Beirut - Paris
41, rue mazarine / 75006 paris
Paris Brussels London New York Shanghai Monaco
Photo: Boris Camaca
Exploring different geographies of violence in his native Lebanon but also in the broader region, Ali Cherri (b. 1976, Beirut) is a Paris-based artist with three decades of artistic practice spanning across film, performance, sculpture - in terra and bronze -, drawing, and installations, interrogating the ways in which political violence disseminates into people’s bodies and the physical and cultural landscape. Shaped by the vibrant artistic scene of postwar Beirut in the 1990s, Cherri began to investigate the sensorial coproduction of reality between images of conflict, the urban fabric and his own body.
Through the moving image and the accidented journeys of cultural artifacts, the artist discovered in the visual analysis of the political construction of history, the underlying intimate relationship between narratives of cultural value, the configuration of the past and violence itself. In a series of interventions on archaeological collections, Cherri sets out to confront the traditional signifiers of value in the museum by reintroducing fragments and artifacts that had been otherwise discarded in the form of hybrid creatures that embody the history of archaeology as a tale of colonial violence.
His film tetralogy, The Disquiet (2013), The Digger (2015), The Dam (2022), and The Watchman (2023), the subject of accolades and presentations in institutions as well as film festivals, is an extended meditation on political landscapes, from Lebanon to Cyprus and Sudan, imprinted with the traces of past events. Cherri is the recipient of the Silver Lion Award at the 59th Venice Biennale. In Venice, the video installation Of Men and Gods and Mud (2022) brings together our current predicament at the intersection of ecological disaster and the search for new grand narratives.
Mud, the primeval matter of our creation stories, both resilient and fragile, signals a new sculptural direction for the artist. In his most recent institutional exhibitions, Humble and quiet and soothing as mud (2023) at Swiss Institute and Dreamless Night (2023) at GAMeC, Cherri brings mud to life with monumental eagles, soldiers or the transtemporal history of mankind, blurring chronologies and alerting us to the latent dangers of civilization as an inherently destructive process. The telluric movements of history in Cherri’s work draw us towards a cartography of impermanence.
The artist’s expanded dialogue between art, archaeology and the fabric of historical time brought him recently in conversation with the work of modernist sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti, around the representation of the human face in the exhibition Envisagement (2024) at the Institut Giacometti in Paris. The interposition with Giacometti’s sculptures and paintings brings to the fore not only Cherri’s interest in the body and history, but also on the afterlife of artifacts and museological narratives. Ali Cherri’s exhibition Dreamless Night opened in Frac Bretagne in February 2024.
— Ari Akkermans, writer and art critic
Ali Cherri's works are included in the collections of MoMA New York, the British Museum, the Musée national d’art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Cnap (Centre National des Arts Plastiques), among others.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Vienna Secession, Vienna, Austria
2024 Alberto Giacometti / Ali Cherri : ENVISAGEMENT', Giacometti Foundation, Paris, France
2024 'Le Songe d’une nuit sans rêve', Frac Bretagne, Rennes, France
2023. Dreamless Night at GAMeC, Bergamo
2023. Humble and quiet and soothing as mud at The Swiss Institute, New York
2023. Ceux qui nous regardent at CAC La Traverse, Alfortville, France
2022. If you prick us do we not bleed? at The National Gallery, London
2022. If you prick us do we not bleed? at The Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry
2019. The Breathless Forest, La Vitrine, Beirut, Lebanon
2019. Solo Show, FIAC 2019, Paris, France
2017. Dénaturé - Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France
2017. Somniculus - Jeu de Paume - Paris, France
2017. Somniculus - CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux - France
2017. From Fragment to Whole - Jönköping County Museum - Sweden
2016. A Taxonomy of Fallacies, Musée Sursock, Beirut, Lebanon
2014. Bird’s Eye View, CAP Kuwait Art Center - Kuwait
2014. On Things that Move, Galerie Imane Farès - Paris, France
2012. Bad Bad images, Galerie Imane Farès - Paris, France
2011. A fleur de peau, Galerie Regard Sud - Lyon, France
GROUP EXHIBITIONS - Presentations (selection)
2020.
Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, 13th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea
Le vent se lève, MacVal, Val de Marne, France
Traits d’union.s, Manifesta, Marseille, France
The Gatekeepers, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, France
Trembling Landscapes, Eye Film Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Comme un parfum d’aventure, Musée d’art Contemporain de Lyon, France
La vie des tables, Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry - le Crédac, Ivry sur Seine, France
2019.
GAÏA Que deviens-tu ? Maison Guerlain, Paris, France
Le vent et les oiseaux m'encouragent, Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval, Hauterives, France
Water Blues, Parades for FIAC - Paris, France
Water Blues, Silencio - Paris, France
Phantom Limb, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, UAE
Immortality, Ural Industrial Biennal, Yekaterinburg, Russia
A hymn to those that disappear, Monitor, Izmir, Turkey
La Vitrine, Beirut Art Residency, Beirut, Lebanon
Climbing Through the Tide, B7L9 Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis, Tunisia
An Opera for Animal, ParaSite, Hong Kong
La Roseraie du Val-de-Marne, Commande Le MacVal, France
Liquid Horizons, Tranzit.sk, Bratislava, Slovakia
Out Off Nature, Arsenal - Berlin, Germany
Gabès Cinéma Fen, Gabès, Tunisia
Water Blues, Foaje, Bratislava, Slovakia
A Century in Flux, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE
Water Blues, B7L9, Tunis, Tunisia
Last Skies: Avian Imaginaries, Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands
2018.
General Rehearsal, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow Russia
Forum do Futuro, Porto, Portugal
Master Class, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, USA
Prospectif Cinema, Centre Pompidou, Paris France
Statues Also Die - Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo & Museo Egizio, Torino, Italy
Guggenheim Exhibition, Galleria d’Arte Moderna - Milan, Italy
Fast Forward Festival - Onasis Foundation, Athens, Greece
March Meetings, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Abraaj Art Prize, Dubai, UAE
Le Grand Monnayage, 8ème biennale de Melle, France
Artist’s Talk, ThalieLab, Bruxelle, Belguim
Le Musée Imaginaire, Jaou Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
2017 .
13th Sharjah Biennial, Act II, Fruit of sleep, Sursock Museum, Lebanon
Mondes Flottants, 14th Lyon Biennial, Lyon, France
Home Beirut. Sounding the Neighbors - MAXXI Museum, Rome, Italy
Where History Begins, Void - Derry, Irland
Tous, des sang-mêlés - Le MACVAL - Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France
Anarchéologies, Centre Pompidou, Paris France
Dust In Our Eyes, Twin Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2016 .
Rainbow Caravane - Aichi Triennial, Aichi - Japan
The End of the World, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prate Italy
But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Guggenheim New York
THE DIGGER, New Directors/New Films, MoMA - New York, U.S.
The Time is Out of Joint, Sharjah Art Space, Sharjah, U.A.E.
THE DIGGER, Cinéma du Réel, Centre Pompidou (Competition) - Paris, France
THE DIGGER, Ann Arbor Film Festival (Competition) - Michigan, U.S.
Lest the Two Seas Meet, Gwangju Museum of Art - Gwangju, Korea
THE DIGGER, Imagine Science, NYU Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. (Scientist Award)
Matérialité de l’Invisible, Le Centquarre - Paris, France
THE DIGGER, Rotterdam International Film Festival - The Netherlands
2015 .
CPH:DOX - Copenhagen International Documentary Festival, THE DIGGER (NEW VISON Award)
Desires and necessities New incorporations, MACBA - Barcelona, Spain
Home Works 7, Ashkal Alwan - Beirut, Lebanon
kurz / dust, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle - Warsaw, Poland
A Space is a Space is a Space, Deutsches Architektur Zentrum DAZ - Berlin, Germany
Moving Image, Malmö Konsthall, Germany
The Migrant (Moving) Image - Rotterdam, Holland
Southern Panorama, VideoBrasil - São Paulo, Brazil (Award for The Disquiet)
La città che sale / The City Rises - BID PROJECT SPACE, Milan, Italy
Bruges Triennial - Bruges, Belguim
Space Between Our Fingers - Apexart exhibition, Beirut
Lest the Two Seas Meet, Warsaw Museum of Modern Art - Poland
Mare Medi Terra Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma - Spain
The Skin Off Our Time, CACSA: Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia - Adelaide, Australia
Open Rhapsody: A Journey into Photography and Video Collections, Beirut Exhibition Center - Lebanon
Du paradis à l’enfer… Tapis volants et drones, Villa Empain - Fondation Boghossian - Brussels, Belguim
2014 .
