![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/Chess-with-hampster.mp4_snapshot_02.37.440.jpg\")
\n \n \n \n \n Chess with Hamster. 2014 Video with Animation 2:40 Minute.\n
\n\n\n The chess game board become a place for re inventing and questioning the game limitation while, the Idea of playing the game and fredom of movement was accompanied by previouse rule re inforcing the monarchy system when you palay the game you are intering to a system that builds boundaries around the players thinking to addopt the Idea that there is a king that every one have to sacrifice himself in order to win the game.. but this vide will start playing around how to challenge these rules .\n
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\n \n\n\n the work invited audiences to invent their own game with dialogues build between participant and many new games invented and become part of the animation shown beside the game. this version was part of the exhibition \n
\n\n \n\n\n In a workshop for the students of (Design Academy Iraq) I invited students to reinvent their new games in a way that reflects their vision for the world. The workshop lasted one week, and participants began building completely new games based on the issues they chose.\n
\n\n\n The idea of the board started in 2005 when Freedom Park was new especially Freedom Corner, which was claimed to be a free spot where everyone could speak at the time I wanted to work on it, and show it in the new game in Freedom Corner.\n
\n\n \n\n\n \n
", "author": { "name": "Rebeen Hamarafiq" }, "tags": [ "Art & Projects" ], "date_published": "2026-09-29T11:35:37+02:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-30T01:37:40+02:00" }, { "id": "https://rebeen.art/am-mrovana-kar-dakan.html", "url": "https://rebeen.art/am-mrovana-kar-dakan.html", "title": "2021 Am Mrovana Kar Dakan", "summary": "Those People Working.. Currator: Avan Omar This project has several virtues, view with solo and group art shows, seminars, discourse and text at…", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/22/1.png\")
\n \n \n \n \nCurrator: Avan Omar\n
\n\n\n This project has several virtues, view with solo and group art shows, seminars, discourse and text at different times and places. Avan Omer is an organiser and curator of this project and analyses its targets for this project.\n
As it is common sense these days in all venues, society, community and sectors after first integration or exposure with the other lots of questions will be generated after identifying yourself the following question is what's your occupation? Generally, we can point to the existence or the human that is connected to their job and became the title of that person sometimes.\n
\n
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Some people are distinguished by their occupation and became their surname. The value of this idea is getting approach and analyse it. There is a huge differ- ence between excitement and enthusiasm to be on board for this matter. Another headline of this concept is the gender has a role to divide the occupations, de- pending on its heavy duties or appropriations’. Ironically, the occupation depict- ing your value in society. This is always a sort of classification that came through or we can say labialization. We are coming to the point to describe the job what is the job?\n
\n
What are the pros and cons? Is the economy having its affection on the equality and equity between the gender? How could we cope without having an occupa- tion?\n
\n
This project highlights our integration with the jobs, activities, and connections. How this relates to the individuals? Aiming to sum up the verity of perspectives and unify them to see the outcome. Different discourses regarding gender with a bunch of groups that attended. Hence, this effort was run voluntarily and cooper- ated, did not have a fund or support by any organization or government. Mainly the performance was in Sulaymaniyah but, at different times and places. The fol- lowing step is arranging some seminars for that purpose.\n
\n \n
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![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/22/p2-2.jpg\")
\n \n \n \n Dropping\n
Art Show\n
By Rebeen Majed\n
On June 10th, 2021\n
At Esta Gallery2 in the Culture Factory of Sulaimany\n
Curator: Avan Omar\n
\n
\n The theme of torture often appears in the works of Kurdish artists, which has an obvious connection with the history of their nation and the painful experiences of their families and friends.\n
