Biography

Short Biography
Filmmakers and artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige work between photography, installations, video, and cinema, whether documentary or fiction films. They question storytelling, the fabrication of images and representations, the construction of imaginaries and the writing of history. Their multi-awarded films include Memory Box (2021), Ismyrna (2016), The Lebanese Rocket Society (2012), Je Veux Voir (2008), A Perfect Day (2005)… Several retrospectives of their films have been presented in renowned institutions. Their artworks are part of the most important exhibitions and public and private collections. They have been awarded the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2017 for their project Unconformities. Joana and Khalil are both very involved in Metropolis, Cinematheque Beirut and are the co-founders of Abbout Productions with Georges Schoucair.
Long Biography
Filmmakers and artists, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige question the fabrication of images and representations, the construction of imaginaries, and the writing of history. Their works create thematic and formal links between photography, video, performance, installation, sculpture, and cinema, being documentary or fiction film.
Together, they have directed numerous films that have been shown and multi awarded in the most important international film festivals as Cannes film festival, Berlinale, Locarno or Toronto before having theatrical releases in many countries. Their films include Memory Box (2021); ISMYRNA (2016); The Lebanese Rocket Society: The Strange Tale of The Lebanese Space Race (2012), Khiam 2000-2007 (2008); Je Veux Voir (I Want To See) (2008), starring Catherine Deneuve and Rabih Mroué, A Perfect Day (2005), The Lost Film (2003); and Around the Pink House (1999). Several retrospectives of their films have been presented in renowned institutions such as MoMA (New York), Flaherty Seminar (New York), Torino Film Festival, Harvard Film Archive (Cambridge), Lincoln Center (New York), Locarno International Film Festival (Switzerland), Paris Cinema, Tate Modern (London), Visions du réel (Nyon), la Rochelle (France), Cinematek (Brussels), Seville Film Festival (Spain), Montpellier Film Festival (France), Cinema Akil (UAE), Institut Français and Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), International Film Festival of Gijon (Spain)…
The artists are known for their long-term research based on personal or political documents, with particular interests in the traces of the invisible and the absent, histories kept secret such as latencies of wars, a forgotten space project from the 1960s, the strange consequences of Internet scams and spams or the geological and archaeological undergrounds of cities. They also invoke poetry facing chaos in the project I stared at Beauty so much, with poems of Constantin Cavafy, Etel Adnan, Georges Seferis and others… Recently, they tackle the fragility of art and institutions through their body of works Museums Melancolia.
Among their major artworks, also are Circle of Confusion (1997), Lasting Images (2003), The Lebanese Rocket Society (2011), SCAMS (2014), and Unconformities (2017), centering on archeological and geological sediments and remains, what we leave behind. It showcased at the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris) and was awarded the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize.
Their artworks are part of major private and public collections including in London the British Museum, The Tate Modern (London) and Victoria & Albert Museum, The Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Fond national d’art contemporain, Museum of Modern Art (Paris), The Lyon Museum, the FRAC Bretagne, the MCA Chicago, The Hood Museum and the Solomon R Guggenheim, the Sharjah Art Foundation,The Mathaf (Doha), The Barjeel Foundation, The Jameel Art Collection. As well as, the MAMCO (Geneva), IVAM (Spain), Onassis Collection, and EMST in Athens and many others.
They presented their works in solo exhibitions at Haus der Kunst (Munich), Jeu de Paume (Paris), MIT List Visual Arts Center (Cambridge), Museum of Modern Art (Paris), HOME (Manchester), IVAM (Valencia), Powerplant (Toronto), Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE), and Villa Arson (Nice) or Beirut Exhibition Center (Beirut), as well as group exhibitions in museums and art centers around the world, such as Ashkal Alwan (Beirut), KW Berlin, MOMA (New York), the Guggenheim (New York), SFMOMA (San Francisco), Red Brick Art Museum (Beijing), Singapore Art Museum, Tate Modern (London), Whitechapel Gallery (London), and ZKM (Karlsruhe), Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin), Centre Pompidou (Paris)…. They participated in many biennials such as Taipei, Venice, Istanbul, Lyon, Sharjah, Kochi, Gwangju, and the Paris Triennale.
