Prof. Syowia Kyambi has been a visiting professor at the AdBK Nuremberg since 1 November 2023. The visiting professorship is funded by the Top Professorship Programme (SPP) of the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts.

Further information about the first bavarian Art Top Professorship here

Education

2020 Master in Fine Arts, Plymouth University, Transart Institute, UK 

2002 Bachelor in Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA 

Organizations 
 

The Association of Visual Artists & Collectives (2021 – 2023)

Current chair of the association which focuses on the welfare of its members. 
 

Untethered Magic (2019 – 0ngoing)

Co-founder of a processed based international residency program focused on autonomy and sustainability. 
 

Transart Institute (2023 – Ongoing)

Co-director of the MFA program 

Exhibitions

[* solo exhibitions / ** touring exhibitions] (Selection) 

2023* - KASPALE, The Nairobi Contemporary Institute, Kenya
 

2023 - Matter As Actor, Lisson Gallery, UK
 

2022-2024 - MakerMuseum:Weaving, Museum Europäischer Kulturen, Berlin 

2022 Exercises in Conversation, Pavilion of Kenya, 59th International Art Exhibition - Biennale di Venezia, Italy
 

2022 Índaffa / Forger out of the Fire, Dakar Biennale, Senegal
 

2022-2023 Contact Zones, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt/Main, Germany 
 

2019 AMANI, on the Trail of a Colonial Research Station, MARKK Museum, Hamburg, Germany 
 

2018* Double Consciousness, Galerie Mitte im Kubo, Bremen, Germany 
 

2015 - 2019** Future Africa Visions in Time, Nairobi National Museum, Kenya, Goethe Johannesburg, South Africa, Goethe Windhoek, Namibia, Goethe Kigali, Rwanda, Makarere University Gallery, Kampala, Uganda, Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth Academy for Advanced African Studies, Germany

2016 Error X, Ostrale Centre for Contemporary Art, Dresden, Germany 
 

2016 Remains, Waste & Metonymy, Nairobi National Museum, Nairobi Kenya 

2013-2014 Foreign Bodies/Common Ground, Wellcome Collection, London, United Kingdom

2012 Layers, Nairobi National Museum, Kenya

2011 ARS 11, Poikilo, Kouvola Art Museum, Kouvola, Finland

2010* Permiso: Excuse Me, Nairobi National Museum, Kenya

2008* Gender, Power & the Past, Goethe-Institute Nairobi, Kenya

2005 True Colours, Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya 

2004 Contemporary Visions, National Museum of Mali, Bamako, Mali 

2004 Utopia, Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya

2003 Todesatem (Deaths Breath), Undergraduate Exhibition 2003 Show, Gallery 2, Chicago, U.S.A
 

2001 Of Figurative Empathy, Lounge Gallery, Chicago U.S.A

1999 Drawings, New England Gallery, New Hampshire, U.S.A 

Residencies, Workshops & Fellowships 

2022 INHABIT, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/Main, Germany 
 

2020 Third Nature, London South Bank University, Performing Boarders & LADA, UK (online)

2020 Common Places Entanglements, Centre for Art, Design & Social Research Residency, Online 

2020 Co curated, De/Archive, Centre for Art, Design & Social Research Residency Nairobi, Kenya 
 

2019 Co curated, Carrying Histories, PRAKSIS, Oslo, Norway
 

2019 Field Kitchen Academy, Berlin, Germany
 

2019 Centre for Art, Design & Social Research Residency, Spoleto, Italy

2019 Centre for Art, Design & Social Research Residency, Merida, Mexico

2018 University of the Arts Helsinki Fellow, HIAP, Helsinki, Finland
 

2018 Centre for Art, Design & Social Research Residency, Spoleto, Italy 2017 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, Washington DC, U.S.A