Drops of milk fall at regular intervals onto the naked head of the artist filmed against a black background. Within a few minutes a small puddle of milk is formed on the top of the artist’s skull, and a thin trickle runs down his weary face. What we see is an obvious reference to the so- called Chinese water torture, in which cold water is slowly dripped onto the victim’s head. Seemingly mild and “humane”, deprived of spectacular violence and blood-shed, it is in reality painful, mentally debilitating and considered one of the most effective.\n
The theme of torture often appears in the works of Kurdish artists, which has an obvious connection with the history of their nation and the painful experiences of their families and friends.\n
The motif of dripping milk also refers to Rebeen’s experience of fatherhood. The artist looked after his newborn daughter while his wife was working toward her university degree. Attempting to cope with a new situation, weary with the day-to-day monotony and challenges, the artist was also haunted by fear for his daughter’s future, his desire to protect his daughter from experienced by Kurdish women sense of being unable to break through limiting social, religious and cultural circumstances.\n
\n
backpacker-sitting-on-wall-and-looking-down-on-town\t\n
\n
Rebeen Majid An artist and curator based in Sulaimany, South Kurdistan. Graduated from several places for his studies such as the Institute of fine art, the university for his bachelor and masters at the famous Goldsmith University, London. His work contains many different mediums and materials, fluctuating between concepts and displaying his outcomes in a contemporary vision. As well as, Rebeen had arranged and conducted many projects inside the Kurdish region and oversees.\n
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/21/images.jpeg\")
\n \n \n \n The title of the exhibition – May Flames Pave the Way for You – references the case of artists burning paintings in the streets of the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah* in the 1990s, a time when many artists of the older generation had already left the country while the younger generation sensed a depletion in the formerly used language of art, given the geopolitical positioning of a state troubled with war and insurgence. The dramatic demonstration became an announcement of an artistic breakthrough, as it were, comprising a breakaway from continuing modernist tradition, quest for inspiration in daily life practice, and use of the visual vernacular.\n
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/21/264-Niech-poprzedza-Cie-plomien.jpg\")
\n \n \n \n
Emotional transformation associated with experiencing history and the varying paths of individual memory, coupled with changes brought by the Iraq War to daily life and the society are a major component of the exhibition. While developing a new language of art in a country ravaged by war and the social experience of struggling for economic survival is particularly difficult, it did produce a number of vital works and introduce a number of major characters to the art scene. Exhibition-related research spanned many years from the year 2007 onwards, i.a. thanks to workshops delivered in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan by Polish curator Aneta Szyłak and Hiwa K, an internationally renowned Kurdish artist residing in Berlin; the majority of artists showing their works at this exhibition were active participants of these workshops.\n
\n
Artists invited to join the exhibition are in their thirties and forties; most have had the opportunity of studying abroad, chiefly in Germany, the United Kingdom, or Scandinavia. Some have returned and are teaching at art schools, while others remained in the diaspora. Invitees include the following, among others: Hiwa K (Berlin), Sherko Abbas (Manchester), Kani Kamil (Manchester), Shirwan Fatih (Sulaymaniyah), Rebeen Hamarafiq (Sulaymaniyah), Rozhgar Mustafa (Sulaymaniyah), Sakar Sleman (Sulaymaniyah), Walid Siti (London), Halgurd A. Baram (Sulaymaniyah).\n
\n
The exhibition comprises a number of multimedia installations, sculptures, drawings and photographs, all of which will fill the space of Białystok’s Arsenal Gallery with multi-dimensional, emotional narrative carrying an extraordinary cultural and political message.\n
\n
Aneta Szyłak\n
\n
* We are using the name “Sulaymaniyah”. The official index of Polish geographical names published by the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography (2019 edition) lists the city as As-Sulajmanijja; transcribed from the Arabic, it is considered offensive by the Kurds. The city’s name in Kurdish reads “Silêmanî”.\n
\n
Translated by Aleksandra Sobczak-Kövesi\n
\n
Events accompanying the exhibition\n
NIECH POPRZEDZA CIĘ PŁOMIEŃ / MAY FLAMES PAVE THE WAY FOR YOU\n
June 26 – August 9, 2020\n
\n
Arsenal Gallery power station\n
13, Elektryczna Street, Białystok\n
