فير زملر غاليري Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Akram Zaatari

Akram Zaatari (b. 1966, Saida, Lebanon) has produced more than fifty films and videos, all sharing an interest in writing histories, pursuing a range of interconnected themes, subjects, and practices related to excavation, political resistance, the lives of former militants, the legacy of an exhausted left, the circulation of images in times of war, and the play of tenses inherent to various letters that have been lost, found, buried, discovered, or otherwise delayed in reaching their destinations. Zaatari has played a critical role in developing the formal, intellectual, and institutional infrastructure of Beirut’s contemporary art scene. As a co-founder of the Arab Image Foundation, he has made invaluable and uncompromising contributions to the wider discourse on preservation and archival practice. Zaatari’s represented Lebanon at the Venice Biennial in 2013 with his film Letter to a refusing pilot. His work has been featured at Documenta13 in 2012. Read more

His work is part of institutional collections such as the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; K21 Dusseldorf; MACBA, Barcelona; MoMA, New York; Serralves Foundation, Porto; Tate Modern, London and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

1/6Akram Zaatari, Him & Her, Van Leo, Video (color, sound), 31'
2/6Akram Zaatari, Tarho and el Masri, Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon, 1958. Hashem el Madani, 2006, silver print, 19 × 29 cm
3/6Akram Zaatari, Untitled. Akram Zaatari's stickers, Flash magazine, and diary of 1985, 2007, C-Print, 91 × 112 cm
4/6Akram Zaatari, Letter to a refusing pilot, 2013, HD video (color, sound), 34'
5/6Akram Zaatari, Untitled (Planes 6), 2013, archival inkjet print on archival paper, 100 × 145 cm
AKRAM ZAATARI, three snapshots and a long exposure, Exhibition view, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg, 2022
6/6Akram Zaatari, ALL THAT REFUSES TO VANISH: The Tabnit Monolith, 2022, 3D-Routed hand-polished Spuma Limestone, Bchaaleh, North Lebanon, Crane, 300 × 216 × 153 cm, stone dimensions: 34 × 69 × 32 cm

Selected Press

Gallery Exhibitions

Exhibitions Beyond

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024

  • Father and Son, Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples, Italy

2022

  • three snapshots and a long exposure, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2019

  • Against Photography. An Annotated History of the Arab Image Foundation, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

  • Photographic Currency, La Vitrine, Beirut Art Residency, Beirut, Lebanon

  • The Script, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK

2018

  • The Script, Turner Contemporary, Kent, UK

  • The Fold - Space, time and the image, Contemporary Arts Center in partnership with FotoFocus Biennial, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

  • The Third Window, Sfeir-Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Against Photography. A annotated history of the Arab Image Foundation, MMCA: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea

  • Letter to a Refusing Pilot, Moderna Museet, Malmö, Sweden

  • The Script, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK

2017

  • Against Photography. A annotated history of the Arab Image Foundation, K21: Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf, Germany

  • Double Take: Akram Zaatari and the Arab Image Foundation, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK

  • Against Photography. A annotated history of the Arab Image Foundation, MACBA: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

  • Unfolding, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2016

  • Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright, Galpao VB: Associação Cultural Videobrasil, São Paulo, Brazil

  • This Day At Ten, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

  • The Archaeology of Rumour, British School at Rome, Rome, Italy

  • Letter to a Refusing Pilot, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, UK

  • Akram Zaatari: The End of Time, The Common Guild, Glasgow, Scotland

2015

  • Unfolding, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

  • Akram Zaatari: All Is Well, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, Canada

2014

  • Akram Zaatari, SALT, Istanbul, Turkey

  • This Day at Ten, WIELS: Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, Belgium

  • Akram Zaatari: The End of Time, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada

2013

  • Letter to a Refusing Pilot, Lebanon Pavilion, 55th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

  • Project 100: Akram Zaatari, MoMA: Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

  • This Day at Ten, Sfeir-Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • All is Well, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston University, Ontario, Canada

2012

  • This Day at Ten, Magasin - Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France

  • Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachussetts, USA

  • The End, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

  • The Uneasy Subject, MUAC, Mexico City, Mexico

  • Akram Zaatari, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA

  • Composition for Two Wings, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

