 1990s, what he couldn’t receive in the former Soviet Union for ideological reasons, although initially planned to devote himself to philosophy completely. Later he started his PhD in philosophy first at Goldsmiths University of London (UK) and completed at the Klagenfurt University(Austria) with the thesis on the French philosopher Bernard Stiegler’s work and a philosophical exploration of images.

Since the middle of 1980s actively involved in the art world, exhibiting and publishing his work as well as developing the body of work which brings together his philosophical interests. Taking his artistic studies as a philosophical activity , ‘art as philosophy, philosophy as art’, he has exhibited and written texts about his projects extensively.

He is one of the pioneering artists to study the ‘migration paradigm’ as a novel understanding of the movement of globalization and space-time relationships, what he calls ‘migrasophia’ (migration+philosophy). Since 1993 this project was partly made in the collaboration with the cultural theorist Stuart Hall, who became a close friend and collaborator.

He exhibited his work worldwide, including most recently: the Venice Biennale (Azerbaijan pavilion, 2019, 2011 and the main exhibiton of the Venice Biennale ,2003 (Utopia Station)), Tate Modern, London, UK (2006), House der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2004), Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria (2002), and TN Probe, Tokyo, Japan (2001) among others.

As a part of his practice he has been lecturing and teaching in different universities including Central St.Martin’s College of Art and Design, Goldsmiths University of London, Vienna Academy of Art and the University of Aberdeen, University of Klagenfurt, Westminster University. He also lectured worldwide in galleries and museums.

Zeigam Azizov

13 April 1963-Born in Salyan (Azerbaijan, former USSR). Since 1992 lives and works in London (UK).

Education

2016-PhD (Doc.Phil), Klagenfurt University , Austria

2008-2012-PhD (candidate), Goldsmiths University of London

2012-MPhil (Art), Royal College of Art, London, UK

1998-MA, Modern Continental Philosophy, Staffordshire University, UK

Awards and nominations

2006 – Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Visual Arts (nomination), UK

2006 – Decibel Awards for Artists (shortlist), UK

2005 – Digital Media Arts Bursary, Artsadmin, UK

2003 – DAAD, Academic Art Exchange, Germany

Research and teaching (selected)

2008 to present – VL, Klagenfurt University, Austria https://campus.aau.at/visitenkarte?atoken=-32284071

2022-Isaac Julien Lab, UC, Santa Cruz, United States

2022-Visual Arts Department, Middlesex University, London, UK

2017- Department of Fine Arts, Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, Austria

2010 – 2012 – Department of Visual Arts, Aberdeen University, Scotland

2006 – 2011 – Fine Art Practice, Central St Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK

2008 – 2010 – Fine Art Practice, Goldsmiths University, London, UK

Talks and conferences (selected)

2021- Is a ‘Post’ in ‘Post-human’ the Same as a ‘Trans’ in ‘Trans-human’? in the conference Posthuman Mimesis: Embodiment, Affect, Contagion, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven

2020-Russification project, in symposium From Alexandria to Tokyo: Art, Colonialism and Entangled Histories, Mori Art Museum and Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Institute of Comparative Culture, Sophia University. https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/online-event/conference/alexandria-tokyo

2019 – Trans-imitation: translating imitation and derushage as a new image of thought, The Mimetic Condition: A Transdisciplinary Approach conference, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium http://www.homomimeticus.eu/2019/11/25/workshop-the-mimetic-condition-a-transdisciplinary-approach/

2019-Trans-imitation: from representation of truth to its imitation: Bernard Stiegler’s notion of ‘derushage’ as a new mimesis, “Truth, Fiction, Illusion, Worlds and Experience” conference, APL Annual Meeting co-organized with Theory, Culture and Society to be held 29 May – 2 June, 2019 at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria

2019- The incompleteness of the subject as a constant reminder and a fuzzy ontology, Baku Book Centre, Baku AZ

2019- Art in the Age of Pharmacological Translations, Ta(r)dino 6 Art Centre, Baku, AZ

2018-Without Origins: Husserl’s temporal objects in the light of non-essentialist thinking, the British Society for Phenomenology annual conference, the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/BSP-Conference-Booklet-2018.pdf

2017- A Temporal Order of Things: Husserl’s ‘temporal objects’ and the (industrial) temporalisation of consciousness, the British Society for Phenomenology annual conference, Brighton University, Brighton, UK https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/bsp-podcast-zeigam-azizov-a-temporal-order-of-things-husserls-temporal-objects-and-the-industrial-temporalisation-of-consciousness/

