“I was riding my bicycle in Amsterdam past this plastic red container, and I decided to take it to my studio. I thought it would be interesting to place my camera in it, but not let it be static, because I wanted it to be clearly analogue, bringing a sense of performance into it. In hindsight, it was how I discovered the narrative layer that colour would add to the work. Together with the reflection of the camera as it shifts in and out, it breaks the mysticism around the filmmaking process.” – Karimah Ashadu

Discover with us the works included in “Tendered,” @karimahashadu’s first institutional solo exhibition in the UK now on view at @camdenartcentre in London

In Ashadu’s ‘King of Boys (Abattoir of Makoko)’ (2015), “men, women and children all watch or participate in the slaughter of bulls and rams. A boy wields a knife nearly the size of his own body to slice cuts, and elsewhere a man skins a carcass. Given the subject, an open-air abattoir in the Makoko slums of Lagos, one might imagine finding relief that the [red] filter creates a degree of separation from the jarring viscerality of raw flesh and decapitated animals. Yet when the mechanism shifts to the filter, we seemingly enter into another world, one where the hues are unnaturally vibrant, the sound of scraping knives uncannily close and the movements from one scene to the next increasingly piercing. The baleful score and crescendo of a Nollywood movie playing nearby contribute to the impression of a visceral, violent space. Then, when the filter disappears and the music stops, we return to what for many is just another part of daily life. (Text by @areseuwuoruya from the catalogue ‘Karimah Ashadu: Tendered’)

Curated by @alessandro.rabottini and @leonardobigazzi, “Tendered” is the second project launched under UNISON, a biennial initiative promoted by Fondazione In Between Art Film to commission and produce moving image–based exhibitions in partnership with international public institutions

Images credit: Karimah Ashadu, King of Boys (Abattoir of Makoko), 2015, stills. Courtesy the artist and @sadiecoleshq ...

Randa Maroufi’s film “L’MINA” (2025), which we co-produced, will be presented on November 13, 2025, 9 pm, at the 18th edition of @schermodellarte. Congratulations, Randa!

Jerada is a mining town in Morocco, where coal extraction—officially halted in 2001—has continued informally to this day. “L’MINA” reconstructs current activity in the pits through a set designed in collaboration with the local residents, who perform their own roles on screen.

“L’MINA,” which was awarded with the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film from the 75th Semaine de la Critique in Cannes, will be screened alongside a selection of earlier works by Maroufi, including “Bab Sebta” (2019), “Barbès” (2019), “Stand-by Office” (2017), “The Park” (2015), and “The Great Safae” (2014).

In her works, which include video, photography, and installation, Maroufi adopts a political approach to the representation of bodies in public spaces and to gender issues, revealing their underlying mechanisms. Her films, often developed in close collaboration with the specific communities she engages with, employ special effects and other formal devices that alter the perception of time, space, and movement.

The artist will give a lecture about her work at @institutfrancaisfirenze on November 14, 2025, at 3 pm.

Images credit: Stills from Randa Maroufi, L’MINA, 2025. Produced by @shatamataproduction and co-produced by Fondazione In Between Art Film, @tifawfilms, @dohafilm. With the support of: @afac.fund, @sharjahart Film Platform, @mecenesdusud, @fondationdesartistes, @ifmaroc, @cnapfr Image/mouvement. Courtesy of the artist and Fondazione In Between Art Film ...

The monograph “Karimah Ashadu: Tendered” is out now via @moussemagazine. Hit the link in bio to buy your copy!

This is the first comprehensive monograph dedicated to the filmic works of @karimahashadu and has been released on the occasion of Ashadu’s first institutional exhibitions in London, currently on view at @camdenartcentre, and which will later travel to the @rensoc at the University of Chicago in September 2026.

The exhibition, which is curated by @alessandro.rabottini and @leonardobigazzi, is the second project launched under Unison, a biennial initiative promoted by the Fondazione to commission and produce moving image–based exhibitions in partnership with international public institutions. 

