فير زملر غاليري Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Khalil Rabah

Khalil Rabah (b. 1961, Ramallah, Palestine) studied Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Arlington, USA. His most recent solo exhibitions include Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah (2022); Kunstverein Salzburg (2022); Casa Árabe, Madrid (2016); Kunsthaus Hamburg (2015); e-flux, New York, (2013); and Beirut Art Center (2012). In addition to major group shows, including Desert X Al Ula (2022); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2020); Lahore Biennale (2020); Jameel Arts Center, Dubai (2019); Manifesta 12 Palermo (2018); the Sharjah Biennial (2017); the Marrakech Biennale (2016); the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2014); the Thessaloniki Biennial (2013); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2012); Mathaf, Doha (2010); and the Venice Biennale (2009). Read more

Rabah is the initiator and artistic director of the Riwaq Biennale and a co-founder of Al Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem. He served on the curricular committee of Ashkal Alwan’s Home Workspace Program in Beirut, Lebanon from 2011 to 2015. Over the years, his work has been acquired by major institutions including MACRO, Rome; The British Museum, London; The Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi; Mathaf, Doha; Kunsthaus Zurich and The Sharjah Art Foundation. His first monograph, edited by Anthony Downey, was published by Sharjah Art Foundation and Hatje Cantz in 2022. He is a finalist of the Vera List Center’s 2022–2024 Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice and has a major solo exhibition set to open on October 30, 2023 at Fondazione Merz, Turin.

Tattoo, 1996, Fabric, threads, 120 x 120 cm
1/6Khalil Rabah, Tattoo, 1996, Fabric, threads, 120 × 120 cm
Left Apart, 1999, Two leather shoes in sizes 41 and 43, socks, 99 x 10 x 11 cm
2/6Khalil Rabah, Left Apart, 1999, Two leather shoes in sizes 41 and 43, socks, 99 × 10 × 11 cm
Act I: Carving, 2012, Granite, wood and metal, 120 × 220 × 320 cm
3/6Khalil Rabah, Act I: Carving, 2012, Granite, wood and metal, 120 × 220 × 320 cm
Relocation, Among Other Things, 2018, variable dimensions
4/6Khalil Rabah, Relocation, Among Other Things, 2018, variable dimensions
Grounding, 2022, Installation consisting of planted olive trees in al-'Ula
5/6Khalil Rabah, Grounding, 2022, Installation consisting of planted olive trees in al-'Ula
6/6Khalil Rabah, Red Navigapparate, 2025

Selected Press

Gallery Exhibitions

Exhibitions Beyond

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023

  • Through the Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind, Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy

  • Relocation Among Other Things, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2022

  • Relocation Among Other Things, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria

  • What is not, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE

2018

  • New Sites for the Museum Departments or four places to visit Heaven, Sfeir-Semler Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

2016

  • Khalil Rabah. Proyectos a escala, Casa Árabe, Madrid, Spain

2015

  • Scale Models, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

2013

  • Khalil Rabah: Pages 7, 8, 9, e-flux, New York, USA 

2012

  • Review, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Art Exhibition, Ready Made Representations, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2009

  • A Geography: 50 Villages, The Third Riwaq Biennale, Palestine; Venice, Italy

  • United States of Palestine Airlines: The London Office, Rose Issa Projects, London, UK

2007

  • United States of Palestine Airlines: The London Office, Artist Studio, London, UK

  • 50.320 Names, Brunei Gallery, London, UK  

2006

  • The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece

2004

  • The Third Annual Wall Zone Sale, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah, Palestine

2002

  • Copy Right, Samaha House, Beirut, Lebanon  

2001

  • Feeling a Part, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt 

2000

  • With Out Architecture, Le Repubbliche Dell'Arte, Siena, Italy

1999

  • Nine Works, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, Ramallah, Palestine

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026

  • Rememory, Biennale of Sydney, Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney, Australia (forthcoming)