2016-Time in the accusative case, Playtime conference, University of Arts,London and Stuart Hall Foundation, London, UK https://www.victoria-miro.com/news/329

2015-Three films by Zeigam Azizov, Screening . talk and discussion with Viktor Misiano, Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan http://yarat.az/index.php?lang=en&page=46&yrtEventID=1643&yrtLocationID=4

2012-OilScapes: The Ecology of Oil and the Ecology of Images, Aberdeen University, Peackok Visual Arts, Aberdeen, Scotland https://peacockvisualarts.com/oilscapes-various-artists/

2011-Commentary, a seminar with students of film studies at the Aberdeen University, Aberdeen, Scotland, (see the film here as an outcome of this seminar): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcN5dBjs1Fk

2010-Representing Saualm, Lakeside Kunstraum, Klagenfurt, Austria
https://archiv.lakeside-kunstraum.at/index.php?id=250&L=1

2009-Keynote Lecture at the conference: Rethinking Complicity and Resistance: the Relationship between visual Arts and Politics, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen, Scotland
http://projects.beyondtext.ac.uk/StudentLedInitiatives/index.php

2000- A Seminar with Stuart Hall: The world at one with itself, inIVA, London

Exhibitions and screenings (selected)

2020

Unusual phrases…, Evolving Arts, Dubai, UAE

2019

Newspeak , Baku Biennale, Baku

Headlines etc, Azerbaijan pavilion, Venice Biennale, Venice

2018

Disappearance, Abilov Cultural Centre, Baku, AZ https://report.az/en/cultural-policy/exhibition-disappearance-opens-in-baku/

Letters to Words, a site-specific installation, Baku, AZ

2017

Local Time , Artspace, Sydney, Australia https://julielouisebacon.com/portfolio/local-time/

2016

In This City of Bright Fires , Artim gallery, Baku, Azerbaijan http://yarat.az/index.php?lang=en&page=12&yrtMaincatID=12&yrtSubcatID=0&yrtEventID=1410

Decaffeinated colonialism, MSDM, London

2015

Three films by Zeigam Azizov, Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7mNKosFY7U

2013

The Origin of Geometry, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE http://www.maraya.ae/index.php?r=exhibitions/view&id=30

2012

Migrasophia (migration+philosophy), Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAEhttp://maraya.art/index.php?r=exhibitions/view&id=8

Oilscapes, Peacock Visual arts, Aberdeen, Scotland

2011

Illumunazioni, 54th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/35745/the-republic-of-azerbaijan-at-the-54th-venice-biennale/

Machine Raum, Velje Museum of Art, Velje, Denmark

2010

The oil scenario, Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen, Scotland

Saualm, Kunstraum Lakeside, Austria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9tkP8lkyDQ

2009

Oil and Art, Kunstraum Lakeside, Austira https://archiv.lakeside-kunstraum.at/index.php?id=117&L=1

Re-imagining October, Calvert22, Londonhttp://staging.calvert22.org/re-imagining-october/

Dramaturgy of the Subject, Open Space, Vienna

2008

Hard spell 2, Toynbee Studios, London

The rehersal room, FormContent, London

2007

Hard spell: A Promise to Generations, Kunstraum Lakeside, Austira https://archiv.lakeside-kunstraum.at/index.php?id=142

Dreams and Realities, 3rd Baku Biennale, Baku, Azerbaijan

2006

Global Photography now: Post Soviet states, Tate Modern, London https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/global-photography-now-post-soviet-states

2nd Caucasus Biennale, Tbilisi, Georgia

Border Crossing, Care off, Milan, Italy

Semionatu, Neon gallery, Bologna, Italy

Global tour, W139, Amsterdam, Netherlands http://kunstaspekte.art/event/global-tour-2005-12

2005

Die Rundshau,Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aaarau, Switzerland

2004

Trading Places, Pump House gallery, London https://welcomebb.sophiehope.org.uk/projects/tradingplacesartists.html

North, Hamburger Bahnhof , Museum of Contemporary Art, Berlin

2003

Utopia Station, Hause der Kunst, Munich

Dreams and conflicts, the 50th Venice Biennale, Venice http://projects.e-flux.com/utopia/about.html

Sparwasser HQ, Berlin

Migration: Globalization of Space and Time, Siddhartha Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi

Becoming Global, Bauhaus Foundation, Dessau

2002

Outsourcing, inIVA, London

Risk and responsibilities of representation, Ludwig museum, Budapest

City-Info, Dresden-Prohlis, Dresden

Broadcast, Cubitt gallery, London

Art in Media Space, Austrian Cultural Forum, London

Routes, Grazer Kunstverein, Austria https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-101779223/routes-grazer-kunstverein-graz-austria

