فير زملر غاليري Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Rayyane Tabet

Rayyane Tabet (b. 1983, Ashqout, Lebanon) studied architecture at Cooper Union University in New York and Fine Art at the University of California at San Diego. Drawing from experience and self-directed research, Tabet explores stories that offer an alternative understanding of major socio-political events through individual narratives. Informed by his training in architecture and sculpture, his work investigates paradoxes in the built environment and its history by way of installations that reconstitute the perception of physical and temporal distance. Read more

In recent years, Tabet has had solo exhibitions at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2021), Sharjah Art Foundation (2021), Storefront New York (2020), Parasol Unit Foundation of Contemporary Art London (2019), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2019), Louvre, Paris (2019), Carée d’Art Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nimes (2018) and at the Kunstverein, Hamburg (2017). He took part in numerous international group shows, among which the Whitney Biennial (2022), Yohama Triennial (2020), Lahore Biennial (2020), Jameel Art Center (2018), 21st Sydney Biennial (2018), Manifesta 12 (2018), 15th Istanbul Biennial (2017) and the 32nd Sao Paolo Biennial (2016).

Steel Rings from the series The Shortest Distance Between Two Points, 2013-ongoing, Steel
1/6Rayyane Tabet, Steel Rings from the series The Shortest Distance Between Two Points, 2013-ongoing, steel, each ring: ⌀ 78-80 cm
The Dead Sea in Three Parts, 2013, Mixed media, 150 x 300 x 400 cm
2/6Rayyane Tabet, The Dead Sea in Three Parts, 2013, Mixed media, 150 × 300 × 400 cm
Waiting For A Manifestation, 2014, Graphite on wall
3/6Rayyane Tabet, Waiting For A Manifestation, 2014, graphite on wall
State Change I, 2015, Melted polyurethane plastic, 80 x 145 x 80 cm
4/6Rayyane Tabet, State Change I, 2015, Melted polyurethane plastic, 80 × 145 × 80 cm
A Model: Prelude, 2023, Site-specific installation at Mudam, Luxembourg
5/6Rayyane Tabet, A Model: Prelude, 2023, Site-specific installation at Mudam, Luxembourg
6/6Rayyane Tabet, Adieu eux larmes, 2025, Marble palette, carafe made with glass debris from the Beirut Port blast (August 4, 2020), helmet used by members of a paramilitary militia during the Lebanese Civil Wars (1975-1990), wooden mould used by the artist’s grandfather to make shoes for amputees of World War II (1939-1945), wax candle, drinking water, 120 x 80 x 65 cm

Selected Press

Gallery Exhibitions

Exhibitions Beyond

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2025

  • The Day After, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg

2023

  • The Return, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Arabesque, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Downtown, Beirut, Lebanon

  • A Model: Prelude - Rayyane Tabet. Trilogy, MUDAM, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

2021

  • Deep Blues, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA

  • Rayyane Tabet: Arabesque, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

  • Rayyane Tabet: Exquisite Corpse, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

2020

  • Arabesque, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, USA

2019

  • FRAGMENTS, Carré d’Art, Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes, France

  • Forgotten Kingdoms, Louvre Museum, Paris, France

  • Encounters, Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London, UK

  • Alien Property, The Met: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

2018

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

  • FAULT LINE, Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare, Bolzano, Italy

2017

  • Ah, my beautiful Venus!, Witte de With Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands

  • KOPF HOCH! MUT HOCH! UND HUMOR HOCH!, daadgalerie, Berlin, Germany

  • BRUCHSTÜCKE / FRAGMENTS, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, German

2016

  • La Mano De Dios, Museo Marino Marini, Florence, Italy

2015

  • ONLY GODS NEVER DIE, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2014

  • Here Today Gone Tomorrow, TrouwAmsterdam and the Stedelijk useum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2013

  • The Shortest Distance Between Two Points, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026

  • Directionless, Hauser & Wirth, Menorca, Spain (forthcoming)

  • Of Thread and Stone, New Taipei City Art Museum, New Taipei City, Taiwan

2025

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

  • Flesh Flowers, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Winner of the Inaugural AlMusalla Prize, Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2024

  • A Model, MUDAM, Luxembourg

  • Portals and Pathways: A Journey through Reality & Imagination, Inaugural Exhibition of Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion for Culture, curated by BeMA: Beirut Museum of Art, Beirut, Lebanon

2023

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

  • Guest Relations, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

  • machinations, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain

  • AWAKENING, Galerie Strouk, Paris, France

2022

  • Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It's Kept, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA

  • Uncombed, Unforeseen, Unconstrained, Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello, Venice, Italy

  • KUNSTENFESTIVALDESARTS – 27th Edition, Various locations in Brussels, Belgium

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

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

2020

  • A sun yellow with anger, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

  • AFTERGLOW, Yokohama Triennale 2020, Yokohama, Japan

  • Desert X AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia

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

2019

  • Phantom Limb, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

  • When the Present is History, Depo, Istanbul, Turkey

2018

  • Living in the Mediterranean, Institut Valencià d’art Modern, Valencia, Spain

  • Crude, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, UAE

  • Cycles of Collapsing Progress, Rashid Karami International Fair, Tripoli, Lebanon

  • Superposition - 21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney Opera House, Australia

  • Dear Victoria, performance, Fast Forward Festival Five, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece

  • Manifesta 12, Palermo, Italy

  • Truth is black, write over it with a mirage’s light, 30th Anniversary Inaugural Exhibition, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2017

  • A Good Neighbor, 15th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey

  • 4.543 billion: The matter of matter, CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux, France

  • The Restless Earth, Trussardi Foundation at the Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy

  • WAITING. Between Power and Possibility, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany

2016

  • Faisons de l’inconnu un allié, Fondation Lafayette, Paris, France

  • Incerteza Viva, 32nd São Paulo Biennial, Brazil

  • ... und eine welt noch, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany

  • Wunderlust, High Line Art, New York, USA

  • Not New Now, Marrakech Biennial 6, Morocco

2015

  • New Skin, AISHTI Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon

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

  • The Past, The Present, The Possible, Sharjah Biennial 12, UAE

  • Heartland, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Presque Rien, Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris, France

2014

  • This is the Time. This is the Record of the Time, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Un Nouveau Festival, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

2013

  • extra | ordinary, The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2013, Dubai, UAE

  • Future Generation Art Prize @ Venice, The 55th Venice Biennial, Italy

  • HIWAR: Conversations in Amman, Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2012

  • The Future Generation Art Prize 2012, Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine

  • The Ungovernables: The 2012 New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York, USA

2011

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

2010

  • Noise, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2008

  • Art Now in Lebanon, Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2006

  • Moving Homes, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

Awards & Residencies

2016

  • DAAD Artists in Residency Program, Berlin, Germany

2013

  • Abraaj Group Art Prize, Dubai, UAE

2012

  • Future Generation Art Prize Jury Award, Ukraine

2011

  • Sharjah Biennial 10 Artist Prize, Sharjah, UAE

Publications

2018

  • FRAGMENTS/BRUCHSTÜCKE, published by Kunstverein, Hamburg, DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program & KAPH Books

Public Collections

Education

2012

  • MFA, University of California in San Diego, USA

2008

  • BArch, The Cooper Union, New York USA