(entry from Świętojańska Street)\n
\n
\n
June 26, 2020 (Friday) 6 p.m.\n
Opening of the exhibition MAY FLAMES PAVE THE WAY FOR YOU\n
During the opening night we will see a video screening of musical performance\n
WHEN THE WILD INSTRUMENTS SING\n
Artists taking part in the performance:\n
Sherko Abbas, Khabat Abas, Hardi Kurda
\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/20/Untitled-2-copy.jpg\")
\n \n \n \n \n
\n\n\n New National Museum in GdańskNew Art Museum part of National Museum in Gdańsk. 23.10.2021 - 27.02.2022\n
\n\n![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/20/slider_1920x625_px_v3-2-1634564812.jpg\")
\n \n \n \n Kurdish art has been developing in complex political and economic conditions. Towards the end of the Iranian-Iraqi war (1980–1988), which claimed many victims on both sides of the conflict, the Kurdish people in Iraq experienced the horror of a genocide ordered by Saddam Hussain. The dramatic struggle for independence became the key element of the Kurdish culture and the policy of remembrance and constitutes not only a part of the collective experience, but also the dominating narration, through which the identity of the autonomous Region of Kurdistan is created. The development of a new language of art in a country struggling with wars and doomed to a fight for survival is particularly difficult. Nevertheless, a group of artists whose works are related to the reality that affects them have managed to accomplish it.\n
\n
The works presented at the exhibition undertake the subject of the experience of the history, as well as social and lifestyle-related changes taking place in the region. Their authors belong to the generation of thirty- and forty-year olds and most of them have had an opportunity to study abroad, mainly in Germany, Great Britain and Scandinavia. Some of them returned to their homeland and have been teaching in schools of art, while others remained in the diaspora. The artists invited to the National Museum include: Hiwa K (Berlin/Sulaymaniyah), Sherko Abbas (Manchester), Kani Kamil (Manchester), Shirwan Fatih (Sulaymaniyah), Rebeen Hamarafiq (Sulaymaniyah), Rozhgar Mustafa (Sulaymaniyah), Sakar Sleman (Sulaymaniyah), Walid Siti (London), and Halgurd A. Baram (Sulaymaniyah).\n
\n
\n
\n
Exhibition partner: GALLERY ARSENAŁ in Białystok\n
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/19/rebeen-4.jpg\")
\n \n TUNNING BODY, 2016\n
“Tunning Body” shows tension between violence, dance and sound. While the sticks are a Kurdish musical instrument, shimshal, they are at the same time sticks used in martial arts. The body takes position among these complexities, reflecting the reality of Kurdish society in Iraq.\n
The work grew from an experiment with body and sound, devised for the project “Clamour” Curated By Sherko Abbas at the exhibition hall institute of fine art, Sulaimaniyah
The first time the work was shown was as a video documentation of the actual performance.\n
For the first time I did the performance live and in front of an audience for the project Space21. This opens up possibilities for many other directions in which the work can develop. Simultaneously, it records layers of politics and history embedded in different locations.\n
\n \n
", "author": { "name": "Rebeen Hamarafiq" }, "tags": [ "Art & Projects" ], "date_published": "2026-09-27T14:37:33+02:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T19:19:10+02:00" }, { "id": "https://rebeen.art/dropping-bucket-and-objects.html", "url": "https://rebeen.art/dropping-bucket-and-objects.html", "title": "Dropping Bucket and Objects", "summary": "2017 Trilogy bucket leaking system. The installation involves four metal buckets: one is placed upside down on the floor, while the other three…", "content_html": "\n \n\n\n The installation involves four metal buckets: one is placed upside down on the floor, while the other three are suspended from the ceiling, stacked one atop the other. Each bucket has a hole that allows water to leak out. The last bucket is equipped with a tap underneath, which can be adjusted to control the dripping. The sound of the water drops hitting the upside-down bucket enhances the auditory experience of the installation.\n
\n\n \n\n\n The bucket had varied installations in different places and spaces, so installing the buckets opened up a variety of methods to play with, depending on the context.\n
", "author": { "name": "Rebeen Hamarafiq" }, "tags": [ "Art & Projects" ], "date_published": "2026-09-27T12:38:43+02:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T13:29:52+02:00" }, { "id": "https://rebeen.art/dropping-canvas-imago-mundi.html", "url": "https://rebeen.art/dropping-canvas-imago-mundi.html", "title": "Dropping, Canvas. Imago Mundi", "summary": "Imago Mundi, One Month, 10,000,000 drops of water leaked from the water system. For the project Imago Mundi, specifically for “Kurdistan - In-Between…", "content_html": "\n \n\n\n Imago Mundi, One Month, 10,000,000 drops of water leaked from the water system.\n