2001

Mutations, TN Probe, Tokyo, La Rafffinerie, Brussels,

Belonging, Shedhalle, Zurich

Loft Story, SE Travel Agency, Istanbul

Never look back, Shedhalle, Zurich

Touring London, (with Isaac Julien), inIVA, London https://www.iniva.org/programme/projects/touring-london/

Strategies of Presentation, Kopelica gallerie, Ljubljana

Videonalle 9, Kunstverein, Bonn

2000

ForthepeopleontheirwaytoEurope, Exnergasse Kunsthalle, Vienna

Arcade Project, The Trade Apartment, London

Mutations: Urban Rumours, Free Art, Fribourg, arc en reve centre d’architecture, Bordeaux

Transact, Museum in Progress, Vienna (www.mip.at) https://www.mip.at/persons/zeigam-azizov

1999

Temporary Radio, Espace 2, Radio Suisse -Romand, Geneva

1998

The Trial of Pol Pot, /Centre national d’art contemporain/, project by Liam Gillick and Phillipe Parreno, Grenoble https://www.google.com/search?q=liam+gillick+and+philippe+parreno,+the+trial+of+pol+pot&rlz=1C1RUCY_enGB831GB831&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=iDwXg-xRVO0mAM%253A%252CsZVoL_fuKzEEZM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRFdFLaxCmboKf2ZfInL5U0gi8m7g&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjywrHhp9zhAhXJaVAKHdmvBSMQ9QEwCHoECAkQBA#imgrc=iDwXg-xRVO0mAM:

1995

Ideal Standard Summertime, Lisson gallery, London https://www.lissongallery.com/exhibitions/ideal-standard-summertime

Postscript, Lisson gallery, London

Viewpoint, ICA, London

Reviews (selected)

Mark Nash, Curating The Moving Image, Normal Films/Duke University Press, 2023

Maja Giric (MC Presento, Belgrade), Interview with Zeigam Azizov about fuzzy ontology, (Audio), Belgrade, 4th of February, 2023

Sara Raza, Punk Orientalism, Black Dog Press, London, 2022

Wakana Kono, Art Scene, Baku // BT, 02.(vol.72. No.1080) p.188-189, Tokyo, Japan, 2020

Kat Koch, May You Live in Interesting Times https://www.brothart.com/blogs/news/may-you-live-in-interesting-times-58th-venice-biennale-review-by-kat-koch

Niccolò Lucarelli , Il Demone DellaTechnologia, Artribune, 2019

Martelletto, N., L’Arte Esalta Venezia, Cultura, Venice, 20th May 2019

Dilara Vagabova, Notes on Zeigam Azizov’s art, Yol magazine, Baku, 2016

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Ways of Curating, Penguin, 2014 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Jhs0AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT109&lpg=PT109&dq=hans+ulrich+obrist,+ways+of+curating+zeigam+azizov&source=bl&ots=Ozmo-re21_&sig=ACfU3U3h_5NMyYyTVIe765C4xCeUUMangA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwig3IHkqdzhAhXPK1AKHW4HB0gQ6AEwC3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=hans%20ulrich%20obrist%2C%20ways%20of%20curating%20zeigam%20azizov&f=false

Anne Seaman, The Beginning of Thinking Is Geometric reimagines maths through contemporary art, The National, 2013 https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/art/the-beginning-of-thinking-is-geometric-reimagines-maths-through-contemporary-art-1.310132

Marion Hohlfeldt, Betwixt and Between: Displacement and liminality, Interventions journal, January 29, 2013

Yasmine Allam, Being Contemporary, is Not Cutting off the past, http://www.contemporarypractices.net/essays/volumeXI/beingcontemporaryisNotCuttingoffthepast.pdf

Sara Raza, ‘Migrasophia’ (Migration + Philosophy), (catalogue essay), Maraya Art Centre, Al Gasba, Sharjah, 2012

Lee Sharrock, Biennale Bedlam, FADWEBSITE, 2011 https://fadmagazine.com/2011/06/08/biennale-bedlam-by-lee-sharrock/

Milena Placentile, The 54th Venice Biennale, akimbo.ca, 2011 http://www.akimbo.ca/akimblog/?id=466

