Rabih Mroué

My life always comes back to me like a lame dog, installation view, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg, 2023
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
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

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 KAI10, Aretha Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany
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