2018 Centre for Art, Design & Social Research Residency, Spoleto, Italy

2017 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, Washington DC, U.S.A

2017 Arts in Society, Kigali, Rwanda
 

2016 Performance As Process, Delfina Foundation, London, UK
 

2016 (Re)thinking Feminism And Black Womanhood, Kampala, Uganda 

2016 International Engagement Workshop: The Art of Health: Exploring Creative Engagement with Research, Wellcome Collection, Mumbai, India

2013 IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden

2012 Art in Global Health, Wellcome Trust Fund, United Kingdom

2012 ArtsWork Workshop: Refiguring Women, Goethe Institute, Johannesburg, South Africa

2012 Art in Global Health, KEMRI – Wellcome Trust, Kilfi, Kenya

2009 Creative Artist Visit, External Ministry of Affairs, Mexico City, Mexico

2004 Figure Drawing Workshop, The Go Down Art Centre, Nairobi, Kenya 2003 Mono Type Printing, Kuona Trust Visual Art Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

Curatorial Projects
 

2019/on-going Untethered Magic, Process Based Residency Space, Nairobi, Kenya

2020 Curated, Residency & Exhibition, Get Your Foot Off My Neck, Collaboration with Ostrale Centre for Contemporary Art Dresden & Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi (cancelled due to Covid-19)

2020 Co-curated the Centre for Art, Design & Social Research Residency, De/Archive Nairobi, Kenya

2019 Co-curated, Carrying Histories, PRAKSIS, Oslo, Norway

2019 WomanISM, Ostrale Centre for Contemporary Art Biennale, Dresden, Germany

2016 Error X, Collaborative Curation with Ostrale Centre for Contemporary Art, Dresden, Germany

2012 In Memoriam: A journey through Mbuthia Maina’s Past Work, Goethe-Institut Nairobi, Kenya

2010 Rear View 2004 – 2010 Photographs by James Muriuki, Goethe-Institut Nairobi, Kenya

2010 Constructions, Kuona Trust, Nairobi Kenya

Artist Talks 

2022 Africa Fashion Expanded, V&A Museum & SOAS, U.K

2020 Kaspale’s Playground, Talk & Screening, Circle Art Gallery, Kenya

2020 Maternal and Creative Practice: Examining the State of the Field, London South Bank University, UK (Postponed)

2019 Mosquito & The Suit, M.Bassy, Hamburg, Germany

2018 Resident Fellow lecture by Syowia Kyambi, Academy of Fine Arts, Exhibition Laboratory, Helsinki, Finland

2018 Double Consciousness, Oldenburg University, Oldenburg, Germany 2017 Looking for Bridges / Forming Trajectories, National Museum of African Art Smithsonian, Washington D.C, USA

2014 1:54 FORUM 2014: Koyo Kouoh in Conversation with Miriam Syowia Kyambi and James Muriuki, London, UK

Certificates & Awards (Selection) 
 

2016 Emerging Voices 2016 Award, Shortlist Award for Art, Oppenheimer Funds / Financial Times

2008 International Society for Ceramics Art Education & Exchange, Kenyatta University, Thika, Kenya

2004 UNESCO prize for the promotion of the arts award, Bamako, Mali
 

2000 & 2001 Leadership Award, School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, U.S.A
 

1998 & 1999 Deans List, New Hampshire, U.S.A
 

1999 Merit of Art Award, New England College, New Hampshire, U.S.A 

Public Commissions, Collections & Art Fairs

2020 Photography Legacy Project, Aspire Art Auction, S.A

2016 Sindika Dokolo Foundation, Angola
 

2016 Devereux Collector, London, UK
 

2016 Miracle Marathon, Serpentine Galleries, London, United Kingdom

2015 Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa
 

2013 & 2014 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, United Kingdom

2013 Pulchri, Hague, Netherlands
 

2012 The Fair Bruneaf, Roots Contemporary Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
 

2011 Kouvola Art Museum Collection, Kouvola, Finland
 

2008 Kenya Administrative, Permanent Installation, Nairobi, Kenya
 

2008 Under the Sea, Kenya Institute of Administration, Nairobi, Kenya Infinity: Flashes of the Past, National Museum of Kenya, Permanent
 

