Biography

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 awarded in the most important international film festivals 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), which received multiple awards such as Best Documentary Award in Doha Tribeca Festival, Qatar; Khiam 2000-2007 (2008); Je Veux Voir (I Want To See) (2008), starring Catherine Deneuve and Rabih Mroué, which premiered in the official selection of Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and was awarded Best Singular Film by the French Critics Guild; A Perfect Day (Yawmon Akhar) (2005), premiered at Locarno International Film Festival and awarded, among many other prizes, the Fipresci Press Prize; The Lost Film (Al Film el Mafkoud) (2003); and Al Bayt el Zaher (Around the Pink House) (1999). Several retrospectives of their films have been presented in renowned institutions such as Cinematek (Brussels), Flaherty Seminar (New York), Institut Français and Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), International Film Festival of Gijon (Spain), Harvard Film Archive (Cambridge), Lincoln Center (New York), Locarno International Film Festival (Switzerland), MoMA (New York), Paris Cinema, Tate Modern (London), Visions du réel (Nyon).
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 the disappearances during the Lebanese Civil War, a forgotten space project from the 1960s, the strange consequences of Internet scams and spams or the geological and archaeological undergrounds of cities. Among their major artworks, Circle of Confusion (1997), Lasting Images (2003), The Lebanese Rocket Society (2011), SCAMS (2014), I stared at Beauty So Much (2016) and Unconformities (2017), showcased at the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris) and awarded the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize.
Their artworks are part of major private and public collections including British Museum (London), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Fond national d’art contemporain (France), MCA Chicago, Museum of Modern Art (Paris), Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE), Solomon R Guggenheim (New York), and Victoria & Albert Museum (London). They presented their works in solo exhibitions at Beirut Exhibition Center (Beirut), Haus der Kunst (Munich), HOME (Manchester), IVAM (Valencia), Jeu de Paume (Paris), MIT List Visual Arts Center (Cambridge), Museum of Modern Art (Paris), Powerplant (Toronto), Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE), and Villa Arson (Nice), as well as group exhibitions in museums and art centers around the world, such as Ashkal Alwan (Beirut), KW Berlin, MOMA (New York), SFMOMA (San Francisco), Red Brick Art Museum (Beijing), Singapore Art Museum, Tate Modern (London), Whitechapel Gallery (London), and ZKM (Karlsruhe). 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, 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 and Latent Images.
Together, they are often invited as university lecturers in Lebanon and Europe, more specifically at Ashkal Alwan (Beirut), HEAD (Geneve), IESAV (Beirut), Le Fresnoy Studio national des arts contemporains (France), Paris X Nanterre, and recently RAW Academy (Dakar). Hadjithomas was previously a member of the Pedagogical Committee of the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan. Both artists are co-founders of the production company Abbout Productions with Georges Schoucair, as well as executive 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)
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
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