Biography
Akram Zaatari produces videos, installations of photographic material and books on a range of interconnected themes, subjects and practices related to excavation, political resistance, and the production and circulation of images in times of war. Zaatari has played a critical role in developing the formal, intellectual and institutional infrastructure of Beirut’s contemporary art scene. As co-founder of the Arab Image Foundation, he has actively contributed to the discourse on the preservation of photographs and archival practice.
Zaatari’s work has been shown in a number of solo exhibitions, including Against Photography: An Annotated History of the Arab Image Foundation, Sharjah Art Foundation (2019); The Script, Modern Art Oxford (2019); Photographic Currency, LaVitrine, Beirut (2019); The Script, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (2018); New Arts Exchange, Nottingham (2018); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul (2018); K21, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2017); Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (2017); Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright, Galpao VB – Associação Cultural Videobrasil, São Paulo (2016); This Day at Ten, Kunsthaus Zurich (2016); WIELS, Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels (2014); and Le Magasin, Grenoble, France (2012). He also participated in group exhibitions at 10th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2014); 55th Venice Biennale (2013); and documenta 13, Kassel (2012).
Zaatari co-edited (with Mark Wasiuta) Rifat Chadirji: Architecture Index (Kaph Books, 2018).
He has received numerous awards, including Yanghyun Prize, Seoul (2011); Grand Jury Prize, Festival ‘Filmer a tout prix’, Brussels (2015); Special Jury Award, DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, Korea (2015); Grand Prize, New Horizons, Films on Art competition, Wroclaw, Poland (2015); Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative film, Ann Arbor Film Festival (2013); and No Violence Award, Ann Arbor Film Festival (2013).
Zaatari’s works are part of the permanent collections of Sharjah Art Foundation; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Serralves Foundation, Porto, Portugal; Tate Modern, London; and Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, among others.
Born 1966 in Saida, Lebanon, he lives and works in Beirut.
SAF participation:
Genealogies in the Middle East and Latin America (2021)
Sharjah Biennials 14 and 10
Against Photography (2019)
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Sharjah Biennial 14
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The Landing (2019)
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