2011

  • Composition for Two Wings, Kunsternes Hus, Oslo, Norway

  • The Uneasy Subject, Museo del Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, Spain

  • This Day, Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2010

  • Akram Zaatari, Laboratories of Aubervillliers, Aubervillliers, France

2009

  • Earth of Endless Secrets, Sfeir-Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon; Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany

2007

  • ART Statements, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland

2006

  • Hashem el Madani: Pomenades and Studio Practices, La CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain

2005

  • Mapping Sitting. On Portraiture and Photography, in collaboration with Walid Raad, Grey Art Gallery, New York, USA

2004

  • Unfolding, Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany

  • Mapping Sitting. On Portraiture and Photography, in collaboration with Walid Raad, Centre Pour l’Image Contemporaine, Geneva, Switzerland

2002

  • Mapping Sitting. On Portraiture and Photography, in collaboration with Walid Raad, SK Die Photographische Sammlung, Cologne, Germany

  • Mapping Sitting. On Portraiture and Photography, in collaboration with Walid Raad, KunstenFestivalDesArts, Brussels, Belgium

2000

  • The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt

1999

  • Darat al Funun, The Kahlid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026

  • BUT I | WORLD | I SEE | YOU, Hamburger Kunsthalle as part of the 9th Triennial of Photography Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany (forthcoming)

  • Resolutions: Evolving Realities, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

  • GAZA, the future has an ancient heart. Materials and memories of the Mediterranean, Fondazione Merz, Museo Egizio di Torino and MAH: Musée d’art et d’histoire of Geneva, Turin, Italy (forthcoming)

  • Photographs, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

  • Shifting Crossroads. Beirut Contemporary, CIRCOLO, Milan, Italy

  • In Absence and in Presence: Works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, Aranya Art Center, Qinhuangdao, China

  • The Whistling Memory, Yapı Kredi Museum, İstanbul, Turkey

  • Atlante, Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples, Italy

2025

  • Displacement, Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, India

  • The Shade, Sfeir-Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Otherlands II: Wael Shawky, Akram Zaatari, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, South Korea

  • to carry, Sharjah Biennial 16, Sharjah, UAE

  • Maknana: An Archeology of New Media Art in the Arab World, Diriyah Art Futures, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  • The Three-Legged Cat, 18th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Endless Sunday, Maurizio Cattelan and the Centre Pompidou Collection, Metz, France

  • Figure-Ground, Ab-Anbar Gallery, London, UK

  • Check, Power, Time, and Image in a State of Play, Collegium, Arévalo, Spain

2024

  • The Ecologies of Peace, TBA21: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Madrid, Spain; C3A: Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain

  • AMONG THE INVISIBLE JOINS. Works from the Enea Righi Collection, Museion Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

  • Home Works 9: A Forum on Cultural Practices. Intimate Garden Scene (in Beirut), organized by Ashkal Alwan, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Panorama Monferrato, ITALICS, Palazzo Callori, Italy

2023

  • History Tales. Fact and Fiction in History Painting, Paintings Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria

  • Logos. Images Talk, FMAV – Palazzo Santa Margherita, Modena, Italy

  • Beirut: Eternal Recurrence, SAW, Ottawa, Canada

  • Becoming Van Leo, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA

  • In the Heart of Another Country: The Diasporic Imagination Rises, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

  • Beyond Ruptures, a Tentative Chronology, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Love, CAM: Cameron Art Museum, Washington, USA

  • Rooms with a View. Aby Warburg, Florence and the Laboratory of Images, La Gallerie Degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

  • Laboratory of Images, La Gallerie Degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

  • popular, IVAM: Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, València, Spain

2022

  • In The Heart of Another Country, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany

  • My Your Memory, MMCA: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea

2021

  • For The Phoenix To Find Its Form In Us, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

  • Enjoy - die mumok Sammlung im Wandel, mumok, Wien, Austria

  • Masculinities: Liberation through Photography, LUMA, Arles, France

2020

  • Me, Family: Portrait of a Young Planet, Mudam, Luxembourg

  • Masculinities: Liberation through Photography, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany

2019

  • Mara’ina, King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Ithra, KSA

  • Phantom Limb, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

  • Making New Time, Sharjah Biennial 14, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