For the project Imago Mundi, specifically for “Kurdistan - In-Between Worlds,” I was chosen as a contemporary Kurdish artist and provided with a 10x12cm canvas to create an artwork. I discovered several tanks in the city’s water system that were leaking, with drops of water coming from various locations. I positioned the canvas beneath one leak for one month, and by estimation, I calculated that around ten million drops struck the canvas at its centre during that time.\n
\n https://imagomundicollection.org/artworks/rebeen-hamarafiq-after-10000000-drops-water-leaked-water-system/\n
\n\n \n\n\n https://imagomundicollection.org/catalogues/kurdistan-in-between-worlds/\n
", "author": { "name": "Rebeen Hamarafiq" }, "tags": [ "Art & Projects" ], "date_published": "2026-09-27T09:30:57+02:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-27T12:19:35+02:00" }, { "id": "https://rebeen.art/dropping-performance-seminars-daily-living.html", "url": "https://rebeen.art/dropping-performance-seminars-daily-living.html", "title": "Dropping performance: Seminars, Daily living.", "summary": "2013 Performance in the Seminar Room Goldsmiths London, Duration, 60 minutes. During a seminar at Goldsmiths, I presented a fifteen-minute theoretical research piece…", "content_html": "![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/IMG_5466.JPG\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/IMG_5477.JPG\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/IMG_5470.JPG\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/IMG_5472.JPG\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/IMG_5475.JPG\")
2013 Performance in the Seminar Room Goldsmiths London, Duration, 60 minutes.
\nDuring a seminar at Goldsmiths, I presented a fifteen-minute theoretical research piece alongside a practice-based artwork. My presentation involved sitting under a bucket that constantly dripped water on me. The theoretical component centred on the emergence of a new system of control, exploring the concept of the panopticon, and discussing how art shapes public taste through galleries and various art organisations. I also provided examples of how art integrates into daily life beyond traditional art venues. Following the seminar, we had an hour-long discussion about both the artwork and the theoretical ideas. While everyone anticipated that I would emerge from under the bucket during this time, I chose to stay put until the very end of the discussion.
\n![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/Dropping-in-park-4.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/Dropping-in-park.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/Dropping-in-park1.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/Dropping-in-park2.jpg\")
2013 live performance at a park, Goldsmith's College London, in an open space.
\nThe performance was part of the Idea of involving the Artwork with daily living, instead of ocupying a space or a gallery specified to it; just let it happen as a gesture or normalised action that directs attention. The spot was a little space that connected the Goldsmith's campuse with commuters and exchanges between different parts of the College.
\n\n
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/FB_IMG_1493623527400.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/FB_IMG_1493623537476.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/FB_IMG_1493623548943.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/FB_IMG_1493623555604.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/15/gallery/FB_IMG_1493623566365.jpg\")
2015 Seminar at Sulaymaniah University.
\nThe seminar at Sulaymaniyah College was partially similar to the first seminar at Goldsmith's College, but this time among Kurdish students and the discussions were also in Kurdish. Beside the bucket, water was leaking; it didn't need extra parts attached to it to control the drops of water.
", "author": { "name": "Rebeen Hamarafiq" }, "tags": [ "Art & Projects" ], "date_published": "2026-09-26T16:52:23+02:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-26T18:52:44+02:00" }, { "id": "https://rebeen.art/dropping.html", "url": "https://rebeen.art/dropping.html", "title": "Dropping Video.", "summary": "DROPPING Performance staged for camera, 2014. Alternativa 2014, Gdansk Poland “Dropping” is a direct-to-camera performance recording by Rebeen Hamarafiq. Drops of milk fall…", "content_html": "DROPPING Performance staged for camera, 2014.
