Jassim AlNashmi
Kuwaiti, B. 1991
Jassim AlNashmi is a Kuwaiti architect, designer, and artist who has made significant contributions to the architecture and design community in Kuwait and internationally. Jassim’s work embodies the organic and spontaneous outcome of his creative process, often times tedious and technically challenging. He now runs his design store and studio manmade studio, which creates bespoke furniture and interiors in collaboration with local craftsmen. Scroll through to explore Jassim's artworks and extended biography.
Featured Artwork
The Green Line, 2018 (Mini)
The Blur Series is an ode to the collaborative process between a camera and its photographer. A series of dye-sublimation photographic prints on aluminium, the artworks are of photographs taken with a Lubitel 166+ Lomography film camera, which is a 2008 reproduction of the original 1977 Russian design, the Lubitel 166. Each photograph in the series is an abstract visual interpretation of a specific location. Throughout these works, we learn that the camera is equally capable of telling a story on its own, acting as the artist’s partner rather than the artist’s medium.
Captured in Beirut during his Masters at ETH Zurich, The Green Line is Jassim’s largest and smallest dye-sublimation print on aluminium. During Jassim’s time in Beirut, he visited a waterfront World Heritage site which has been under the threat of demolition by the state. The proliferation of privatized seaside resorts and the exploitation of public land for the sake of tourism has caused heavy disagreements between the people and the state, as such, urbanization could pose disastrous consequences for ecology and marine biodiversity. The deep-green image that was created on this site served as a reminder of a similarly divided time in Beirut’s history, the Civil War of 1975.
As a consequence of this war, the city of Beirut was split in two and divided into East and West with a physical road which was unmanned territory. The road, due to reduced pollution from car and foot traffic, started growing trees and developed its own unique ecological environment. It became known as “The Green Line”, a line of demarcation that separated the city’s communities. The Green Line and its ominously appealing aura explain to us that the contemporary divided community is history repeating itself.
Year of Printing: 2023
Dye-sublimation print on aluminium
10x7cm. Edition of 30
Printed 2023
Biography
Jassim AlNashmi is a Kuwaiti architect, designer, and artist who has made significant contributions to the architecture and design community in Kuwait and internationally. His unique approach and commitment to promoting local talent have earned him recognition and admiration in many sectors.
Jassim’s work embodies the organic and spontaneous outcome of his creative process, often times tedious and technically challenging. He now runs his design store and studio manmade studio, which creates bespoke furniture and interiors in collaboration with local craftsmen.
Jassim holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Urban Design from ETH Zürich, and a professional BArch from Iowa State University where he spent a semester at London’s Architectural Association. Following this, he practiced at offices such as Pace and Perkins + Will in the USA and Kuwait. He has also curated and exhibited artwork in the USA, the UK, Brazil, Italy, Lebanon, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, under the two collectives, What’s Your Location and Desert Cast. His works are published on design platforms such as Dezeen, Design Boom, Wallpaper, Design Milk, and Herskhazeen, among others. Jassim has exhibited his works in numerous international group and solo exhibitions, and has represented his home country of Kuwait in several numerous international exhibitions and biennales across the world.
Exhibition History
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Masallah Transcends No.2, Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah, UAE
2020 Confluence – Martyrs Memorial Installation, Shaheed park, Kuwait City, Kuwait
2020 The Last Catch, The Scientific Center, Kuwait City, Kuwait
2015 Al Khayal in Haka, Kuwait City, Kuwait
Group Exhibitions
2023 Traces of Utopia, AUB Art Galleries & Collections, Beirut, Lebanon
2022 Desert Cast, Dubai Design Week,Dubai, UAE
2021 Masallah Transcends No.1, Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah, UAE
2021 Desert Cast, Expo2020, Dubai, UAE
2019 8 Questions Sur Des Sujets Urbains, Marseille, France
2019 Desert Cast, The Chair, New York, USA
2019 Looking at Al Sawaber, Contemporary Art Platform, Shuwaikh, Kuwait
2019 Desert Cast, Re-use, The Scientific Center, Kuwait City, Kuwait
2018 Desert Cast, Design and Execution of Contents of Kuwait City Pavilion, Dubai, UAE
2018 Cruzando Horizontes, Porto Alegre, Brazil
2018 Get Out and Push, London, United Kingdom
2017 Harmony in the City, Shuwaikh, Kuwait
2017 Sadi, Kuwait City, Kuwait
2016 What’s your location, Contemporary Art Platform, Shuwaikh, Kuwait
2016 New Perspectives, Kuwait City, Kuwait
2015 Islamopolitan, Contemporary Art Platform, Shuwaikh, Kuwait
2015 What’s your Location?, Porto Alegre, Brazil
2013 fallow, Iowa, USA
Award History
2022 Dezeen Awards 2022, Longlisted in the Installation Category, Masallah Transcends
2022 Cultural Center Design Award, 1st Place, KIPCO
2021 Dezeen Awards 2021, Longlisted in the Installation Category, confluence memorial
2017 Ministry of Youth Awards Ceremony, with the Crown Prince
2017 Art Jameel and V&A Museum Award for Islam-Inspired art, Jameel Prize Nominee
2017 Sadi by Sadu House, Honorable Mention, Awarded by Sheikha Altaf AlSabah, Bibi AlSabah and General Secretariat of the National Council for Culture Arts and Letters Ali AlYouha
2016 Art jameel Photography award, 2nd winner
2012 CSI competition, 1st place, BArch and MArch student competition
2012 Finalist, Design emphasis ’12, USA nation-wide student furniture-making competition
Talks
2022 Renegotiating Identity, Lecture at Bawtaqah Foundation for Architecture & Urbanism
2022 Renegotiating Identity, Lecture at Kuwait University Architecture Department tutored by Muneerah AlRube
2022 Renegotiating Identity, Lecture at Dar Al-athar Al-islamiyyah’s Yarmouk Cultural Centre
2021 Renegotiating Identity, Lecture at City College New York Unit 24 The Instrumentality of Architecture co-tutored by Mitchell Squire and Jerome
2017 Pavilion at the Park, Needlab Pavilion opening ceremony at Shaheed park, Kuwait
2017 Panel Discussion, Needlab events at Kuwait University, Kuwait
2016 The Nature of Space – Brazil to Kuwait, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait