Beyond Ruptures includes works of Aref el Rayess, Jean Khalife, Samir Khaddaje, Samia Osseiran, Shafic Abboud, Said Akl, Akram Zaatari and Nesrine Khodr as a testimony and tribute to the cultural resistance led by artists, cultural workers, and art patrons, in the challenging environments Lebanon has presented over the years. Selected works in the timeline, mark important events in the lives of each artist, and act as time capsules showing different artistic practices shaped by violence.
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Je suis inculte ! revisits the legacy of the annual juried Salon d’Automne in Beirut from the Sursock Museum’s inauguration in 1961 — the year the private villa of Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock became the first, and only, public museum of modern and contemporary art in Beirut — until the present day. The salon served as an appropriate exhibition model for a newly independent nation, as an academy capable of training young artists, and as a tastemaker for audiences.
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Artist Yto Barrada will transform the MoMA PS1 courtyard with a large-scale installation, her first major outdoor work is composed of colorful concrete blocks stacked into pyramidal towers whose lower levels visitors can sit on and explore, providing an interactive experience in the courtyard and a setting for PS1’s signature summer music series Warm Up. The sculptures’ formations draw inspiration from multiple histories of surmounting barricades and retooling architectures: the construction of human pyramids in Morocco, Moroccan Brutalism, and Barrada’s family lore.
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The exhibition interweaves several pressing constellations of “unpeace” in our time. It delves into the protracted military engagement in Ukraine, explores the enduring aftermath of colonialism, racism, and the carceral system, exposes the effects of patriarchal orders, and navigates the complex histories of conflict in the Middle East, which form the backdrop to the virulent eruption of war in October 2023. Furthermore, it scrutinizes the intricate topography of (future) conflicts driven by the addiction to fossil fuels, resource extractivism, and compounding environmental catastrophes.
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Taking as its starting point the nature of breath and its vital role in our very existence, the exhibition reflects on the social, political, environmental, and spiritual aspect of breathing, tracking this vital act from the impact of post-industrial air pollution to modern-day wars and the effect on environment, health and how we live; to the suppression of protests of voices from different communities, where breath is a symbol of community and resistance. Featuring the work of Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, Hajra Waheed, Marina Abramović, among others.
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The exhibition explores light’s multifaceted impact. Featuring contemporary installations by prominent international and Canadian artists, including Anila Quayyum Agha, Tannis Nielsen, Olafur Eliasson, Kimsooja, and Anish Kapoor, the exhibition delves into how light shapes history and continues to influence our perceptions, emotions, and understanding of the world.
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Curated by Idil Tabanca, this exhibition features international artists and designers whose creations transcend traditional boundaries in painting, sculpture, installation, and furniture design, redefining the relationship between form and function. In an era where modern humans spend more than three-quarters of their lives indoors, nature feels more distant than ever. “Creatures of Comfort” explores works that create space for nature to re-enter our urban lives.
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The exhibition, presenting an up-to-date selection from the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, focuses on how spiral cycles, which define human existence, are interpreted by contemporary artists. Evolving regularly since the 2000s through commissions and acquisitions, the collection provides viewers with an in-depth interaction with different formations, issues, and ways of seeing in today’s world, bringing together works by artists who navigate between the physical and virtual realms.
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In the exhibition of the Palestinian-Danish video and installation artist Larissa Sansour, past, present and possible future meet in a dark, expressive way. Political yet universal human themes are interwoven with imagined realities, using the narrative techniques of science fiction, documentary and opera. From the loss of the Palestinian people to the ongoing threat of environmental catastrophe, the exhibition expands into studies of grief, memory, and inherited trauma. Through her work, Sansour reimagines the history of a nation on the brink of annihilation and of her homeland.
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“Consider” is an analog, imageless film critiquing the distorted portrayal of war in media. It contrasts the ongoing genocide in Gaza with its televised representation, observed by the artist from Brazil. The film is perforated to symbolize the 40,000 martyrs, each light puncture representing them. These points of light resemble distant stars, emphasizing the vastness of loss and the inadequacy of media to capture it. The silent film loops from 10 AM to 7 PM, Saturday to Thursday. The artist, Ж, explores how capitalism shapes perception and memory, using films, installations, writings, performances, and interventions.
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In solidarity with Palestine, Darat al Funun presents “Under Fire,” a display of drawings by four artists in Gaza. Despite daily bombardments and forced displacement, these artists continued to draw, using whatever materials they could find—dry ball pens, school notebooks, medical packages, and natural dyes like tea and pomegranates. Their works bear witness to the genocidal war they are living through, with no end in sight. The exhibition showcases drawings by Basil, Raed, Majed, and Sohail, salvaged from the destruction of war.
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How is a nation created? Aseel AlYaqoub explores the nation as imagined or invented, shaped by heritage sites, postage imagery, military ceremonies, maps and architecture. The exhibition marks the first presentation of a decade-long series of works engaging with symbols and narratives related to Kuwaiti nationhood and Arab identity, spanning from the postcolonial era to the present.
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Tala Madani’s first solo exhibition in Washington State presents all-new work commissioned by the Henry Gallery, continuing her exploration of symbols, language, and power dynamics in society. Known for her provocative paintings and installations, Madani blends humor with critical insight, often depicting vulnerable, violent, and perplexed human figures. Her characters inhabit detailed, dream-like spaces that evoke the unconscious. Madani’s use of light as a medium exposes and reveals, while new works, including mural-like paintings and film-strip animations, deepen her practice. Visitors are immersed in a multi-sensory experience, engaging with her fantastical characters and uncanny imagery.
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Until This Elegy Ends by Joe Namy reflects on resilience amid the genocidal war in Palestine and Lebanon. Documenting ancient olive orchards in Deir Mimas, sound sculptures, and collaborations with Palestinian musicians, Namy traces survival through land, memory, and sound. His works mourn loss yet echo persistence, embodying memory as an active force against erasure and colonial violence.
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In the exhibition, artists encourage us to view our cities and landscapes from a primarily four-legged perspective. Bringing together more than 40 artists and collectives, drawing from politics, history, economics and urbanism, the exhibition is a playful yet serious exploration of human-animal relationships in these shared geographies.
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“Entertainment in Public,” an interdisciplinary art project by Taha Zaker, is presented at Dayhim Art Society in collaboration with Rischee29. Curated by Hoda Sargordan, the project delves into the historical role of the guillotine in executions, transforming it into a sensory exhibition experience.
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Monira Al Qadiri is an international artist whose practice explores topics as diverse as ancient history and the possibilities of new technologies, always with a critical yet playful point of view. Bozar presents her first solo exhibition in Belgium, titled The Archaeology of Beasts. Consisting of new digital creations commissioned for this occasion, Al Qadiri is taking a new visual turn, inspired by the Gods and Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Interweaving ancient myths and recent facts connected to climate change, Al Qadiri’s works oscillate between humour and beauty, often with an underlying violence. For this exhibition she is asking us to reflect on who qualifies as Human and who as Beast.
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The Pejman Foundation: Argo Factory presents Solipsistic Night Visions, Observerless Observations, featuring works by Mimi Amini, spanning four decades of her career. Paintings, sculptures, and virtual reality videos explore Amini’s “Dreamy Geography,” where pathways and meanings connect seamlessly. Known for her multidisciplinary approach, Amini creates dynamic interactions between artist, observer, and artwork, blurring two and three dimensions. The exhibition coincides with a bilingual book release, including essays and artwork. Curated by Mimi Amini, it invites viewers to an immersive journey of narrative, medium, and space.
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The exhibition reflects here on a moment when history seems to echo itself. Using an object that often comes back in various forms in Taysir Batniji’s practice, the installation presents a series of images of keys, belonging to residents of Gaza, with each set connected to a specific place and person through the handwritten captions under the photographs. Capturing traces of lost, abandoned, or destroyed lives and homes, the work evokes the universal woes of the human condition.
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Curiosity towards northern geographies and observations out there, which have played a major role in the development of scientific awareness about climate change, constitute the starting point of the exhibition “Northward“. Featuring works created by artists after their travels to northern countries, the exhibition includes recent works by Ali Alışır, Murat Germen and Ali Kazma, as well as Deniz Gül‘s installation inviting the viewers to consider ice as an object of contemplation.
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“Voices of Feathers, Voices of Daggers” showcases recent paintings by Iranian-born Vancouver-based artist Mohadeseh Movahed. Her work delves into the complexities of a polarized society, where constant encounters and conflicts emerge. Movahed reimagines public and private spaces as battlegrounds for dualities like power versus resistance and presence versus erasure. Walls in her paintings symbolize control, yet street art and graffiti subvert these boundaries, offering platforms for defiance. Figures and shadows in her work embody fragile yet persistent voices, challenging the dominance of more forceful, oppressive forces.
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From Doha to Damascus, AI-backed tools are revolutionizing journalism, augmenting the creation, distribution and consumption of media. However, the motives behind AI’s use remain contentious, with concerns about deception, undermining public trust and perpetuating societal divisions. Through evidence-based storytelling, data visualization, case studies and artistic interpretations, the exhibition explores four key themes: Hindsight, Insight, Oversight and Foresight.
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Charlotte Eta Mumm’s solo exhibition “Sought by Shadows” presents new works exploring perception, shifting dimensions, and the interplay between the tangible and intangible. Central to the exhibition are Mumm’s layered paper works created during her 2024 residency in Senegal, where dense networks of painted lines and pyrographic drawings reflect the environment’s fleeting impressions of light and texture. The works invite viewers to perceive beyond the surface. Also featured are her ‘Lasso’ series of shaped canvas paintings, where personal dimensions are used to map abstract ideas. Complementing these are ‘so oft so soft’ ceramic objects, tactile forms evoking both physical and emotional dimensions.
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Project “Absence: Reflections on Annihilation” by Dayhim Art Society, is a conceptual and theory-based project inspired by Derrida’s theory of Absence. This multimedia art exhibition features the participation of 19 artists, exploring the concept of absence and its implications. Through various artistic expressions, the project delves into the philosophical notion of annihilation, inviting viewers to engage with the themes of presence and absence in a thought-provoking and visually dynamic way.
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Exhibiting Falapishi’s deskilled panels alongside photorealistic paintings and bold ceramic sculptures, “Edge of the World” showcases the remarkable range of his practice as he explores the possibilities for visual representation. His works cannibalize reference material—from Surrealists to Spaghetti Western films—creating a composite of signs and signifiers. Deconstructing the vulnerabilities within both the act of viewing and being viewed, the exhibition is insightful, humorous, art historically allusive, and stylistically multifaceted.
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Rooted in themes of spatial identity, personal history, and the emotional interplay between individuals and everyday objects, this exhibition investigates how the act of belonging transforms both people and places. Through the guiding question, “Where do I feel I belong?” Özlem Yenigül centers her creative lens on the concept of home, employing traditional domestic techniques such as tufting and punch-needle embroidery.
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Gazelli Art House opens its 2025 program with Lilly Fenichel’s first UK solo exhibition. Fenichel’s work reflects a defiant spirit, resisting art market pressures and embodying independence in mid-century abstraction. Her expressive canvases, sculptures, and drawings reveal relentless curiosity and creative evolution. Works like Untitled E (1967), Arioso (1988), and Untitled #23 (2008) showcase geometric abstraction, sculptural mastery, and material innovation. Critics such as Susan Landauer and Juri Koll highlight Fenichel’s profound impact, describing her as a rebel who forged her own artistic path, leaving a legacy of freedom and resistance.
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A Shroud is a Cloth by Adrian Pepe explores themes of memory, renewal, and material transformation using a woolen textile that previously wrapped a building damaged in the 2020 Beirut Port Explosion • The Lebanon-based Honduran artist’s practice highlights the relationship between materials, cultural landscapes, and ecological intimacy, presenting a poetic dialogue on transformation and resilience.
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Etel Adnan (1925–2021) was a celebrated author, poet, and artist. Known for seamlessly blending writing and art, her paintings gained prominence after dOCUMENTA 13 (2012). Solo shows include K20, Düsseldorf (2023), Van Gogh Museum (2022), SFMoMA (2018), Institut du Monde Arabe (2016), and more. Group shows featured her work at MoMA, NY (2017), Sharjah Biennial (2015), and Istanbul Biennial (2015). Her art is in public collections like MoMA, Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and Mathaf, Qatar. Adnan’s tapestries also adorn public and private spaces worldwide.
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Sharjah Biennial 16, titled “to carry,” is a multivocal, open‐ended invitation to explore diverse formations and the many ways we bear histories, memories, and dreams. It challenges us to reflect on what we carry when we travel, flee, or remain, linking precarious present spaces with intergenerational legacies and imagined futures. Through a range of curatorial practices—from residencies and workshops to sonic experiments and expanded publications—the Biennial becomes a collective wayfinding process. In this threshold of dialogue and experimentation, art and community converge to share stories of resilience and transformation. Each work deeply echoes hope, and relentless renewal in fine art.
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The question in the title is the starting point of the two-part exhibition to mark the 100th anniversary of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) at Künstlerhaus Bethanien and the FES. Based on thematic focuses such as war, repression and expulsion, portraiture and representation, identity and self-determination and many more, a curated selection from the collection will be shown in dialog with contemporary positions of (former) art scholarship holders. Historically determined gaps, such as a small number of female artists or female portraits, are reflected and filled by current artistic works.
Opening on February 27, 2025.
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The solo show of artist Amin Fattahi shows works that explore space and representation in new ways. It features painted, sprayed and collaged images that oscillate between abstraction and figuration.
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