\n![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/FB_IMG_1667073989649.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/REBEEN-HAMARAFIQ-Bauhause.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/IMG_20221013_125333.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/IMG_20221013_140406.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/IMG_20221013_153431.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/IMG_20221013_183150.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/bo-dalell.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/scan0001.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/scan0002.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/scan0003.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/25/gallery/scan0004.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/19/gallery/rebeen-5.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/19/gallery/rebeen-6.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/19/gallery/rebeen-expoer-2.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/19/gallery/Tunning-Body-1.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/17/gallery/IMG_8603.JPG\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/17/gallery/IMG_8603-2.JPG\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/17/gallery/IMG_8630.JPG\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/17/gallery/IMG_8669.JPG\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/17/gallery/IMG_8278.JPG\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/17/gallery/IMG_8280.JPG\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/17/gallery/IMG_8281.JPG\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/16/gallery/IMG_20200713_011338-copy.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/16/gallery/IMG_20200713_011352.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/16/gallery/rebeen_hamarafiq_back_kurdistan.png\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/16/gallery/rebeen_hamarafiq_front_kurdistan.png\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/16/gallery/catalogue-kurdistan-01.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/16/gallery/catalogue-kurdistan-02.jpg\")
\n ![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/14/3-Dropping-12-copy-2.jpg\")
Alternativa 2014, Gdansk Poland
\n“Dropping” is a direct-to-camera performance recording by Rebeen Hamarafiq. Drops of milk fall at regular intervals onto the naked head of the artist filmed against a black background. Within a few minutes a small puddle of milk is formed on the top of the artist’s skull, and a thin trickle runs down his weary face. What we see is an obvious reference to the so-called Chinese water torture, in which cold water is slowly dripped onto the victim’s head. Seemingly mild and “humane”, deprived of spectacular violence and bloodshed, it is in reality painful, mentally debilitating and considered one of the most effective.
\n2014 Degree Show, Goldsmiths.
\n![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/14/4-droping-copy.jpg\")
\n
In the degree show at Goldsmiths, the work was shown with another work to build a space between swinging and looking at the video of the performance while the swing was 6 metres high; one was able to enjoy the dropping of the milk and build a space between enjoying swinging and watching the Chinese torture. The swings were made in my village, Delezha, by three old women as a collaborative work, encouraging them to build the biggest (guriss); the Kurdish name for the rope that the swing is made of. And while they had to make it very big, 14 metres long and four times thicker than normal ones-the work became work for many others to help them in the collaborative work they participated.
\n![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/14/5-1200x800.jpg\")
2020 Arsenal Gallery power station, ul. Elektryczna 13, Białystok
\nAt Arsenal Gallery, Hamarafiq’s video is installed in a space below the level of the exhibition – the basement area symbolizing a torture chamber or prison, but also the humiliation of the victims of the abuse. The theme of torture often appears in the works of Kurdish artists, which has an obvious connection with the history of their nation and the painful experiences of their families and friends.
The motif of dripping milk also refers to Hamarafiq’s experience of fatherhood. The artist looked after his newborn daughter while his wife was working toward her university degree. Attempting to cope with a new situation, weary with the day-to-day monotony and challenges, the artist was also haunted by fear for his daughter’s future. It stemmed from, on the one hand, the artist’s memories of his own difficult childhood in Kurdistan under Saddam Hussein and, on the other, his desire to protect his daughter from experiencing Kurdish women’s sense of being unable to break through their limiting social, religious and cultural circumstances.
Esta Gallery2 in the Culture Factory of Sulaimany
\n![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/14/p2.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://rebeen.art/media/posts/13/1-Heads-back-2.jpg\")
Photos of the head: Soran Salam
\n2005 Head’s back
\nThe work combines fifteen prints in various tones but the same original photographs of my head; my effort was to rebuild the part we missed because of culture. At the time, there was a big positivity toward anything related to Kurdish culture, but in the work I was trying to look at culture critically.
\n
Children in Kurdistan were tied up inside a cradle when they were born until they became older and could no longer stay in the cradle; in this process, the soft part at the child's head's back becomes pressed and flattened. This depressed part of the head metaphorically leaves a bigger depression in humans when they grow, as they are effortfully trying to rebuild their lost part.
The work was part of the 2005 Project exhibition; at the time, it was a new effort from our younger generation to discover working with other media and concepts outside painting.
\n", "author": { "name": "Rebeen Hamarafiq" }, "tags": [ "Art works", "Art Projects", "Art & Projects" ], "date_published": "2026-09-26T01:41:48+02:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-26T01:46:24+02:00" } ] }