  • we refuse_d, M HKA: Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium (forthcoming)

2025

  • I Once Had a Day, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

  • we refuse_d, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

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

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

2023

  • Vera List Center Forum 2023: Correction*, Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School, New York, USA

  • Dream City Festival, Tunis, Tunisia

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

  • Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery, The Whitworth, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

  • Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK

  • ANGST / FEAR – Crisis Indicator or Survival Instinct?, Künstlerverein Walkmühle, Wiesbaden, Germany

2022

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

  • Sarab, Desert X AlUla, Al-'Ula, Saudi Arabia

  • A Casa é Sua: Migração e hos(ti)pitalidade fora do lugar, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2021

  • Carnivalesca: What painting might be, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

  • Répare Reprise, Cité Internationale des arts, Paris, France

2020

  • Global(e) Resistance, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

  • between the sun and the moon, Lahore Biennale 02, Lahore, Pakistan

2019

  • Phantom Limb, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

2018

  • Vanishing Points, Carré d’Art - Museum of Contemporary Art, Nîmes, France

  • Truth is black, awrite over it with a mirage’s light, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

  • Debt, Qalandiya International IV, Ramallah, Palestine

  • The Lasting Effect, Qalandiya International IV, Ramallah, Palestine

  • Manifesta 12, Palermo, Italy

  • Höhenrausch/Thrill of Heights, OÖ Kulturquartier, Linz, Austria

2017

  • Tamawuj, Sharjah Biennial 13, Sharjah, UAE

  • After the Fact. Propaganda in the 21st Century, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

2016

  • Marrakech Biennale 6, Marrakech, Morocco

  • The Time is Out of Joint, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE

  • Unravelled, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon

2015

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

  • Home Works 7, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Migrations (in) Contemporary Art, MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2014

  • Cartagena Biennial, Colombia

  • Critical Machines, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Whorled Explorations, 2nd Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kerala, India

2013

  • New Intersections-Make It New, 4th Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Artists, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece 

2012

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

  • Home Works 6, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Museum Show Part 2, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK

2011

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

  • Essays on Geopolitics, 8th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2010

  • Localties, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark

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

  • Biproduct, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

2009

  • Fare Mondi, Making Worlds, 53rd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

  • Palestine - La creation dans tous ses états, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France 

2008

  • uMoya: The sacred Return of Lost Things, 12th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK 

  • Home Works 4, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon

2007

  • In Focus, Tate Modern, London, UK

  • Memorial to the Iraq War, ICA, London, UK

2006

  • Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, British Museum, London, UK

  • Mercury in Retrograde, De Apple, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  • Interrupted Histories, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia  

2005

  • Istanbul, 9th Istanbul Biennale, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Nuove Acquisizioni, MACRO al Mattatoio, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy

  • Ten Artists Ten Years, Guest Atelier, Aarau, Switzerland

  • ...O luna tu..., ARCOS: Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Sannio, Benevento, Italy  

2004

  • Mediterraneans Arte Contemporanea, MACRO al Mattatoio, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy

  • Plug In, Centre for Contemporary Art Futura, Prague, Czech Republic

  • Unscene, Greenwich University, London, UK

  • Lust Lies Art and Fashion, Podewill, Berlin, Germany  

2003

  • Disorientation, Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Berlin, Germany  

2000

  • Narcisse blesse, autoportraits contemporains 1970-2000, Passage de Retz, Paris, France  

1999

  • The Change of the Century 1899-1999, Passage de Retz, Paris, France

1998

  • I never promised you a rose garden, Beelden Buiten, Tielt, Belgium

  • Roteiros, Roteiros, Roteiros,, XXIV Biennale de São Paolo, São Paolo, Brazil

  • Every Day, Sydney Biennial, Sydney, Australia  

1997

  • Contemporary Palestinian Artists, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France 

1995

  • Beyond the Borders, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea

Public Collections

Education

1989

  • University of Texas, Fine Arts, Austin, Texas