Tammam Azzam, Jonas Englert – Fragments

Galerie Kornfeld is pleased to present works by Tammam Azzam and Jonas Englert in the duo exhibition Fragments. Both artists engage with the rebuilding and re-contextualisation of political moments throughout history.

The exhibition questions how political decisions are made and what consequences they have. It addresses how settlements, arrangements, threats, treaties, and agreements come into being, how they become decisive turning points in history, and how they affect not only the present population but generations to come. At the same time, the exhibition questions the authenticity of diplomatic gestures that lead to defining moments of our time.

Through the works of both artists, we sense how society processes political agreements, disagreements, and decisions. In Englert’s work, this manifests through fragmented video compositions that focus on the diplomacy of political gestures. In contrast, Azzam’s large-scale paper collages depict the fractured aftermath of conflict and dispute.

Tammam Azzam’s work communicates an awareness of urgent issues such as migration, war, and violence. His focus on destruction and reconstruction results in images that address emotions directly and remain in the viewer’s memory. Positioned at the edge of abstraction, his works emphasize emotional access rather than descriptive representation.

His compositions centre on rebuilding from destruction—a metaphor closely linked to the Syrian artist’s personal history, having left his home country in 2011. Despite this biographical background, Azzam’s works extend beyond individual experience. Images of war and devastation remain open to interpretation, allowing the war in Syria to function as a symbol of ongoing political conflicts worldwide. Viewers are invited to question whether these images are abstractions of the artist’s past, figurative representations, or something in between.

On closer inspection, the fragments of paper appear to tell their own stories, jumping from one piece to another. Cracks, gaps, and ruptures become visible—separated, broken, and torn. Yet when viewed from a distance, the small pieces form a compelling overall composition. The artist paints the paper fragments with acrylic before breaking them apart, preserving a painterly aesthetic. Azzam began developing this technique in 2016, after moving to Germany.

These works raise questions rather than provide answers. They encourage independent reflection while symbolizing political issues and ongoing wars across the globe. At their core, they also address the human condition, which oscillates between destruction and despair, and creation and hope. Tragedy and resilience coexist in Azzam’s works, which form a new whole from thousands of fragments.

Jonas Englert’s works reflect social-philosophical phenomena as well as political and historical narratives through video, diagrams, text, and sound. Using both found footage and his own recordings, he explores the space between fiction and documentation, focusing on human beings as individuals and as part of society.

Englert draws attention to specific gestures within historical, cultural, and political moments, exposing their staged nature, artificiality, and curated authenticity. His moving-image compositions reference biblical, historical, and artistic fragments, prompting viewers to question whether diplomatic gestures that became historic moments were truly meaningful—or merely theatrical performances for media consumption.

The work Declaration of Principles is composed entirely of found footage. At the centre of a 31-image polyptych, the main video shows the moment in September 1993 when Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, and Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian National Authority and Chairman of the PLO, shook hands at the White House in the presence of U.S. President Bill Clinton. Englert associates this iconic moment with artworks, political imagery, and biblical references, questioning their symbolic exaggeration, strategic staging, and medialisation.

In Circles I, Englert explores the theme of touch—how it is used in greetings, conflict resolution, and political agreements. A chain of video sequences shows political figures across decades engaging in gestures of touch, forming a continuous cycle that ends where it begins, intertwining repetition and ritual.

Tammam Azzam studied Fine Arts at the University of Damascus. His practice includes painting, paper collage, and digital works addressing conflict in his homeland. Following the Syrian Civil War, he relocated to Dubai and later moved to Germany in 2016 as a fellow of the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg in Delmenhorst. He has lived in Berlin since 2018. His works are included in collections in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States and have been exhibited internationally. He has received numerous awards, including the Creative Activism Award from the Cultures of Resistance Network.

Jonas Englert studied art with Heiner Blum, Rotraut Pape, and Alexander Oppermann, and philosophy with Juliane Rebentisch at the HfG Offenbach. He also studied applied theatre studies with Heiner Goebbels at Justus Liebig University Giessen. He has received multiple awards and scholarships, including the Dr. Marschner Prize and the theory award of the Marielies Schleicher Foundation. His works are held in collections such as the Hirshhorn Museum (Washington, D.C.) and the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston). He has also created works for major theatre institutions in Germany.