2018

  • Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India

  • Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands

  • What is Utopia?, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy

  • 9th Arab Film Festival Berlin - ALFILM, Berlin, Germany

  • The Dictionary of Evil, Gangwon International Biennale, Gangwon, South Korea

  • Truth is black, write over it with a mirage’s light, Darat al Funun, The Kahlid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan

  • Beirut, Beyrut, Beyrouth, Beyrout, Oslo Kunstforening, Oslo, Norway

  • Unboxing Photographs. Working in the Photo Archive, Kunstbibliothek, Berlin, Germany

  • Fast Forward Festival Five, ONASSIS Cultural Center, Athens, Greece

2017

  • In Rebellion. Female Narratives In The Arab World, Valencia Museum of Modern Art, Valencia, Spain

  • Letter to a refusing pilot, MOMENTA I biennial de l’image, Quebec, Canada

  • No to the Invasion: Breakdowns and Side Effects, CCS Bard, New York, USA

  • The Written Language of Reality, CCS Bard, New York, USA

  • Home Beirut. Sounding the Neighbours, MAXXI, Rome, Italy

  • Forms of Resistance, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Ireland

  • Between Two Rounds of Fire, The Exile of the Sea: Arab Modern and Contemporary Works From The Barjeel Art Foundation, Katzen Arts Centre, Washington D.C, USA

  • How Close Could We Get to the Light and Survive? Why Are We Here Now?, Curated by Rabih Mroué, Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Berlin, Germany

  • ISelf Collection: The End of Love, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK

  • A Cross Border Selection of the Artium Collection, The Artium Museum, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

2016

  • Between Myth and Fright. The Mediterranean as conflict, Institut Valencia d’art Modern, Valencia, Spain

  • The Human Document, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, UK

  • In Search of The Present, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland

  • Question the Wall Itself, Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, USA

  • Art From Elsewhere: International Contemporary Art from UK Galleries, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK

  • An Imagined Museum: Works from the Centre Pompidou, the Tate and the MMK, Museum Fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany

  • A History: Contemporary Art from the Centre Pompidou, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany

2015

  • Gallery 3010, Sfeir-Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Arte Fiera Collezionismi - Too Early Too Late. Middle East and Modernity, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

2014

  • 4th International Canakkale Biennial, Çanakkale, Turkey

  • Burning Down the House, 10th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea

  • Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama, Japan

  • Here and Elsewhere, New Museum, New York, USA

  • (Mis) Understanding Photography Works and Manifestos, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

  • A Guest Without a Host is a Ghost, Contemporary Image Collective & Townhouse, Cairo, Egypt

2013

  • fALSEfAKES, Centre de la Photoraphie, Geneva, Switzerland

  • Ici Ailleurs (Here, Elsewhere), Belle de Mai, Marseille, France

  • Regen Project, Los Angeles, California, USA

2012

  • Mediacity Seoul, Seoul, South Korea

  • When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco, California, USA

  • Six Lines of Flight: Geographies in Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, USA

  • The Unexpected Guest, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK

  • dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany

  • Arab Express: The Latest Art form the Arab World, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

  • Private, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany

  • Subversion, Cornerhouse Manchester, Manchester, UK

2011

  • Mapping Subjectivity, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

  • Distant Star, Kurimanzutto Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico; Regen Projects, Los Angeles, California, USA

  • Beirut, Kunsthalle Wien project space, Vienna, Austria

  • Seeing is Believing, KW Berlin, Berlin, Germany

  • 17th International Contemporary Art Festival, SESC & Videobrasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil

  • Jean Genet, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK

  • 12 Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Told | Untold | Retold, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

  • Photography: New documentary forms, Tate Modern, London, UK

  • Mapping Subjectivity, MoMA: Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

  • Plot for a Biennial , Sharjah Biennial 10, Sharjah, UAE

2010

  • Play van Abbe Part 3. The Politics of Collecting - The Collecting of Politics, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

  • Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany

  • The Tradition of the Future - The Future of Tradition, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany

2009

  • Closer, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Tarjama / Translation, Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA

  • EN TODAS AS PARTES. Everywhere. Sexual Diversity Policies in Art, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, A Coruña, Spain

