فير زملر غاليري Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Taysir Batniji

Taysir Batniji (b. 1966, Gaza, Palestine) studied at Al Najah University in Nablus, Palestine and at the School of Arts in Bourges, France. In recent years he has held solo exhibitions at Mathaf (2022), MAC VAL (2021), Les Rencontres d’Arles (2018); Aperture Foundation, New York (2018); Contemporary Art Space André Malraux, Colmar (2016); Marseille / Provence (2013); MAH, Geneva (2007); and Witte de With, Rotterdam (2004). Read more

His works were shown in the following group exhibitions: Lyon Biennale (2024), Berlin Biennale (2022), MAC VAL and Jeu de Paume (2019), Boghossian Foundation, Brussels (2018); WK, Stuttgart (2017); IVAM, Valencia (2016); and Center Pompidou (2014), Istanbul Biennale (2011), Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin (2009). And in the Venice Biennale in 2011, 2009, 2003. Prominent collections include his works such as Mathaf, Doha, Center Pompidou, Paris, V&A Museum, London, and IVAM, Valencia, among others.

1/6Taysir Batniji, Gaza - Journal intime #3 (la mer), 2005, photograph mounted on Dibond with a shadow gap frame, 46.5 × 70 cm
Suspended Time, 2006, sand, glass, 7,5 x 28 x 10 cm
2/6Taysir Batniji, Suspended Time, 2006, sand, glass, 7.5 × 28 × 10 cm
Watchtowers, West Bank, 2008, Set of 12 b/w photographs, 50x40cm each
3/6Taysir Batniji, Watchtowers, West Bank, 2008, Set of 12 b/w photographs, 50 × 40 cm each
4/6Taysir Batniji, GH0809, 2011, 20 C-prints on paper, with lighted frames, 21 × 29.5 cm / 27 × 36 cm, framed
Hannoun, 1972-2009, Performance/installation, colour photograph, inkjet print on poster paper (100 x 150 cm), pencil shavings, dimensions variable
5/6Taysir Batniji, Hannoun, 1972-2009, Performance/installation, colour photograph, inkjet print on poster paper (100 × 150 cm), pencil shavings, dimensions variable
Remnants (1), 2024, Oil on canvas, 61x46cm
6/6Taysir Batniji, Remnants (1), 2024, Oil on canvas, 61 × 46 cm

Selected Press

Gallery Exhibitions

Exhibitions Beyond

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2025

  • In-habiting Time, Fondazione Ago, Palazzina dei Giardini, Modena, Italy

  • Just in case, Sfeir-Semler Downtown, Beirut, Lebanon

2024

  • Hannoun, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

  • Out of the blue, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2023

  • Quadrillages et bifurcations, Pavillon Carré de Baudouin, Paris, France

2022

  • Home Away from Home, Bleu du Ciel, Lyon, France

  • No Condition is Permanent, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

2021

  • Quelques bribes arrachées au vide qui se creuse, MAC VAL: Musée d'Art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France

2020

  • To my Brother, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

2019

  • The Sand Comes Through The Window, Mina Image Center, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Home Away from Home, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

  • Our Fathers, L'Imagerie, Lannion, France

  • Suspended Time, Prefix Institut of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada

2018

  • Gaza to America, Home Away from Home, Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France

  • Home Away from Home, Aperture Foundation, New York, USA

2016

  • DIPLOPIA, Contemporary Art Space André Malraux, Colmar, France

2014

  • Memory is Evergreen, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2013

  • Taysir Batniji. Man does not live by bread alone, Cultural Center Salon de Provence, Marseille, France

2012

  • Troubles, Gallery BF15, Lyon, France

2010

  • Mobile Home, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2009

  • Acting Memories, Syndicat Potentiel, Strasbourg, France

  • Fathers, CCF of Algiers, Algeria

2007

  • Fathers, Talmart Gallery, Paris, France

  • Background Noise, La Compagnie, Marseille, France

  • Fathers, Museum of Art and History, Geneva, Switzerland

2004

  • Transit, Witte from With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2002

  • Impossible Journey, K & S Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2001

  • News / Breaking News, Arts and Crafts Village, Gaza

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026

  • Patrimoine en résistance, Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris, France

  • Vulnerabilities, Biel/Bienne Festival of photography, Pasquart, Switzerland (forthcoming)

  • To hold, to give, to receive, Anozero, Bienal de Arte Contemporânea de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal (forthcoming)

  • A Border Made of Paper, SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada (forthcoming)

  • The Grain of Our Hearts, La Fab, Paris, France (forthcoming)

  • Rememory, 25th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

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

  • Familial, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Town Hall Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

  • In Interludes and Transitions, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, JAX District, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia

  • Limits to despair / No limits to hope, Meessen, Brussels, Belgium

  • Re, Chobi Mela XI, International Festival of Photography, Bangladesh National Art Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh

2025

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

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

  • To Look at the Sea is to Become What One Is, Tasweer Photo Festival, Doha, Qatar

  • Coming together, Peckham 24 Photo Festival, London, UK

  • Myths of the new future, The Common Guild, Glasgow, UK

  • Bugs & Metamorphosis: Glitching Photography, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

  • d’abord les fraises, puis les fleurs, Forde & The Funambulist, Geneva, Switzerland

  • Bugs & Metamorphosis: Glitching Photography, Hasselblad Center with the Gothenburg Art Museum and the Gothenburg Natural History Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden

  • Oltre la Porta. 80 anni di Cocif fra memoria e innogazione, Si Fest, Savignano Immagini Festival, Italy

  • Bound Narratives: A Photobook Festival, Kamel Lazaar Foundation Art Center, Tunis, Tunisia

