Between image, code and cultural translation
BURN-IN developed a Drupal website for Rifaae that makes his work internationally communicable - in a language that brings together sensuality and contemporary diagnosis, origin and present, painterly depth and digital resonance.
From the very beginning, it was crucial for Rifaae to be able to communicate his work worldwide - in a form that carries cultural depth, artistic independence and contemporary presence in equal measure. BURN-IN developed a bilingual Drupal website that combines artworks, work cycles, exhibitions, vita, statement and videos into a digital presence with a clear dramaturgy. The result is a workspace that makes Rifaae's oeuvre accessible across language and national borders and at the same time preserves the density that characterizes his art. The site is available in German and English and combines artworks, exhibitions, CV, statement and videos in a clear structure.
A central part of the BURN-IN work was the language. Rifaae speaks German, but the linguistic formulation of his work presentation - especially in terms of titles, designations, work cycles and storytelling - required particular sensitivity. Together they created a vocabulary that not only names, but also allows moods, shifts and cultural transitions to resonate. Where Rifaae works with layers, symbols and sometimes even codes, BURN-IN developed a linguistic level that absorbs this complexity and transforms it into a readable yet open form. This was a particular quality of the project: the work was not simplified, but was instead expressed linguistically in such a way that its sensual and intellectual tension is retained.
This attitude is particularly evident in the presentation of his work. Rifaae's art moves between sensual surface and intellectual depth, between tradition and the digital present, between personal experience and universal questions of identity, belonging and human existence. The website makes this movement visible by allowing cycles such as Salmon, Maps, Birth and Unbound to be read as coherent spaces of development. These cycles are explicitly listed on the site as central groups of works; at the same time, the CV describes Rifaae's journey from Syria to Vienna and the development of these series since his flight to Austria in 2016. Metaphorical mappings of the soul meet Orwell's vision in the ultrasound of time - and the compass, as formulated on the website, does not always point north.
This process was complemented by workshops on positioning, storytelling and archiving, as well as photo and film shoots in the studio. The result was a performance that combines range, sensuality and precision. Rifaae's biography forms a sounding board from which an independent artistic language has unfolded: born in 1977 in Derek, Syria, educated at the Fine Art Academy in Damascus, living and working in Austria since 2016 and now in Vienna. His website frames this development as a synthesis of tradition and modernity and as an artistic journey from Syria to Vienna. BURN-IN translates this movement into a digital form that enables global communication while remaining close to the work.
Where a work speaks in images, layers and codes, it also needs a language that does not simplify, but hears precisely. This is precisely the basis for Rifaae's performance, which can carry both sensuality and a diagnosis of the times.
Inspired?
Facts
Synthesis of tradition and modernity
The website reflects Rifaae's artistic language: traditional painting, digital media, migration experience and contemporary commentary intertwine.
Drupal website with clear work dramaturgy
Flexible editorial system for artworks, cycles, exhibitions, vita, videos and bilingual content.
Language as part of positioning
Titles, names and storytelling were developed with a great feeling for language - sensitive, precise and close to the inner logic of the work.
Animations and digital archive
Digital movement elements expand the workspace; portfolio, blog, press and work cycles form a long-term sustainable system.
Work cycles as a legible context
Salmon, Maps, Birth and Unbound structure Rifaae's development as a coherent artistic narrative.