Hadjithomas and Joreige are the authors of numerous publications namely Two Suns in a Sunset, Koenig Books, 2016; The Rumors of The World: Rethinking Trust in the Age of the Internet edited by Omar Kholeif, Sternberg Press, 2015; Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, JRP | Ringier, 2013; and Le cinéma de Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Independencia, 2013; and artists books such as Latent images, Rosascape, 2010 and Beirut, Urban Fictions, Mind the Gap, 1997. They both regularly present lecture-performances including Aida Save Me, Latent Images and Under The Cold River Bed.
Together, they are often invited as university lecturers, more specifically at Ashkal Alwan (Beirut), HEAD (Geneve), Speap (Paris), IESAV (Beirut), Le Fresnoy Studio national des arts contemporains (France), Paris X Nanterre, RAW Academy (Dakar). Hadjithomas was previously a member of the Pedagogical Committee of the Home Works space Program at Ashkal Alwan. Both artists are co-founders of the production company Abbout Productions with Georges Schoucair, as well as members of Metropolis Art Cinema and the Cinemathèque in Beirut.
Filmography
- 2021 Memory Box, Fiction 95 min
- 2016 ISMYRNA, Documentary 53 min
- 2012 The Lebanese Rocket Society, The strange tale of the Lebanese space race, Documentary 93 min
- 2008 Je veux voir (I want to see), Fiction 75 min
- 2008 Khiam 2000-2007, Documentary 103 min
- 2006 Open the door, please, Fiction 11 min, part of the film Childhoods, Fiction 80 min
- 2005 A Perfect Day (Yawmon Akhar), Fiction 88 min
- 2003 Ramad (Ashes), Fiction 26 min
- 2003 Al Film Al mafkoud (The Lost Film), Documentary 42 min
- 2001 Barmeh (Rounds), Fiction 8 min
- 2000 Khiam, Documentary 52 min
- 1999 Al Bayt al Zaher (Around the Pink House), Fiction 92 min
Solo exhibitions
2022
- Messages with(out) a code, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
2021
- Rewind Fast Forward, In Situ – fabienne leclerc, Paris, France
- L’Histoire ajournée d’Orthosia, In Situ – fabienne leclerc, Paris, France
2020
- J’ai regardé si fixement la beauté, FRAC Corse, Corte, France
- Festival Travelling, Musée des Beaux Arts de Rennes, France
2019
- On scams, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
2018
- Unconformities, Onassis Cultural Center, Fast Forward Festival, Athens, Greece
- I Stared At Beauty So Much, The Model, Sligo, Ireland
- Film Retrospective, Oslo Kunstforening in partnership with the Cinemateket, Oslo, Norway
2017
- Se Souvenir de la lumière, Musée National Pablo Picasso, La guerre et la paix, Vallauris, France
- Two Suns in a Sunset, IVAM, Spain
- Still In Need To Apologize, Tranzitdisplay, Prague, Czech Republic
2016
- Two Suns in a Sunset, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany.
- Se souvenir de la lumière, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France.
- Two Suns in a Sunset, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE.
- I Must First Apologize…, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, United States.
2015
- I Must First Apologize…, HOME, Manchester, United Kingdom.
2014
- Je dois tout d’abord m’excuser…, Villa Arson, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Nice, France.
- The Lebanese Rocket Society, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Australia.
2013
- Lebanese Rocket Society: Part III, IV, V & VI . In Situ – fabienne leclerc, Paris, France
- KHIAM, l’emploi du temps. 3 bis F, Lieux d’art contemporain, Aix en Provence, France.
- Lebanese Rocket Society: Part II, III, IV & V. CRG Gallery, New York, USA
2012
- Lebanese Rocket Society: Part III, IV & V. The Third Line Dubai, UAE
- How soon is now : a tribute to dreamers, Beirut Exhibition Center, Lebanon
2010
- Histoire du vent », Commande publique du ministère de la culture, Festival d’Avignon, France
- Is there anybody out of there? », In Situ – fabienne leclerc, Paris, France
- I want to see, Gazworks, Triangle Arts Trust, London, U.K
2009
- Wonder Beirut, Centre de la photographie de Genève, Switzerland.
- Wish we could tell, A Space Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- Wish we could tell, Centro de Mémoria, Museum of Vila Do Conde, Portugal
- I am here even if you don’t see me, Galerie Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montréal, Québec, Canada
- Tel des oasis dans le désert, Eglise des Célestins, Festival d’Avignon, France
- Faces, Art première, Art Basel, Bâle, Switzerland
- We could be heroes just for one day Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France
2008
- Circulo de confusion, Musée de Gigon, Spain
- We could be heroes just for one day, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France
- Histoires tenues secrètes, Fort du Bruissin, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Francheville, France
- Back to the présent, Homeworks IV, Ashkal Alwan, in AGIAL Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
- Oú sommes-nous? », Festival d’Automne, Espace Topographique de l’art, Paris, France
- Circle of Confusion », CRG Gallery, New York, USA
2000
- Wonder Beirut, Ecole régionale des Beaux Arts, Rennes, France
1998
- Wonder Beirut, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beyrouth, Lebanon
1997
- Beyrouth: Fictions urbaines, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
Group exhibitions (selection)
2024
- - - Dans la Seine, Crypte archéologique de l’ile de la Cité, Paris, France
      The Circle Was a Point, Foundry, Dubai, UAE
2023
- - - The Memory Place, Art Safari, Bucharest, Romania
      Sharjah Biennale 15: Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah, UAE
      Dans l’air, les machines volantes, Hangar Y – Art Explora, Paris, France
      Brand New Ancients, Misk Art Institute, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
      Fake News 2, La Condition Publique, Roubaix, France
      Beirut and the Golden Sixties, Mathaf, Doha, Qatar
      La photographie document en action, entre expérience(s) et histoire(s), Galerie Art & Essai, Rennes, France
      Return of the Sun, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon
      In the Heart of Another Country, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
      Disappearances, fotografisk center, Copenhagen, Denmark
      HomeWorks 9, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon
2022
- - - Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
      Ruins and Fragments, Gagosian, Athens, Greece
      Belonging, MIC, Limerick, Ireland
      Habiter les interstices. Beyrouth, les artistes et la ville, Galerie Michel Journiac, Paris, France
      Lucid Knowledge, Currency: 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg 2022, Hamburg, Germany
      ordo naturalis, ordo artificialis, ZACentrale Fondazione Palermo, Palermo, Italy
      Downfalls – From Dystopia to Disruption, Kunsthalle Trier, Trier, Germany
      The Distance from Here, Hayy Jameel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
      manifesto of fragility, 16th Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, France
      Au bord du monde vivent nos vertiges, Abbaye de Jumièges, France
      Etel Adnan, Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
      In the Heart of Another Country, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
      Perpetual Inventory, Volume 1: An Exercise in Looking, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
2021
- - - Prix Pictet: Fire, Luma Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland
      How will it end?, Fondation Boghossian, Brussels, Belgium
      Inquiétances des temps, Cnap, Abbaye de Maubuisson, Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, France
      Mirroir du Ciel, Espace de l’art concret, 20th anniversary Marcel Duchamp Prize, Mouans, France
      Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa, The British Museum, London, UK
      Scratching the Surface, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
      The Distance from Here, Jameel Art Centre, Dubai, UAE
      Fake News, Espace Fondation EDF, Paris, France
      Unsettled Objects, Jameel Art Center, Dubai, UAE
      Permanent collection, Mamco, Geneva, Switzerland
      Prix de la Fondation Choi pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
      Permanent collection, The British Museum, London, UK
2020
- - - Under the Cold River Bed, 12th Taipei Biennial, Taiwan
      Trembling Landscapes, Between Reality and Fictions, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
      Potential World 2 : Eco-Fictions, Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland
      Le vent se lève, MAC VAL (Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val de Marne), Vitry, France
      Libres, Centre d’Art Contemporain Yverdon-les Bains, Switzerland
      The Time Complex, 1st Yerevan Biennial, Armenia
2019
- - - Cartes postales: nouvelles d’un monde rêvé, Les rencontres de la photographie, Arles, France
      Time, Forward!, V-A-C Foundation, Venice, Italy
      Toi qui chemines, il n’y a pas de chemin, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China
      C’est Beyrouth, Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris, France
      A Stitch in Time, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
      Connectivités, Mucem, Marseille, France
      Collecting Photography: From Daguerreotype to Digital, V&A Photography Center, London, UK
      Climbing through the tide, B7L9, La Marsa, Tunis
2018
- - - Scenario for a Museum, Cycle of Collapsing Progress, Tripoli, Lebanon
      I Stared At Beauty So Much, 30th Anniversary of the Darat al Funun Arts and Cultural Center, Amman, Jordan
      Bridging the Gap, Tsinghua University Art Museum, China
      Divided We Stand, Busan Biennale, South Korea