Songs of Loss and Songs of Love, Gwangju Museum of Art - South Korea
Helsinki Photography Biennial (Commissioned project) - Helsinki, Finland
Indie-Lisboa, International Independent Film Festival (Competition) - Lisbon, Portugal
Ann Arbor Film Festival (Competition) - Michigan, USA
ZKM - Center for Art and Media - Karlsruhe, Germany
A-I-R Laboratory - Centre for Contemporary Art (Residency) - Warsaw, Poland
AFAC Film Festival - Beirut, Lebanon
Afteratlas exhibition (Georges Didi-Huberman and Arno Gisinger) - Beirut Art Center, Lenanon
2013 .
Dubai International Film Festival - UAE
Yallay Art Space, Archi-Texture - Hong Kong
VideoBrasil, Southern Panorama - São Paulo, Brazil
University of California - Santa Cruz, Unfixed Itineraries - Santa Cruz, USA
Beirut Art Center, Dream-Machine - Beirut, Lebanon
Toronto International Film Festival - Toronto, Canada
Art Gallery of South Australia, Shifting Sands - Sydney + Adelaide, Australia
International Documentary and Short Film Festival - Kosovo
Yapi Kredi Cultural Center, Transition Project - Istanbul, Turkey
Home Works 6 Exhibition, Ashkal Alwan - Beirut, Lebanon
Le Sept/Cinq, Collections / Collection - Paris, France
Alwan Film Festival - New York, USA
Art Dubai - Dubai, UAE
The Hatch, Selected artist at Art Dubai - UAE
Art Paris Art Fair - Paris, France
San Francisco International Film Festival - USA
Oberhausen International Film Festival - Germany
Berlin International Film Festival - Germany
Rotterdam International Film Festival - The Netherlands
2012 .
MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York
Doha Tribeca Film Festival, Doha, Qatar
Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
FIDMarseille, Marseille France
Beirut Art Fair, Beirut Exhibition Center, Lebanon
Beirut II, CAP (Contemporary Art Platfom), Kuwait
Dégagements...la Tunisie 1 an après, Institut du Monde arabe, Paris
41st Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam
2011 .
Southern Panorama, VideoBrasil – SECS, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Makan Art Space, Amman, Jordan
Beirut Ô Beirut, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Exposure, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon
Beirut, Kunsthalle, Vienne, Autriche
1 an déjà, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France
2010 .
Co_incidences, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France
Artist to artist 2010, The Delfina Foundation, London, UK
2009 .
Fiction in Action, Raster Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
A Fantasy For Alain Kaprow Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo, Egypt
2008 .
Home Works IV: A Forum on Cultural Practices, Beirut, Lebanon
Esto no es una exposición at Huarte Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Espagne
2007 .
Pavilion of Lebanon - Venice Biennale, Italy
Port Izmir Festival, Izmir, Turkey
Beirut Stories, Majestic Petra Festival, Jordan
Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburg, UK
Festival Paris Cinéma, Paris, France
In Focus, Tate Modern, London, UK
Mostravideo, Instituto Itaú Cultural Belo Horizonte, Brazil
The Karma of War, SUNY Stony Brook, NY, U.S.A.
Image-thought, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2006 .
Out of Beirut, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK
Kunst-Werke Berlin E.V., Institute For Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
Kasa Galerie, Istambul, Turkey
Dictionary of War, Munich, Germany
2005 .
Manifesta - Amsterdam, Holland
VideoBrazil, Sao Paulo, Brazil
18ème Instants Video: De la puissance de la mémoire, Soirée présentée par: magazine Bref
Video libanaise: entre fiction et réalité, Théâtre Le TARMAC de la Villette, Paris
Diskurs 05, European festival for young performing arts, Giessen, Germany
Festival des Instants Video Numériques et Poétiques, Marseille, France
Home Works III : A Forum on Cultural Practices, Beirut, Lebanon
KunstFilmBiennale Köln, Germany
Medien und Architektur Biennale Graz, Austria