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 MUDAM, Luxembourg (2023); 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 MSU Broad Art Museum (2026), the Islamic Arts Biennale (2025), Sharjah Art Foundation (2023), Museo Reina Sofía (2023), the Whitney Biennial (2022), Yokohama Triennial (2020), Lahore Biennial (2020), Jameel Art Center (2018), 21st Sydney Biennial (2018), Manifesta 12 (2018), 15th Istanbul Biennial (2017) and the 32nd São Paulo Biennial (2016). His work is in the collections of the Guggenheim, New York and Abu Dhabi; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; IVAM Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia; Kunsthalle Hamburg; Carré d’Art Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes and many other public and private collections.

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

2027

  • 3626 Postcards: An Untimely Conversation between Rayyane Tabet and Jay Defeo, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, part of the inaugural Further Triennial Around Here, San Francisco, USA (forthcoming)

2025

  • The Day After, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2023

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

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

  • A Model: Prelude - Rayyane Tabet. Trilogy, MUDAM: Musée d’Art Moderne, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

2021

  • Deep Blues, 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, Nîmes, 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, Germany

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 Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2013

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

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026

  • We Are This Land: Meditations on the Great American Experiment, MSU Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, USA (forthcoming)

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

  • Beyond the Arabian Nights. Orientalist Retellings, Louvre-Lens, Lens, France

  • 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

  • And All That Is In Between, Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

  • Rooted Transience: AlMusalla Prize, Collateral Event of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2024

  • A Model, MUDAM: Musée d’Art Moderne, Luxembourg City, 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

  • Day for Night: New American Realism, Palazzo Barberini, Roma, Italy

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

  • HomeWorks 9, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Le Carré à 30 Ans, Carré d’Art: Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes, Nîmes, France

2022

  • Quiet as It's Kept, 80th Whitney Biennial, 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, Brazil

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

  • FUTURA, Kunsthalle Hamburg, 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, Lahore, Pakistan

2019

  • Phantom Limb, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

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

  • Forgotten Kingdoms, Louvre Museum, Paris, France

2018

  • Living in the Mediterranean, IVAM: 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, Sydney, Australia

  • The Planetary Garden, 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, Istanbul, 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, Hamburg, Germany

  • The Upset Bucket, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK

2016

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

  • Incerteza Viva, 32nd São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil

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

  • Wunderlust, High Line Art, New York, USA

  • Not New Now, Marrakech Biennial 6, Marrakesh, Morocco

2015

  • New Skin, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon

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

  • The Past, The Present, The Possible, Sharjah Biennial 12, Sharjah, 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, Collateral Event of the 55th La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

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

2012

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

  • The Ungovernables, 2nd 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

Performances

2026

  • What Can We Learn From Forgetting, American University of Beirut Archeological Museum, Beirut, Lebanon (forthcoming)

2024

  • The Return, Perform Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

2023

  • The Return, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, Belgium

  • Dust Jackets, Night of Ideas, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, USA

2021

  • Deep Blues, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA

2019

  • A Short History of Basalt, Artist on Artist Series, DIA Art Foundation, New York, USA

  • Dear Victoria, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

2018

  • Dear Mr. Utzon, 21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

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

  • Dear Victoria, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

2017

  • Dear Victoria, Ashkal Alwan: The Association for Plastic Arts, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Dear Victoria, Pergamon Museum Storerooms, Berlin, Germany

  • Dear Victoria, Tamawuj, 13th Sharjah Biennial Act II, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Dear Victoria, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

  • Dear Victoria, daadgalerie, Berlin, Germany

  • Dear Victoria, Galleries of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

2016

  • Dear Victoria, Fondation d’Entreprises Lafayette, Paris, France

  • Dear Victoria, 6th Marrakech Biennial, Marrakech, Morocco

2013

  • Reading the Diaries of Others, HomeWorks Forum 6, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Looking for Pearls, Durub Al Tawaya, Abu Dhabi, UAE

  • Season’s Greetings: An Annotated Postcard, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon

2011

  • Home on Neutral Ground, Sharjah Biennial 10, Sharjah, UAE

Awards & Residencies

2026

  • Inaugural Artist-in-Residence at the Program of Medical History, Ethics and Politics in the Faculty of Medicine at the American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

2025

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

2024

  • Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency, New York, USA

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

2025

  • Steinbrügge, Bettina, Dodge, Jason, Tabet, Rayyane. A Model. Mudam Luxembourg and ROMA Publications.

2019

  • Benzel, Kim, Rayyane Tabet, and Clare Davies. Rayyane Tabet / Alien Property. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 77, no. 2, Fall 2019. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019.

  • Rayyane Tabet: Encounters, Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, 2019.

  • De Bellis, Vincenzo. “Rayyane Tabet: Fault Line”. Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare, 2019.

2018

  • FRAGMENTS / BRUCHSTÜCKE, 1st ed., and FRAGMENTS, 2nd ed. Beirut: Kaph Books, 2018, 1st ed., and 2019, 2nd ed.

Public Collections

Education

2012

  • MFA, University of California in San Diego, USA

2008

  • BArch, The Cooper Union, New York, USA