  • What Lies in Between, 5th edition of the NUR with the cooperation of PHotoESPAÑA, Casa Árabe, Madrid, Spain

  • Come Together, Cortona On The Move, Cortona, Italy

  • L’Arrière-pays, Cnap: Centre national des arts plastiques, Avignon, France

  • Fotográfica Bogotá , Bienal Internacional de Fotografía, Fotomuseo: Museo Nacional de la Fotografía, Bogotá, Colombia

2024

  • Chaque vie est une histoire, Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration, Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, France

  • Les voix des fleuves, Crossing the water, 17th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France

  • space of togetherness, Neon Foundation, National Theater of Greece Drama School | School of Athens – Irene Papas, Athens, Greece

  • Silent Times, Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium

  • Return, Mucem, Marseilles, France

  • Dis-placed, Konschthal Esch, Luxembourg

  • Closer, PhMuseum International Photo Festival, Bologna, Italy

2023

  • About Sharing. Art on the (German-Polish) Border, The National Museum Poznan, Poland

  • Ce que la Palestine apporte au monde, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

  • Formes de la ruine, MBA: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, France

2022

  • Grasping at Straws, The 5th Floor, Taitō City, Japan

  • Les Sentinelles | Œuvres de la collection du Cnap, Tourcoing, France

  • Jaou photo 2022, Tunis, Tunisia

  • Taysir Batniji, Kunsthalle Trier, Germany

  • 12th Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany

2020

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

2019

  • Mara’ina, King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture - Ithra, Saudi Arabia

  • hybrID, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany

  • 14th Fellbach Triennial For Small Sculpture:40, 000 – A Museum Of Curiosity, Fellbach, Germany

  • Enfermement, Musée d’art et d’histoire de Saint-Denis, France

  • Lignes de vies - une exposition de légendes, MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France

2018

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

  • Beyond Borders, Boghossian Foundation, Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium

2017

  • Titos Bunker, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany

  • A World Not Ours, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse - Center for Contemporary Art, France

  • Kunsten Festival Watou, Belgium

2016

  • Uprisings, Jeu de Paume, Paris

  • Between Myth and Fright. The Mediterranean as conflict, Valencia Institute of Modern Art, Valencia, Spain

  • Dream of another world, Centre D’Histoire, Lyon, France

  • Uncertain States, Akademie der Künste Berlin, Germany

2015

  • [7P] Fotofestival Mannheim - Ludwigshafen - Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

2014

  • A History. Art, Architecture, Design from the 1980s until today, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

  • BNLMTL, L’avenir, Biennial of Montreal, Canada

  • Recreational Purpose, Bahrain National Museum, Manama, Bahrain

  • Les Horizons, La Criée Art Center, Rennes, France

  • Keep Your Eye on the Wall, Palestinian Landscapes, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait

  • Customs Made: Quotidian Practices and Everyday Rituals, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE

  • Thanks for Writing, 601 Artspace, New York, USA

  • Arab Contemporary: Architecture, Culture and Identity, Louisiana Museum Of Modern Art, Denmark

  • A Guest Without A Host Is A Ghost, CIC, Cairo, Egypt

2013

  • The sea is my land. Artists from the Mediterranean, MAXXI, Rome, Italy

  • Summa Art Fair, Madrid, Spain

  • Here, Elsewhere, Friche La Belle De Mai, Tour-Panorama, Marseille, France

2012

  • Light from the Middle East, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom

  • Forays. Self-interest systems - mechanisms of looting, Fotohof Salzburg, Germany

  • Systems and Patterns, International of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia

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

  • Newtopia: The state of human rights, Cultuurcentrum Mechelen, Belgium

  • Making History, Frankfurter Kunstverein, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, MMK Zollamt, Germany

  • State of Transit, Open Systems, Zentrum für Kunstprojekte, Vienna, Austria

2011

  • Seeing is Believing, KW Berlin, Germany

  • Istanbul Biennial 12, Istanbul, Turkey

  • The Future of a Promise, 54th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy

2010

  • Biennial Cuvée, OK Center for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria

2009

  • Taswir – Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany

  • Jerusalem Show III: The Jerusalem Syndrome, Al-Ma’mal Foundation, Jerusalem

  • Palestine c / o Venice, 53rd Venice Biennale, La Giudecca, Venice, Italy

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

  • Paris Photo, Paris, France

2008

  • Water: Misery and Delight, IFA gallery, Stuttgart, Germany

  • Minimum Security, The Bank, Paris, France

  • Our Realities, The Neighborhood, Contemporary Art Center of Quimper, France

2007

  • The 2nd Riwaq Biennial, Ramallah, Palestine

  • 1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece

  • Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change, Sharjah Biennial 8, Sharjah, UAE

2006

  • Coding: Decoding, Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Denmark

  • New Territories, Belfry, Stadshallen, Bruges, Belgium

  • Middle East News, On Culture and Politics, HAU, Berlin, Germany

2005

  • KunstFilmBiennale, Sankt Peter Art Station, Cologne, Germany

2003

  • Dreams and Conflicts - The Viewer’s Dictatorship, Utopia Station, 50th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2002

  • A Need of Realism. Solitude in Ujazdowski, Center for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland

Awards

2024

  • Photo Book of the Year Award for Disruptions, Photo — Aperture PhotoBook Awards

2012

  • Joint Winner, Abraaj Capital Art Prize

Public Collections

Education

2003

  • Post Graduate, Marseille School of Fine Art, Marseille, France

1997

  • DNSEP, Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Bourges, Bourges, France

1992

  • BA, Plastic Arts, Al-Najah University, Nablus, Palestine