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Rozbeh Asmani is a German artist, born in Shiraz, Iran. After studying media arts at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts, he graduated as a master’s student of Günther Selichar. As a postgraduate at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, he received the Förderpreis grant for his work Colourmarks in 2013. He also has been the very first artist to be appointed to the Junges Kolleg of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2015. In 2020 Asmani has been appointed professor for the department of new media and applied graphics in the visual arts at the Caspar-David-Friedrich-Institute of the University of Greifswald, Germany. Asmani's work has been featured in numerous exhibitions including the Jewish Museum Berlin, Museum Ostwall Dortmund, Museum für Art and Industry Hamburg, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Galerie for Contemporary Arts Leipzig and the MAKK in Cologne. In 2022 the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundeskunsthalle) in Bonn will present his work in its most recent exhibition Farbe ist Programm (Colour says it all).

1983

born in Shiraz (IR)
lives and works in Cologne

2003 - 2009

Studied at the University of Applied Sciences (UAS) in Leipzig

2010 - 2012

Master student with Günther Selichar

2012 - 2015

Postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne

2015 - 2018

Member of the Young Colleague of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts

Prizes and scholarships (selection)

2018

Working scholarship from the Kunstfonds foundation

2017

Young Scene - Publication grant from the Kunststiftung NRW

2013

Winner of the sponsorship award of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne

2008 - 2010

Scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation

Solo exhibitions (selection)

2019

STRIZZI, Cologne (with Bastian Hoffmann)

2018

Immateriell, Galerie Werner Klein, Cologne
Wem gehört die Farbe?, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern

2016

Besetzte Farben, gkg Bonn
Farbe und Identität, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz
Shirin, Raum e.V., Düsseldorf
Farben, Marken und Patente, Herder Raum Für Kunst, Cologne

2015

Farbe und Identität, North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Düsseldorf
second glance, building site Schaustelle, Essen
Farbe - Macht - Erinnerung, Galerie Werner Klein, Cologne

2014

Colourmarks, Michael Horbach Foundation, Cologne

2012

abstract colormarks, master student exhibition, Leipzig
Werkstatt Vorkurs, Bauhaus Foundation, Dessau
Corporate Colour, UniCredit Kunstraum, Munich

2009

Shirin, Rozbeh Asmani, Gallery B2, Leipzig
Oeuvre 08, Universal Cube, Spinnerei, Leipzig (with Sebastian Fischer)

2008

Gold steigt wieder zur 1000-$-Marke, Essential Exstence Gallery, Leipzig (with Sebastian Fischer)

Group exhibitions (selection)

2019

Cherchez la Femme, Stadthaus Ulm
BAUHAUS.LINES Part I, Colors, Häselburg, Gera
Finalisten Purrmann Preise 2019, Kulturhaus Flachsgasse Speyer

2018

Schau...5, Kunsthaus Kollitsch, Klagenfurt (AT)
EnergieWende, Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste, Düsseldorf
Kunst & Kohle, SchichtWechsel, Museum Ostwall, Dortmund
Arbeit am Mythos - Orient und Okzident, Häselburg Gera
Ciao, Strizzi, Cologne
Cherchez la Femme, Jüdisches Museum, Franken, Fürth

2017

Ensemble im Dialog, Schauspiel Stuttgart
Akademie (AT), Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
Im Spielrausch, MAKK, Cologne
MenschenBilder, Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste, Düsseldorf
Cherchez la Femme, Jüdisches Museum, Berlin
Werbung. Die Kunst der Kommunikation., Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf
Weserburg, Centre for Artists' Publications, Bremen
Pflanzen in der Kunst, Ausstellungshaus Spoerri, Hadersdorf near Vienna
fernweh, a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School of humanities, Cologne

2016

Mikro Makro, North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, Düsseldorf
Arno Fischer. Evelyn Richter, Kunsthalle der Sparkasse Leipzig

2015

Kunst=Kapital?, Kunstverein Sundern
bezeichnend, a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School of Humanities, Cologne
2.5.0. object is meditation and poetry, GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Leipzig
Are You Series?, Philara Collection, Düsseldorf
Inter.lude, Goethe Institute of Montreal (CA)

2014

OUT NOW, Nachtfoyer, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
Colour and system, Galerie Werner Klein, Cologne
Zweiundzwanzig/Minus 1, Wirtschaftsministerium-NRW, Düsseldorf
Eden was never so close, KHM at Art Köln, Cologne
Freundschaftsantiqua, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig
BGL #2 / Galerie Kleindienst & Freunde, Kesselwerk, Bergisch-Gladbach
Fest.Flüssig.Flüchtig. An exhibition around the Historical Archive of the town [Rostock is the only city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern], Cologne