Published by Mousse and edited by @abinoppst with Rabottini and Bigazzi, this detailed overview of Ashadu’s filmic practice features newly commissioned essays, an extended conversation with the artist and a collection of synopses documenting her video installations. It is a rich resource for readers who hope to gain an understanding of the breadth of Ashadu’s work to date, which engages with contemporary manifestations of Nigerian history borne by its people and landscapes.

The publication covers more than a decade of works (2012–25), including Ashadu’s newly commissioned film “MUSCLE,” and features contributions from the artist herself; @myriambensalah; Leonardo Bigazzi; @ginabuenfeld; @martinclark76; @cjnwonka; Alessandro Rabottini; Bettina Steinbrügge; and @areseuwuoruya.

Throughout the book, images are displayed in dynamic grids, proposing zooms in and out from the formal aspects of the artist’s practice, while words are meant to be moments of dwelling and repose into what lies both within and beyond the frame thanks to the design of @lorenzomasonstudio

Photos by @g.i.a.c.o.m.o.b.i.a.n.c.o ...

Saodat Ismailova’s film “Melted into the Sun,” which was commissioned and produced for our exhibition NEBULA (2024) at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto in Venice, curated by @alessandro.rabottini and @leonardobigazzi, will be presented next week at @balticgateshead. Congratulations, Saodat!

Ismailova’s first solo exhibition in the UK includes “Melted into the Sun” alongside the premiere of “Swan Lake” (2025) and the previous works “As We Fade” (2024), and “Zukhra” (2013). Together, they consider thresholds, transitions and power, memory and personal and collective consciousness. They think about the void, the suspended state during political and psychic change, where dreaming becomes possible, but which can also be subject to manipulation and control. 

“Melted into the Sun” (2024) by Saodat Ismailova is inspired by the ambiguous figure of Al-Muqannaʿ (“The Veiled One”), a fuller who became a spiritual leader and political agitator in southern Central Asia in the 8th century. The film meditates on the cultural and political echoes of his revolutionary ideas about the sharing of property and wealth. Adopting a cyclical vision of history and knowledge, the artist transports us to the banks of the Amu Darya River, the circular burial ground of Chillpiq, the city of Bukhara—all sites where the legendary exploits of Al-Muqannaʿ are said to have been performed. But Ismailova also takes us to places that are home to a number of pieces of Soviet infrastructure, such as the Kirov dam, and the solar furnace of Uzbekistan. This visual journey through time betrays the skilled use of illusion and science made by Al-Muqannaʿ for demagogic purposes, and considers the central role played by technology and the manipulation of the Earth. The lyrical sequences of reflections and flashes, together with the textured soundtrack, continue to make his profound and still-unanswered questions reverberate into the modern day. (@abinoppst)

Images credit: Saodat Ismailova, “Melted Into The Sun,” 2024. Stills from single-channel video, color, sound, 35’ 50”. Coproduced by @batalhacentrodecinema. Courtesy the artist and Fondazione In Between Art Film ...

Karimah Ashadu’s film “Machine Boys” (2024), which we produced for the Biennale Arte 2024 and for which Karimah was awarded the Silver Lion for Promising Young Artist, is on view in “The Three-Legged Cat – 18th @istanbulbienali,” curated by @chris_tohme. Congratulations, Karimah!

“Machine Boys” (2024) is a portrait of okada, an informal mode of transportation by motorcycle taxis used across West Africa in lieu of public transport. In Lagos, okadas are omnipresent, yet they have come to be banned in the former Nigerian capital due to their role in traffic accidents and the safety risks they pose to riders, drivers and pedestrians. Shot over several years, “Machine Boys” immerses us in the underworld of Lagos, where the riders zip with sartorial flair through the city’s expressways, marinas and dirt roads. Voiceovers discuss fate, money and survival while revealing these young men’s vulnerability and self-determination: they are forced into these precarious livelihoods in order to support their families or realise educational and entrepreneurial dreams.

