Biography
Visual artist Paola Yacoub documents the historical, political, aesthetic and emotional implications of the use of space through photographs, videos, sound recordings, maps, texts and installations. Often produced in collaboration with Michel Lasserre, her photographic and performative works consider the function of architecture as a purveyor of cultural preservation and explore the effects of war and development in the Middle East.
Yacoub's work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2012) and Beirut Art Center (2011), and her work has been shown in group exhibitions at Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); Taipei Biennial (2016); Braem Pavilion, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp (2014–2015); National Gallery of Kosovo (2014) and Camera Austria, Graz (2014), among others.
Yacoub’s work with Lasserre has also been featured in solo and group shows, including Travelling Féministe, Paris (2013) and exhibitions at Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2003); Venice Biennials (2000 and 2003) and Kunst‐Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2000).
Her works are held in public collections at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, France; FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême, France; Centre pour l'Image contemporaine, Mamco, Geneva; Museion, Bozen, Italy and Manufactures nationales des Gobelins, Paris.
Yacoub has also given numerous lectures, including O Syria! What Do You Believe?, BOZAR, Brussels (2014); Under This Trail Are Corpses, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2013); L'archive qui vient, Centre Georges Pompidou (2012); Do We Agree? Le Bal, Paris (2011) and What do I do? The Photographers' Gallery, London (2010). She presented a lecture-performance with Lasserre at the He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenshen, China (2008).
Yacoub’s photo-essays (with Lasserre) have been anthologised in the publication Beirut Is a Magnificent City: Synoptic Pictures, published by Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (2003). In 2005, she and Lasserre received a DAAD fellowship for the Berlin Artists-in-Residence Programme.
Yacoub is the director of the Artistic Research Practices (ARP-ALBA) programme, operating in partnership with the Sursock Museum, Beirut. She studied at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, Beirut and graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London (1994).
This person was part of Sharjah Biennial 13.