2013

Annual exhibition (winner of doctorate prize), Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne
A Short History of Köln, LTD, Los Angeles (US)

2012

abstract colormarks, master student exhibition, Leipzig
Neue Realitäten, Galerie Stihl Waiblingen
Moderne 1, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg

2011

Kabinettausstellung, Goethehaus Frankfurt - Freies Deutsches Hochstift, Frankfurt a.M.
Werkstatt Vorkurs, Bauhaus Foundation, Dessau
Wenn jemand eine Reise tut, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig
Neue Realitäten, Kupferstichkabinett - Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Endlos umstritten, ewig schön, Galerie D21, Leipzig
Celebrate Sebastian, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig
Corporate Colour, UniCredit Kunstraum, Munich

2010

Exposition, ENSA, Paris (FR)
Manipularis, Galerie B2, Leipzig
Smoke Plan 10 - Forum aktueller Architektur, Cologne
Hand Held History, Queens Museum of Art, New York (US)

2009

Oeuvre 08, Universal Cube - Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig
Videonale 09, Kunstmuseum, Bonn
What is it like, Galerie race fast safe car, Cologne
Diploma exhibition, Galerie der HGB, Leipzig
Open (He)art Fair, Essential Existence Gallery, Leipzig
Talk Talk. Das Interview als künstlerische Praxis, Kunstverein Medienturm, Graz (AT)
IABR, International Architecture Biennale, Rotterdam (NL)
Pflicht und Kür - Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Galerie der HGB, Leipzig
Figurenräume/ Raumfiguren: Tanz- und Performancefestival, Stiftung Bauhaus, Dessau

2008

Bauhaus Award 08 - Housing Shortages Bauhaus Foundation, Dessau
Subliminal, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen (DK)
Gold steigt wieder zur 1000-$-Marke, Essential Existence Gallery, Leipzig
Smoke, AudiovisuaLE 08, UT Connewitz, Leipzig
"An artist certainly cannot compete with a man on the moon in the living room", Halle 14 - Baumwollspinnerei Leipzig

2007

Hiwar Fanni - artistic dialogue, Goethe Institute, Cairo (EG)
Blaue Blume, Substistances - Réfectoire des nonnes, Lyon
Farbfest, Bauhaus, Dessau
KunstFilm Biennale, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Volume One, Halle 14 - Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig

2006

Reality Addicts, Transmediale 06, Berlin
Sonambiente, Klangkunstfestival Tessla, Berlin
Grammaire de la Ville, Goethe Institute, Lyon (FR)
Les nomades urbains, Goethe Institute, Lyon (FR)
Lebensräume als Spielräume - Architektur im Film, Filmmuseum, Potsdam

2005

Teheran Taxi, Haus des Buches, Leipzig
Berlin 05, Festival for Young Politics, Berlin

Works in public collections (selection)

Stiftung Bauhaus, Dessau
Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
Goethe Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Kunstverein Medienturm, Graz (AT)
Wirtschaftsministerium NRW, Düsseldorf
Kollitsch Collection (AT)
Kienbaum Collection 
Stoa169 Stiftung

Rozbeh Asmani’s work deals with the aesthetic of capitalism in multiple ways. Colourmarks shows corporate colors and their combinations registered at the German Patent and Trademark Office since 1995, distinguishing themselves from their commercial competitors. Via Commercial colour branding the world of consumption entered our collective memories. Thus, Asmani takes advantage of his artistic freedom by appropriating these colors. Detached from names, logos, and products, the colors remain enigmatic, vague and indefinite. Because of that, his public display of exclusive color branding also reveals their unavailability. Originally named ColourmarksColumns, his project was on display on 54 public advertising pillars (in Germany coined as Litfaßsäulen) in Cologne from 2017-2018 and issued on over 250 pillars in Duesseldorf's metropolitan areas in 2019. Here, colour marks were presented for general public viewing, embracing a randomized billboard-posting practice. Legally however, these branding colours were protected and granted only to their corporate owners for their exclusive marketing and commercial use. Asmani’s art lends its colour-language from an oversaturated consumption world: If it is true that the universe of consumption betrays us of our childhood, then perhaps Asmani is our Robin Hood. (Michael Kohler, in: art Magazin, 9/2017)