2007 Installation, Nairobi, Kenya

Teaching Experience

2020 Hhjemmefra-artists-at-home-residency, Peer to Peer Mentorship, The Union, Oslo, Norway (online)
 

2019 Kunstpioniere Artist with Students in the Museum, MARKK Museum, Hamburg, Germany
 

2018 Studio Critique with the Academy of Fine Arts University of the Arts Helsinki Students, Helsinki Arts University, Finland
 

2012 Middle Leaders Conference, Karen Ardley Associates, Cairo, Egypt

2012 Lead Facilitator, Assessment in the Arts, International British Curriculum Schools Nairobi INSET, Hillcrest International Schools, Nairobi, Kenya

2011-2014 Head of Art & Design, Hillcrest Secondary School, Nairobi, Kenya
 

2008 The Aga Khan Junior Academy, Nairobi Arts Festival 2008, Nairobi, Kenya
 

2008 Lead Facilitator, Performance Art Workshop within the Primary Years Program, The Aga Khan Junior Academy, Nairobi, Kenya
 

2007 Lead Facilitator, Inside & Outside the Classroom: The Importance of Art Education, Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya
 

2005 International Baccalaureate Eighth Primary Years Programme July Workshop: “The Arts as Inquiry within the Primary Years Program” Bucharest, Romania
 

2005 International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme Beginners Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya
 

2005 International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme Intermediate Workshop, Mombasa, Kenya

Books & Exhibition Catalogues

Kyambi, Holding Space. performingborders e-journal Fragments for Borderless Futures, U.K, October 2021

Kyambi. Becoming Kaspale. Nairobi Contemporary Magazine, Nairobi Kenya, July 2020.

Kyambi. Who Once Spoke? Who Speaks Now? An Artist Statement. Amani-Spuren kolonialer Wissenschaft /Traces of Colonial Science Germany 2019

Galarie Mitte im Kubo. Solo Exhibition Catalogue. Double Consciousness. Bremen, Germany. 2018

C. Liebelt, S. Böllinger and Ulf Vierke, Beauty and the Norm: Debating Standardization in Bodily Appearance, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

National Gallery Zimbabwe in Harare, Makerere Art Gallery Kampala & Stätische Galerie Bremen, Kaboo ka Muwala [The Girls Basket] Migration and Mobility in Contemporary Art in Southern and Eastern Africa, Revolver Publishing, 2016
        

Texts by Hugh Murray, Woodrow Kernohan and Koyo Kouoh, Catalogue, Still (the) Barbarians EVA INTERNATIONAL – Ireland’s Biennial, 2016

Raw Material Company, Body Talk: Feminism, Sexuality and the Body in the Work of Six African Women Artists, WIELS, Konsthalle Lund, FRAC Lorraine 49 North 6 East, 2015

Villa Empain,  Heaven and Hell. From Magic Carpets to Drones, Boghossian Foundation 2015

Edited by Koyo Kouoh, with texts by Sarah Adams, Eva Barois De Caevel, Ken Bugul, Frieda Ekotto, D.E.Fault, Koyo Kouoh, Alya Sebti, Body Talk, 2015

Contact Zones NRB Vol: 13. Miriam Syowia Kyambi. Nairobi: Native Intelligence, 2014

Coombes, Hughes & Munene. Managing Heritage, Making Peace: History, Identity and Memory in Contemporary Kenya. I.B. Tauris, 2013

Muriuki & Kyambi. Layers. Nairobi: Artist Book, 2012

Contact Zones NRB Vol: 05 Mwangalio Tofauti – Nine Photographers from Kenya, Nairobi: Native Intelligence, 2012.

Goniwe & Mboweni. SPace: Currencies in Contemporary African Art. Johannesburg: Africa World Press & Unisa Press, 2012

Dr. Kivubiro Tabawebbula. Utopia, Seven Artists Seek a Place in the Kenyan Art Scene. Nairobi: Kyambi/Kivubiro, 2004