Lockwood Smith, From Bangladesh to Azerbaijan, artlog.com, 2011

Ilary Valbonesi, Interview with Zeigam Azizov, 2011 h

Ferhat Senetci, Machine Raum, http://videoistanbul.blogspot.com, 2011

Mark Nash, Re-imagining October, Calvert 22, 2010

Michaela Monschein, Erdol und Kunst, artpool, Vienna, May 2009

Marion Hohfeldt, Attitudes urbaines: Espaces contrôlés et déplacements artistiques, Nouvelle revue d’esthétique, France, 2008/1 (n° 1)

Hedwig Saxenbuher and Christian Kravagna, Media Use, Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt, 2007

Joaquin Barrendios Rodriguez, El Arte Global y Las politicas de la novidad, Luminar, vol.V, n 001, Mexico, 2007 http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1665-80272007000100159&lng=es&nrm=iso

Joaquin Barriendios Rodriguez, Global Art and politics of mobility: (Trans) cultural shifts in the international contemporary art-system, Medewerker, Amsterdam, 2007 https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/4518613/global-art-and-politics-of-mobility-transcultural-shifts-in-the-

Wirtschaftliches Buchstabieren, Karntner Tageszeitung, Klagenfurt,17th March, 2007

Christian Kravagna, General Travel Conditions, in Routes, Revolver books, Germany, 2007

Stuart Hall, Three ‘Moments’ in Post-war History, Oxford Journals, History Workshop Journal, Issue 61, 2006 https://www.jstor.org/stable/25472834?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Laure Philipse, “Der wereld als ‘a global village’, 8 weekly, Amsterdam, 2006

Trading Places, Variant, summer issue, 2005

Johannes Wendland, Dot.City ladt sich aug, Frankfurter Rundshau, 01.07.2003

Brigitte Huck, Routes, Artforum, May, 2003 https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/200305/routes-46794

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Molly Hesbit, Rirkrit Tiravanija, What is the station, Venice Biennale catalogue, 2003

Mattias Dusini,Anders Reisen, Springerin, April, 2002

Reinhard Braun, Kunst zwischen Cultural Studies und Politik, Camera Austria, 80

Walter Seidl, Auf der Reise, Arts Magazine, 2002

Books and pamphlets (selected)

The Time of the Image: A Philosophical Exploration of the Image in the work of Bernard Stiegler, Herbert von Halem, Cologne, 2020 https://www.halem-verlag.de/the-time-of-the-image/

Oilscapes, (ed. with Janet Stewart), Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen, 2012

Migrasophia: migration+philosophy, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, 2012 https://www.academia.edu/36436201/Migrasophia_migration_philosophy

Investigations towards the film: Back to Moscow and back. Again. Bauhaus Foundation, Dessau, 2004

Radiotemporarie, (ed.), Le Magasin, CNAC, Grenoble, 2001

Essays, articles and interviews (selected)

Zeit im Akkusativ, Isaac Julien: Playtime, Palace Populaire/Kerber Art, 2023

Time in the Accusative Case, Isaac Julien: Playtime, Palace Populaire/ Kerber Art, 2023

Russification project, MAM Documents 004, Mori Art Museum, 2022

Take care and be careful: in memory of Bernard Stiegler, Moscow Art Magazine, Moscow, RF, 2021

Contingency of cultures, cultures of contingency: Cultural Studies with a Philosophical Attitude , in Matthias Wieser / Elena Pilipets (eds.) Medienkultur als kritische Gesellschaftsanalyse Festschrift für Rainer Winter , Herbert von Halem Verlag, Cologne, Germany, 2021 https://www.halem-verlag.de/eine-festschrift-fuer-rainer-winter/

“Self-made man”: Freedom as the condition of one’s own making,
Moscow Art Magazine, Moscow, RF, 2020

Politics and poetics of “post-truth”: trans-imitation, Moscow Art Magazine, Moscow, RF, 2019

Universal via particular: Fuzzy objects of art, Moscow Art magazine, Moscow, RF, 2018

(with Rainer Winter), Cultural Studies in the past and future: Interview with Stuart Hall, Studi Culturali, Bologna, Italy, 2017 https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1405/87546

Chinese translation: http://雷纳·温特,蔡嘉慕·阿齐佐夫,李开.文化研究的过去和现在——斯图亚特·霍尔访谈[J].文化研究,2018(03):199-216

The engagement with the thought: The absent centre of art, Moscow Art Magazine, 2015

Watching Philosophy on YouTube, ETUM, E-Journal for Theatre and Media, November 2015 https://www.academia.edu/35861869/Watching_Philosophy_on_YouTube.docx

The Contingent Object of Art: Place as a Position, Moscow Art Magazine, Moscow, 89, 2015 http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/7/article/98

