Rayyane Tabet

Rayyane Tabet, "A Model: Prelude," Exhibition view MUDAM, Luxembourg, 2023MUDAM Luxembourg, 2023


Rayyane Tabet (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.

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).

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023A Model: Prelude, MUDAM, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
The Return, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2021Rayyane Tabet: Exquisite Corpse, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Rayyane Tabet: Arabesque, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
Deep Blues, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
2020Arabesque, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, USA
2019Encounters, Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London, United Kingdom
Alien Property, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Forgotten Kingdoms, Louvre Museum, Paris, France
FRAGMENTS, Carré d’Art, Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes, France
2018FAULT LINE, Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare, Bolzano, Italy
FRAGMENTS, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut, Lebanon
2017BRUCHSTÜCKE / FRAGMENTS, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany
KOPF HOCH! MUT HOCH! UND HUMOR HOCH!, daadgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Ah, my beautiful Venus!, Witte de With Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2016La Mano De Dios, Museo Marino Marini, Florence, Italy
2015ONLY GODS NEVER DIE, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2014Here Today Gone Tomorrow, TrouwAmsterdam, Netherlands
2013The Shortest Distance Between Two Points, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

Selected Group Exhibitions
2024A Model, MUDAM, Luxembourg
2023Guest Relations, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, UAE
In the Heart of Another Country: The Diasporic Imagination Rises, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Machinations, Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
2022Whitney 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
2020A 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
2019Phantom Limb, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE
When the Present is History, Depo, Istanbul, Turkey
2018Living 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
2017A 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
2016Faisons 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
2015New 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
2014This is the Time. This is the Record of the Time, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Netherlands
Un Nouveau Festival, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
2013extra | 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
2012The Future Generation Art Prize 2012, Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine
The Ungovernables: The 2012 New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York, USA
2011Plot for a Biennial, Sharjah Biennial 10, Sharjah, UAE
2010Noise, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2008Art Now in Lebanon, Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan
2006Moving Homes, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

Awards & Residencies
2016DAAD Artists in Residency Program, Berlin, Germany
2013Abraaj Group Art Prize, Dubai, UAE
2012Future Generation Art Prize Jury Award, Ukraine
2011Sharjah Biennial 10 Artist Prize, Sharjah, UAE

Publications
2018FRAGMENTS/BRUCHSTÜCKE, published by Kunstverein, Hamburg, DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program & KAPH Books

Education
2012MFA, University of California in San Diego, USA
2008BArch, The Cooper Union, New York USA