      But A Storm Is Blowing From Paradise, Gam Milano, Italy
      Electronic Superhighway, MAAT, Lisbon, Portugal
      A journey to Freedom, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia
2017
- - - Unconformities, winner of Marcel Duchamp Award, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
      Keimena Project, Documenta 14, Athens, Greece
      Bahar, 13rd biennale of Sharjah in Istanbul, Turkey
      Home Beirut, Sounding the neighbours, Maxxi, Rome, Italy
      The Human Condition, The Haunted House, Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow
2016
- - - But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Guggenheim Museum, New York, US
      Electronic Superhighway, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
      Politics of Form, GfZK– Kyiv Biennial and Galerie für Zetgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
2015
- - - All the World’s Futures, 56th Venice Biennale, Italy
      Streamlines, Deichtorhallen, Hambourg, Germany
      Lest the Two Seas Meet, Museum of Modern Art in Varsovie, Poland
      Territoire d’affects, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon
      Common Grounds, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
2014
- - - Notre Histoire, Centre Pompidou/musée national d’Art moderne, Paris, France
      View From Inside, Fotofest, 15e International Biennial of Photography, Houston, US
      Visual Dialogues 2013, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece
      Lasting Images, Guggenheim Museum, New York, US
2013
- - - Terms & Conditions, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
      Vue d’en haut, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France
      Shifting Sands, CACSA Contemporary Art Center for South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
      Ici, ailleurs, Marseille-Provence 2013, France
      Sweet Sixties: Stories and Morals, Gallery Nova, WHW, Zagreb, Croatie
2012
- - - Biennial from the Global South, Kochi-Muziris Biennial, India
      Light from the Middle East, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
      Six Lines of Flight: Shifting Geographies in Contempory Art, SFMoma, San Francisco, US
      Round Table, 9th Gwangju Biennial, South Korea
      Utopia/Dystopia, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, US
      Arab Express, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
      Intense proximité, La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
      Spectral Imprints, Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2012, Dubai, UAE
2011
- - - Due to Unforeseen Events, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, US
      Seeing Is Believing, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
      Image in the Aftermath, Beirut Art Center, Lebanon
      Untitled, 12th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey
      Locus Logistics, Meeting Point 6, Berlin; Brussels, Athens, Beirut
      Une terrible beauté est née, 11th Lyon Biennial, La Sucrière, Lyon, France
      Plot for a Biennial, 10th Sharjah Biennial, UAE
2008
- - - Zones of conflict, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, US
      Roads were opened/roads were closed, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
      Art now in Lebanon, Darat al Funun, The Khalid Shoman foundation, Amman, Jordan
      Forum Home works 4, organised by Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon
      Conspire, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
      Orients Sans Frontières, Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
      Stratégies de l’histoire, Stratégie de l’art, 6th Biennale de Goumri, Armenia
2007
- - - Ah les belles images ! …, In Situ fabienne leclerc, Paris, France
      Ah les belles images ! …, La Tolerie, Clermont Ferrand, France
      Distorted Fabric, De Apple Arts Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
      Whenever it starts, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
2006
- - - Cercle de confusion, Côté court, Pantin, France
      Taking place, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
      Out of Beirut, Modern Art, Oxford, UK
      Blickdicht. Fotografien aus der arabischen Welt, Ifa-Galerie Berlin, Germany
      Coding : Decoding, Kunsthallen Nikolaj, Copenhagen, Denmark
      Coding : Decoding, Museet for Samtidskunst / Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark
2005
- - - Sequence of tense, Altpool, South Korea
      HOME WORKS III, Beirut, Lebanon
      Videokunstwoche, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
2004
- - - Present Absent, Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany
      Love it or leave it, Montenegro Biennale, Montenegro
      Appel à témoin, Le Quartier, Centre d’art contemporain de Quimper, France
      Mediterraneans, Macro, Rome, Italy
      Laughter, Bargehouse LIFT, London, UK
      Nazar, Nooderlich Photofestival, Akerkhof, Netherlands
2003
- - - The Eccho Show, curator Lars Bang Larsen, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland
      Deslocamentos, VideoBrazil, Sao Paolo, Brazil
      FORUM HOME WORKS 2, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon
2002
- - - Iconoclash, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
      Fundamentalism of the new order, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
2001
- - - Missing links, Gallery Townhouse, Cairo, Egypt
      Gaba, Marzouk, Sooja, Bonde, Kusolwong , Hadjithomas And Joreige – INOVA – Institute of Visual Arts, Milwaukee, WI, US
2000
- - - Espace vital, La Criée, Centre d’Art contemporain de Rennes, France
      Visages de rencontres, Espace Mira Phalaina, Montreuil, France