The ‘Cut-n-mix’ Culture: The Impossibilities of Production in New Media, Ibraaz Journal, November, 2014 https://www.ibraaz.org/essays/47

Linguini, Languages, Cultures, in Commerce by Artists, Art Metropole, Toronto, Canada, 2011 https://artmetropole.com/events/commerce-by-artists-european-lecture-tour-by-luis-jacob

From the frozen decade to the disoriented world, Moscow Art Magazine, 82, 2011

Editing as art: Harun Farocki, Moscow Art Magazine, 79-80, 2010

Stuart Hall and the location of culture, Moscow Art Magazine, 77-78, 2011 http://xz.gif.ru/numbers/77-78/azizov-hall/

(with Peter Osborn) , The grammar of curating, Manifesta Journal, 7, 2009, Amsterdam

Unusual phrases for the usual phrasebook, in Proud to be Flesh: A Mute Magazine Anthology of Cultural Politics After the Net, Autonomedia, 2009

Post-script to Migrasophia: Ubiqutious topology, Open Space, 2009, Divus, Vienna

(with Asit Bhatt), Representing India: Indian highway, Moscow Art Magazine, 2009,

East-West, Moscow Art Magazine, 70, 2008 http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/22/article/358

(with Peter Osborn), The intellectual turn: dialogue with Peter Osborn, Moscow Art magazine, 69, 2008 https://www.academia.edu/36436458/The_Intellectual_turn_Dialogue_with_Peter_Osborne

Can we still speak? Text for the MAFA degree show catalogue, Central St.Martins, University of Arts, London, 2007 https://www.academia.edu/37258975/Can_we_still_speak.docx

The rhetoric of time: the old narrative through the prisms of the new point of view, in Progressive Nostalgia, (ed. V.Misiano), WAM, 2008, Moscow

Ajan retorikka: Vanha kertomus uudesta nakokulmasta, catalogue, Kiasma Museum of Modern art, Finland, 2007

The rhetoric of time: the old narrative through the prisms of the new point of view, Moscow Art Magazine, 65/66, 2007 http://moscowartmagazine.com/en/issue/42/article/847

Elliptical notes on uncertainty: USA, Moscow Art Magazine, 64, 2007http://moscowartmagazine.com/issue/27/article/476

Global tour: art as a scene of proliferated ‘attractions’ and ideas, in Global Tour: Art, Travel and Beyond, W139, Amsterdam, 2005

A joker in the pack of globalization: Dialogue with Stuart Hall, in Routes (ed. Christian Kravagna) Grazer Kunstwerein, Austria, 2005 https://www.academia.edu/36436132/Dialogue_with_Stuart_Hall.docx

Unusual phrases for the usual phrasebook (extracts from Migrasophia), Mute magazine, London, 2005 http://Unusual_phrases_for_the_usual_phrase_book_extracts_published_by_Mute_London_2006

Invisible frontiers, Occasions 8, Austrian Cultural Forum, 2004

Investigations towards the film: Back to Moscow and back. Again. Bauhaus Foundation, Dessau, 2004 https://www.academia.edu/36436102/Investigations_towards_the_film.doc

Paramnesia, Project Russia, Moscow, 2004 https://archi.ru/press/journalist_present.html?id=16083

When PhD becomes an artwork, msdm stencilled papers, 2004http://www.msdm.org.uk/pr/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/zeigam_azizov_when-phd-becomes-an-art-work.pdf

Memory factory, Coleman project space, London, 2004

(with Stuart Hall), The world has to be made to mean!, Venice Biennale catalogue, Venice, 2003

Will multiculturalism be russified? In Moneynations, (ed. Marion von Osten), Selena Verlag, Vienna, 2003

Migrasophia: de ser ‘Artista’ a ‘Devenir Otro’, Brumaria 1, Madrid, 2002 http://transform.eipcp.net/correspondence/1134816059

Domesti(fi)cation of Visual Pleasures, in Outsourcing, (ed. Paula Raush) inIVA/MSDM, London, 2002

Brand Ranking: in between conformity and consciousness, in Outsourcing

In between home and globe, Routes, Grazer Kunstverein, 2002 https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Routes.html?id=LRJ8YgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Camouflage: The Visible in the Invisible, Third Text, 57,2011 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09528820108576948

Rusification and terrain of self-determination, in Imported (ed. Rainer Ganahl), Semiotexte, NY, 1998 https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/imported

https://www.halem-verlag.de/the-time-of-the-image/

https://www.iniva.org/library/digital-archive/people/a/azizov-zeigam/

https://uni-klu.academia.edu/ZeigamAzizov