Elias Sime

Elias Sime (1968, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) is a world-renowned Ethiopian visual artist and sculptor who works with industrial materials and electronic detritus, or "e-waste") such as microchips, power cords, computers, and other discarded components and residues from tech manufactures.

Life and Education
Elias Sime graduated from the Addis Ababa University Alle School of Fine Arts and Design in 1990. He co-founded the Zoma Contemporary Art Center, with his creative partner, curator, and anthropologist Meskerem Assegued, an exhibition venue and artist-in-residence space in Addis Ababa.

Work
Elias Sime's work is recognized by the use of e-waste, the tech industry waste, found and acquired in Addis Ababa’s Mercato market—the biggest open-air market in Africa and where most of the tech materials from the West is passed along through a global network of moving goods. The numerous keyboards, microchips, copper electrical wires, batteries, pieces of screens and older-generation computers found in Sime's large-scale wall installations originates from the Mercato market.

The solo exhibition Elias Sime: Tightrope, a first exhibition survey on his work about his intricate pieces of man-made tech and industrial materials, was on view from 2020-2021 at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and later traveled to Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio; and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

In 2024, the solo show Elias Sime: Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ as part of the events surrounding the 60th Venice Biennale, Italy, comments on the human use of technological resources, the material waste by Western culture, and the constant overlooked conditions in which these materials are discarded.

Collections
Elias Sime's work is included in the collections of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina; and the Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri; among others.