Images credits: Karimah Ashadu, stills from “Machine Boys,” 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Fondazione in Between Art Film ...

Karimah Ashadu’s film “Plateau” (2022), which was commissioned and produced for our exhibition PENUMBRA (2022) at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto in Venice, curated by @alessandro.rabottini and @leonardobigazzi, will be presented within the context of @publicartmuc tomorrow. Congratulations, Karimah!

“Plateau” depicts a group of undocumented, self-employed tin miners in Nigeria’s Jos Plateau region, striving to make a living out of an impoverished and unstable land as well as precarious and often life-threatening working conditions. “Plateau” merges a lyrical and investigative exploration of the relation between the landscape and the corporeal, with the majestic presence of the cactus symbolically conjuring both in its endurance to harsh surroundings. Male bodies are seen strenuously sifting mud and moving buckets of water in repetitive, brushstroke-like gestures. Yet, rather than romanticizing, the film stays close to these fatigued workers, whose determined gestures courageously attend to the land utilizing inherited manual techniques and re-mine what the British colonial regime left after it exploited Nigeria in its complex, century-long, violent occupation. Their testimonies, together with those of local villagers and landowners, document the economic collapse of the region in the aftermath of British corporations’ decommission as well as the newly found opportunities to pursue their community’s independence (@abinoppst)

The film will be adapted especially for the Passage in the display cases at Marienplatz in Munich. A series of 11 film stills will alternate daily, with a total of 77 individual images telling the story in a dynamic format. In addition, excerpted quotes from the film, translated into English, will be overlaid on the screens in vinyl cutouts to amplify the voices of the community

The project will be accompanied by a conversation between the artist and @andrea.lissoni on October 31 at @haus_der_kunst

Images credit: Stills from Karimah Ashadu, Plateau, 2021. Two-channel video, colour, sound, 27’. Additional support by @africanculturefund, Mali. With thanks to @columbiaideasinstitute. Courtesy of the artist, and Fondazione in Between Art Film ...

Karimah Ashadu’s first institutional solo exhibition in the UK “Tendered” is now open at @camdenartcentre, London, until March 22, 2026

“Tendered” is the second project launched under Unison, a biennial initiative promoted by Fondazione In Between Art Film to commission and produce moving image–based exhibitions in partnership with international public institutions

Curated by @alessandro.rabottini and @leonardobigazzi of Fondazione In Between Art Film with @martinclark76 and @ginabuenfeld of Camden Art Centre, London, the exhibition includes the premiere of “MUSCLE” – a newly commissioned moving-image installation – as well as a series of new sculptures conceived especially for the show that reference objects and environments within the film. “MUSCLE” (2025) is an intimate portrait of body builders in the heart of Lagos’ slums striving to attain a hyper-masculine ideal, continuing the artist’s research into issues of socio-economic independence and patriarchy within the context of West African culture and society. “MUSCLE” is commissioned and produced by Camden Art Centre, Fondazione In Between Art Film, and @rensoc, where it will be presented in autumn 2026

In addition, the show features “King of Boys” (2015), a window into the inner workings of the Makoko abattoir, and “Cowboy” (2022), a two-channel film that follows a man who has dedicated his life to the care of horses – configured within discrete environments that extend aspects of the films into the viewing space

The show takes visitors on a journey through the range of Ashadu’s practice, from the intimate to the expansive, featuring works that form a cinematic narrative of bodies and land – an undulating scenario of urban subcultures, quotidian labour, and our relationship to nature

“Tendered” is accompanied by the first reference monograph dedicated to the artist, edited by @abinoppst of Fondazione In Between Art Film, with Rabottini and Bigazzi, and published by @moussemagazine

Images credit: Karimah Ashadu, installation views Tendered, Camden Art Centre, 2025. Courtesy the artist, Fondazione In Between Art Film, @sadiecoleshq, Camden Art Centre. Photo: @andrea_rossetti_archive ...