Moving Parts

"Attraction Chair" by Majd Suliman

Moving Parts 

26.10.24–07.12.24

Madé van Krimpen presents Moving Parts, the first solo exhibition by Majd Suliman at the gallery. This exhibition brings together kinetic sculptures, technology, and personal storytelling to explore Suliman’s journey as an immigrant in Germany. Over the years, he has moved from painting to building machines, using technology to reflect on themes like displacement, identity, and adapting to a new culture.
The exhibition features a variety of sculptural works, all connected by the theme of movement, both physical and symbolic. Visitors will experience works that blend beauty with struggle, mix humor with nostalgia, and explore the feeling of being out of place.

One of the works in the exhibition is Attraction Chair, a sculpture that explores our natural desire to attract attention. A wheelchair, decorated with fluttering peacock feathers, moves around the space, controlled by an app created by Majd. The feathers, which symbolize beauty and elegance, are weighed down by the wheelchair, creating a striking contrast. “Technology both burdens and enhances us,” Majd notes. The movement of the wheelchair brings the feathers to life, making
us think about how technology affects the way we see beauty and how it can both help and complicate our lives.

In Pressure, a moving sculpture, Majd reflects on the stress of modern life, especially from the viewpoint of someone who has been displaced. Two motors press on a stress ball shaped like a brain, causing its eyes to bulge as it spins unpredictably. “This piece speaks to the pressure and isolation felt by my generation,” Majd says.


Nostalgic Chair taps into the deep feelings that come with memory. Visitors pedal an old bike, which plays slow music while a flip-flop belonging to his brother spins continuously in front of them. This flip-flop, Majd’s only link to his brother, is a powerful symbol of longing and loss. “It’s a very human trait to give objects emotional meaning,” he explains, showing how powerful nostalgia can be. The gold-plated chain gives the piece a sacred feel, turning the simple act of pedaling into a ritual of remembering, where memories are relived but never move forward.

Another work is Understanding Art V1, which questions the pressures immigrant artists face to fit into Western art traditions. A robot with fans flips randomly through an art encyclopedia, asking whether it’s really necessary to master Western art history in order to create meaningful work. “I want to challenge the idea that an artist has to know the Western canon,” he says, pointing out the unrealistic expectations. The robot’s random flipping of pages becomes a symbol for how arbitrary the idea of what’s important in art can be, especially for artists from different cultural backgrounds.

Majd Suliman (1991, Syria) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Düsseldorf. Majd graduated from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied under the mentorship of Gregor Schneider (2017- 2024), and he also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from the University of Aleppo (2009- 2013).