  • Indicated by Signs, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany

2008

  • Bursts of Borders: New Acquisitions, FRAC Provence-Alpes, Cote d’Azur, France

  • The worried: five artists under the pressure of war, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

  • In the Middle of the Middle, Sfeir-Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Torino Triennale 2008, Torino, Italy

  • Scenes of the South II: Eastern Mediterranean, Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France

  • Art Now in Lebanon, Darat al Funun, The Kahlid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan

2007

  • Oh Girl, It’s a Boy!, Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany

  • Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind, 52nd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

  • MEDITERRÀNIA(ES), Centre d’Art La Panera, Lerida, Spain

  • Geopoetics, Centro José Guerrero, Granada, Spain

  • Thermocline of Art - New Asian Waves, ZKM | Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany

  • Thessaloniki Biennale 1, Thessaloniki, Greece

2006

  • How to Live Together, 27th Sao Paulo Biennale, Sao Paulo, Brazil

  • Fever Variations, 6th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea

  • Zones of Contact, 15th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

  • Out of Beirut, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK

2005

  • Leaps of Faith, An international arts project for the Green Line, Nicosia, Cyprus

  • Masculinities, NBK Berlin, Berlin, Germany

  • Flight 405, Sfeir Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

2004

  • SENI, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

  • Nam June Paik Award Exhibition, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund, Germany

  • LIFT, Part of the exhibition "Laughter", Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) & the Bargehouse, London, UK

2003

  • Substream, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway

  • Worldwide Video Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • The Possible Narratives, Videobrasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil

  • Disorientation, Haus der Kulturen der Werlt, Berlin, Germany

2002

  • Home Works, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Haunted by Detail, Die Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1998

  • Ayloul Festival, Beirut, Lebanon

Publications

2018

  • Zaatari, Akram, Mark Wasiuta, and Rifat Chadirji, editors. "Rifat Chadirji: Architecture Index." Beirut: The Arab Image Foundation & Kaph Books.

  • Zaatari, Akram. "Against Photography." Seoul: MACBA–MMCA.

2016

  • Zaatari, Akram. "Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright." São Paulo: Associação Cultural Videobrasil

2014

  • Zaatari, Akram. "All Is Well." Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Center; Ottowa: The Carleton University Art Gallery

  • Snauwaert, Dirk and Caroline, Dumalin. "Film as a Form of Writing: Quinn Latimer Talks to Akram Zaatari." Brussels: Wiels & Motto Books.

  • Zaatari, Akram. "Time Capsule Kassel." Milan: Mousse Publishing.

2012

  • Zaatari, Akram. "Conversation with an Imagined Israeli Filmmaker Named Avi Mograbi." Berlin: Sternberg Press; Paris: KADIST; Aubervilliers: Laboratoire d’Aubervilliers.

2011

  • Zaatari, Akram. "The Uneasy Subject, edited by Juan Vicente Aliaga. Milan: Charta.

2009

  • Zaatari, Akram and Karl Bassil, editors. “AKRAM ZAATARI: Earth of Endless Secrets." Frankfurt: Portikus; Beirut: Sfeir-Semler Gallery & Beirut Art Center.

2007

  • Zaatari, Akram and Karl Bassil. "Hashem el Madani: Promenades. An Ongoing Project by Akram Zaatari." Beirut: Mind the Gap & The Arab Image Foundation.

  • Akram Zaatari. "Hashem el Madani: Promenades and Studio Practices." Bercelona: La Caixa Forum.

2004

  • Zaatari, Akram and Lisa Lefeuvre. "Hashem el Madani: Studio Practices. An Ongoing Project by Akram Zaatari" Beirut: The Arab Image Foundation, Mind the Gap, & The Photographers’ Gallery.

2002

  • Zaatari, Akram, Karl Bassil and Zeina Maasri. "Mapping Sitting: On Portraiture and Photography. A Project by Walid Raad and Akram Zaatari." Beirut: The Arab Image Foundation & Mind the Gap

1999

  • Zaatari, Akram. "The Vehicle; picturing moments of transition in a modernising society." Beirut: The Arab Image Foundation, and Mind the Gap.

  • Zaatari, Akram. "Portraits du Caire." Arles: Actes Sud.

Public Collections