Rabih Mroué
- Rabih Mroué
- Work
My life always comes back to me like a lame dog, installation view, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, 2023
Rabih Mroué, born in 1967 in Beirut, lives and works in Berlin. Mroué is an actor, director, playwright, visual artist, and a contributing editor for The Drama Review (TDR), New York. He has had solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Mainz (2016); MoMA New York (2015); Kunsthalle Mulhouse (2015); SALT, Istanbul (2014); Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid (2013); Documenta, Kassel (2012); Kunstverein Stuttgart (2011); and BAK, Utrecht (2010).
He has Participated in major group exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (2018); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2017); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2016); MACBA, Barcelona (2015); Performa 09, New York (2009); 11th International Istanbul Biennial (2009); Queens Museum of Art, New York (2009); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2008); and Tate Modern, London (2007).
His works are in the collections of the MoMA New York, Centre Pompidou Paris, SFMOMA San Francisco, the Art Institute of Chicago, CA2M Madrid, MACBA Barcelona, and the Van Abbe Museum Rotterdam, among others. Mroué is a co-founder of the Beirut Art Center and a long time collaborator with Ashkal Alwan, who have produced many of his performances. He is currently an associate director of Kammerspiele Munich.
Selected Solo Exhibitions | |
| 2023 | My life always comes back to me like a lame dog, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany The Pixilated Revolution, MoMA, New York, USA |
| 2022 | Images Mon Amour, Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium Under the Carpet, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Germany |
| 2017 | A Leap Year, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 2016 | Between Two Battles, Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz, Germany I was fortunate not to have seen what the others had witnessed, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2015 | Mer Méditerranée, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Center d'art contemporain, Mulhouse, France |
| 2014 | Rabih Mroué, SALT Beyoglu/Galata, Istanbul, Turkey Rabih Mroué, Fri Art in collaboration with Belluard Bollwerk International Festival, Friborg, Switzerland |
| 2013 | Rabih Mroué. Image (s) mon amour, CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, Spain |
| 2011 | Rabih Mroué. Will the Spring Visit Us?, Tranzitdisplay, Prague, Czech Republic The People are Demanding, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany I, the Undersigned, Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden The People are Demanding, Rivington Place, London, United Kingdom My Leap into the Void, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2010 | I, The Undersigned, BAK Basis voor Actual Kunst, Utrecht, Netherlands |
Selected Group Exhibitions | |
| 2024 | On the Human Comedy, Mina Image Centre, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 2023 | Machinations, Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain PXL-MAD, School of Arts, Hasselt, Belgium |
| 2022 | Homosphäre, Kunsthalle Mainz, Germany |
| 2021 | When I Count There Are Only You…, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE |
| 2020 | Image Wars: The power of Images, Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Austria 20/20 Vision: The Collection Remixed, Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany Unprecedented Times, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria |
| 2019 | Again we are defeated, as part of Out There 2019: Transnational/Transdisciplinary, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA Image Wars. Macht der Bilder, Künstlerhaus Graz Unvergessliche Zeit, Kunsthaus Bregenz Chennai Photo Biennale, Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| 2018 | Scripted Reality, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today, The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, USA And I Will Take You To Paradise, Museum KUBE, Alesund, Norway „Deutschland ist keine Insel“ Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Ankäufe von 2012 bis 2016, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany |
| 2017 |
How Close Could We Get to the Light and Survive?, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany The Image of War, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden H (a) unting Images: anatomy of a shot, CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain Propositions for a stage: 24 Frames of a Beautiful Heaven, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore Floating Self: Rabih Mroué, Rosa Rendl, Amalia Ulman, Salzburg Art Association, Salzburg, Austria |
| 2016 | Sub-Weapons, MAK Frankfurt, Germany Movement of the People, University of Essex, United Kingdom On Disappearing And For Vanishing, TARTU Art Museum, Tartu, Estonia |
| 2015 | Gallery 3010, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon Techologism, Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield East, Australia HomeWorks 7, Askhal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon The Beast & The Sovereign, co-produced by MACBA and Württembergischer Kunstverein (WCF) Stuttgart, Germany |
| 2014 | Unreliable Evidence: The Execution of Maximilian by Edouard Manet and Other Histories, Mead Gallery, Coventry, United Kingdom |
| 2013 | A Different Child of Order:, The ICP Triennial, International Center of Photography, New York, United States WRO 2013 Biennial, WRO Center for Media Art, Wroclaw, Poland Version Control, Arnolfini, Bristol, United Kingdom |
| 2012 | dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany Time and Again, Gallery AKINCI, Amsterdam, Netherlands Habeas corpus, El Center d’Art de Tarragona, Spain Demonstrations. Making Normative Orders, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Germany Double shooting installation during he world is not fair, HAU Hebbel Am Ufer, Berlin, Germany Audience as Subject, Part 2: Extra Large, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, USA |
| 2011 | Victims and Martyrs, Göteborgs Konsthall, Sweden |
Selected Performances, Lectures and Screenings | |
| 2020 | Cheers to our Wishes, Film as part of CC: World, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany |
| 2019 | Elephant, In collaboration with Dance Ensemble, Kampnagel, K2, Hamburg, Germany You Should Have Seen Me Dancing Waltz, In collaboration with Dance Ensemble, Kampnagel, K2, Hamburg, Germany Elephant, In collaboration with Dance Ensemble, Onassis, Athens You Should Have Seen Me Dancing Waltz, In collaboration with Dance Ensemble, Onassis, Athens Borborygmus, with Lina Majdalanie & Mazen Kerbaj, Home Works Forum 8, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon Borborygmus, with Lina Majdalanie & Mazen Kerbaj, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, Germany Sand in the Eyes, LE BAL, Paris, France Ode to Joy, Theater Commons Tokyo, Japan Sand in the Eyes, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA Borborygmus, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA |
| 2018 | Sand in the Eyes, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany 31st European Media Art Festival: Report - Notes From Reality, Osnabrück, Germany So Little Time, Fast Forward Festival 5, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece |
| 2016 | Dance On - Water Between Three Hands, Rabih Mroué with Dance on Ensemble, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2015 | Project 101, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA |
| 2014 | 33 rounds and a few seconds, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Lina Saneh, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA Riding on a Cloud, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Yasser Mroué, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2013 | The White Sheets of Berlin, A Tribute to Etel Adnan, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Rima Khcheich, HAU Hebbel Am Ufer, Berlin, Germany International Summer Festival, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany Unrest of Form. Imagining the Political Subject, Secession Vienna Festival, Austria 33 rounds and a few seconds, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Lina Saneh, Askhal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 2012 | Probable Title: Zero Probability II, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Hito Steyerl, House of World Cultures Berlin, Germany 33 rounds and a few seconds, Steirischer Herbst 2012 Graz, Austria; Festival d’Avignon, France, co-produced by Kunsten Festival des Arts, Brussels, Belgium; Scène nationale de Petit-Quevilly-Mont-Saint-Aignan, Rouen; Festival delle Colline Torines, Torino, Italy; Festival de Genève, Kampnagel Hamburg, Germany; Helsinki; Malta Festival Poznan 2012, Poland The Pixelated Revolution, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany |
| 2011 | Photo Romance, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Lina Saneh, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany Who’s Afraid of Representation?, Performance by Rabih Mroué / with Lina Saneh, ALFILM 11, Berlin, Germany Three evenings With Rabih Mroué and friends, Globe, Erdgeschoss der Deutsche Bank-Türme, Frankfurt, Germany |
| 2010 | The Inhabitants of Images, BAK Basis voor Actual Art, Utrecht, Netherlands |
| 2009 | Photo-Romance, Performance Rabih Mroué / Lina Saneh, Homeworks 5, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon, co produced by Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre de l’Agora Scène nationale d’Evry, Festival des Collines,Turin; Festival/Tokyo, Parc de La Villette, Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin The Inhabitants of Images a lecture performance, co-produced by Bidoun Magazine, TQW in Vienna, Ashkal Alwan in Beirut, Austria and Lebanon |
| 2008 | Noiseless, a short animation produced by CINE-POEM Theater with dirty feet, lecture-performance for HAU 2, Hebbel-Theater, Berlin, Germany |
| 2007 | How Nancy Wished That Everything What happened to April Fool’s Joke, performance by Rabih Mroué in collaboration with Fadi Toufiq, Masrah al-Madina, Beirut, Lebanon Yesterday’s Man, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Tony Chakar / Tiago Rodrigues, Trafó, Budapest, Hungary How Nancy Wished That Everything Was an April Fool’s JokeHow Nancy Wished That Everything Was an April Fool’s Joke, Performance by Rabih Mroué in collaboration with Fadi Toufiq, Tokyo International Arts Festival, Tokyo, Japan, co-produced by Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon; La Ferme du Buisson-Scène nationale de Marne La Vallée, France; Festival d’Automne à Paris, France |
| 2006 | Make Me Stop Smoking, Oberhausen Film Festival, Oberhausen, Germany Look at the Light Moving Between the Buildings, Siemens Arts Program, Munich, Germany |
| 2004 | Life is Short But the Day is Too Long, Les Subsistances, Lyon, France Who’s Afraid of Representation, HAU Hebbel Am Ufer, Berlin, Germany |
| 2003 | Looking For a Missing Employee,Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon Bir-Rooh-Bid-Dam, Short Film Limp Bodies,Tanzquartier Wien, Monument Project, Vienna, Austria |
| 2002 | Biokhraphia, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Lina Saneh, Ashkal Alwan Production, Beirut, Lebanon Three Posters, Performance by Rabih Mroué /Elias Khoury, KunstenFestivalDesArts, Brussels, Belgium |
| 2001 | Face A / Face B, Short Film |
| 2000 | Red Dead Zone, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Feyrouz Serhal, Ashkal Alwan Production, Beirut, Lebanon Three Posters, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Elias Khoury, Festival Ayloul Production, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 1998 | Come In Sir We Are Waiting For You, Performance by Rabih Mroué / Tony Chakar, Théâtre de Beyrouth, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 1997 | Extension 19, Festival Ayloul production, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 1995 | La Prison De Sable, Théâtre de Beyrouth, Beirut, Lebanon |
| 1993 | The Lift, Carthage International Theater Festival, Egypt |
| 1990 | L’abat-Jour, Beirut, Lebanon |
Awards | |
| 2020 | Schering Stiftung Award for Artistic Research |
| 2011 | Bansemer & Nyssen Dramatiker Prize, with Lina Saneh |
| 2010 | Spalding Gray Award, New York, USA Artist’s Grant for Theatre / Performance Arts from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts, New York, USA |
Education | |
| 1989 | Studied Theatre at the Lebanese University in Beirut, Lebanon |