Photo Credit
ABOUT
Nadim read Philosophy at University College London before receiving his PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was Co-Director of Import Projects e.V. in Berlin from 2012 to 2019 and, concurrently, Curator at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2013-2015). He curated the 4th Marrakech Biennale (with Carson Chan) in 2012, and the 5th Moscow Biennale for Young Art in 2016. He co-founded and co-curated the 1st Antarctic Biennale (2017) and the Antarctic Pavilion (Venice, 2015-2017). Widely published, in 2019 he was First Prize recipient of the International Award for Art Criticism (IAAC). His recent book Poetics of Encryption: Art and the Technocene is published by Hatje-Cantz (Berlin, 2023) and Luiss University Press (Rome, 2025). Nadim is currently Director of Autotelic Foundation (London) and Curator-at-large, Langen Foundation (Düsseldorf). In 2025 he curates the Vienna Digital Cultures festival.
CONTACT ME AT NADIM.SAMMAN(AT)GMAIL.COM
University of Toronto
Visiting Professor (three semester-long courses):
BA course - Critical Curatorial Lab: "Blackout"
BA course - Advanced Critical Theory: "The Material Imagination"
MA course - Contemporary Art: Theory and Criticism: "The State of Nature (and its discontents)"
January – June 2020
Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) Basel
Visiting Lecturer (Curatorial Workshop)
11–15 December 2017
Slovak Academy of Fine Art and Design, Bratislava
Visiting Lecturer (Workshop)
27 November -1 December, 2017
Iceland Academy of the Arts
Visiting Lecturer – MFA & BFA (Lectures, seminars and criticism)
9-13 October, 2018
University of Malta
Tutor and Visiting Lecturer - Valetta 2018 Curatorial School
29 August – 2 September, 2016
Iceland Academy of the Arts
Visiting Lecturer – MFA (lectures, seminars and criticism)
16-20 November 2015
Universität der Künste (UdK)
Guest Lecture – BFA ("The Modernist Art of Travel")
11 November 2015
Institut d’Etudes Supérieures des Arts, London/Whitechapel Gallery
Visiting Lecturer – MA International Art Markets (lecture series: "Globalization and Contemporary Art")
2011, 2012
Transart Institute, Berlin
External Critic – MFA (Degree Project)
25–29 August – 2012, 2013
Courtauld Institute of Art
Visiting Lecturer – BA (second year)
Course Title: "20th Century Russian Art & The End of History"
January – March 2010
Courtauld Institute of Art
Seminar Tutor – MA "Modernism After Postmodernism" (Dr. G. Parkinson)
Seminar Tutor – MA "Global Conceptualisms" (Dr. S. Wilson & Dr. B. Groys)
October – December 2010
Courtauld Institute of Art
Seminar Tutor – MA "Modernism After Postmodernism" (Dr. G. Parkinson)
October – December 2009
Ehwa & Yonsei Universities (Korea)
Tutor – BA study abroad unit: "Art in London"
(lectures and gallery visits)
September 2008 – 2009
School of Oriental & African Studies
Guest Lecturer – Diploma in Asian Contemporary Art
November 2007
Talk: Cultural Diplomacy in MENASA
Culture Summit Abu Dhabi
Manarat Al Saadiyat
23 October 2022
Lecture: On Curating
University of Amsterdam
Curating Art and Cultures (Heritage Studies)
18 June 2021
Lecture: The Antarctic Imaginary
Cornell University
Preston H. Thomas Memorial Lectures
6 November 2020
Berlin: Orpheus & the Technocave
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
31 October 2020
Lecture: Iroojrilik
Sonic Acts, Amsterdam
15 April 2019
Lecture: Without Winter
Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Berlin
14 March 2019
Lecture: Expeditions and Art
University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty
14 February 2019
Lecture: Errant Curating
E-Flux space, New York
13 February 2019
Lecture: Expeditions/Exhibitions
BNKR, Munich
18 January 2018
Lecture: Art Without an Audience
Icelandic Academy of Arts
23 November 2015
Lecture: Hybrid Exhibitions
National Museum of Denmark
23 August 2015
Lecture: Constructing Antarctica
The Antarctic Pavilion
14th Venice Biennale of Architecture
7 June 2014
Lecture: The Occult Contemporary
Import Projects, Berlin
14th Venice Biennale of Architecture
23 October 2013
Lecture: Art of Cybernetic Capitalism
DUVE Gallery, Berlin
10 April 2013
Lecture: Pussy Riot & Putin’s Church
UTOPIA III (Conference), Courtauld Institute of Art
22 February 2013
Panel: Artists and Biennales
Azerbaijan Union of Artists, Baku
17 September 2012
Panel: Holy Mary!: The Pussy Riot Case
Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London
4 September 2012
Panel: Beyond Corporate Social Media
Berlin Social Media Week
1 September 2012
Organizer: Hito Steyerl: Art as Occupation 2.0
Import Projects, Berlin
30 June 2012
Lecture: The Shifting Site: Exhibition Making in Morocco
Université Cadi Ayyad de Marrakech
9 February 2012
Debate: Beyond the Eye of Reason: Art & Faith
St Georges House, Windsor Castle
8 June 2011
Talk: The Art of Glasnost
Haunch of Venison (Gallery), London
8 June 2010
Organizer: Soviet Socialist Symbolism: Artist’s talk by Vitaly Komar
Haunch of Venison (Gallery), London
8 June 2010
Lecture: Towards the First Antarctic Biennale
Universita Ca’ Foscari, Venice
4 June 2011
Lecture: Contemporary Russian Art in the Global Frame
Museum of Modern Art Warsaw
18 March 2010
Panel: Emerging Artworlds: Russia, China, India & Latin America
798 Beijing Biennale, Yan Club, Beijing
10 August 2009
Lecture: Key Issues in Chinese Contemporary Art
Royal Society For Asian Affairs, Members Meeting
3 April 2009
Panel: The Art of Oleg Vassiliev
Christies, King St, London
23 November 2008
Lecture: Face and Identity
4th International Bernd-Spiessl-Symposium for Innovative and Visionary Technologies in Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery (Conference), Basel
5 June 2008
Session Chair: 30 Years After Orientalism (Conference)
Courtauld Institute of Art, London
26 April 2008
Lecture: Introduction to Chinese Contemporary Art
Courtauld Institute of Art, MA course
28 February 2008
Organizer: Land of the Setting Sun? Exhibiting Contemporary Chinese Art in the UK (London Festival of Europe)
Louise T. Blouin Foundation, London
19 – 29 March 2007
