Layla Nabi
Engaged in Disengagement
01.03.25 – 28.03.25

In the exhibition Engaged in Disengagement, artist Layla Nabi presents sculptural works with which she recreates objects from public spaces that have lost their original function and purpose. These works are part of Nabi's ongoing exploration of everyday urban objects, which she decontextualizes and detaches from a linear timeline.
    In the G10 exhibition, two replicated ticket validators lie on the floor, reminiscent of those commonly found at stations in major German cities. For these works, the artist uses mass-produced materials with smooth surfaces, combining them with an industrialized design language which she simplifies and abstracts. At first glance, Nabi’s ticket validators appear as if she had removed them from a train platform. The reduction of form only becomes evident upon closer examination. By positioning the validators horizontally on the floor, they seem to lay themselves and their work to rest – perhaps taking a break. Perhaps they have deliberately embraced this passivity as a silent protest against their constant availability at transit stops.
    A similar quiet detachment is reflected in Nabi’s large wall piece, which recalls the floor textures of train stations. In subway stations, the multicoloured floor patterns serve both as a visual barrier before the edge of the platform and as a guidance system for visually impaired people. While floors in public spaces are marked with tactile traces, the artist distills these to their geometric essence. Nabi’s enigmatic and ironic sculptures exhibit design-aesthetic tendencies of Minimalism and Pop Art. Nevertheless, they are thriving on their very own way on the tension between possible utilitarian value and “uselessness.” The displayed objects are literally turned upside down in G10 Projektraum: floor elements extend across the wall, while furniture originally intended to stand upright at stations shifts to a horizontal position. In the exhibition, the everyday transit environment is turned inside out, offering a shift in visibility: Though such objects often recede into the background of hectic daily life, the moment of disruption draws them into sharp focus within the exhibition.


In R15, the artist shows the video work something happened but nothing appeared, which she filmed in Monastir, Tunisia, in 2021. A brick attached to a string is dragged through the city and along the coast by a man. With each touch of the changing ground, it gradually wears away until it finally disappears. The brick – an omnipresent element of the cityscape – is a component of rapid urban development. The bricks are both built material and visible elements in vernacular structures, where they often take on new functions: they become stools, steps or displays. As a main and at the same time informal component of street furniture, the brick plays a central role in Nabi’s video: through the humorous and at the same time coarse back-pulling, it is increasingly worn away and slowly dissolves.


Layla Nabi (*1994 in Berlin) lives and works in Berlin. She studied Fine Arts at HfBK Dresden under Wilhelm Mundt and at Städelschule Frankfurt under Hassan Khan until 2024. Her works have been showcased in various solo exhibitions, including Uferhallen Berlin (2023) and Wannsee Contemporary in Berlin (2022). Nabi has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, such as at Parfümerie in Frankfurt (2024), Oktogon in Dresden (2024), MARS Frankfurt (2023), Skulpturenpark Leipzig (2022), Galerie Stephanie Kelly in Dresden (2022), HALLE 14 in Leipzig (2022), A&O Kunsthalle in Leipzig (2021), and Gallery Q in Copenhagen (2020).

 

Text: Carolina Maddè
Photography: Jonas Eickhof