SHOWROOM PRESENTATION
BERLIN – ST. AGNES
Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983) is a Kuwaiti visual artist born in Senegal and educated in Japan. Spanning sculpture, installation, film, and performance, Al Qadiri’s multifaceted practice is based on research into the cultural histories of the Gulf region. Her interpretation of the Gulf’s so-called “petro-culture” is manifested through speculative scenarios that take inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture, resulting in uncanny and covertly subversive works that destabilize mythologies of statecraft and modernization as well as traditional notions of gender. Tracing the delicate ecologies threatened by the petroleum industry’s relentless resource extraction, Al Qadiri’s works envision a world in which oil is a relic of humanity’s past. She is currently based in Berlin.
Monira Al Qadiri has held solo exhibitions at UCCA Dune, China (2023); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2023); the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain (2022); Blaffer Art Museum, Texas, USA (2022); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2020); Kunstverein Gottingen, Gottingen, Germany (2019); The CIRCL Pavilion, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2018); Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon (2017); Gasworks, London, UK (2017); Stroom Den Haag, the Hague, Netherlands (2017); and Sultan Gallery, Kuwait (2014).
Her participation in collective exhibitions includes DesertX AlUla (2024); After Laughter Comes Tears, MUDAM, Luxembourg (2023); “Our Ecology. Toward a Planetary Living” Mori Art Museum, Japan (2023); “Thinking Historically in the Present” Sharjah Biennial 15, Sharjah, UAE (2023); “Is it Morning for You Yet?” The 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2022); “The Vibration of Things” The 15th Triennial of Small Sculpture, Fellbach (2022); Dubai Expo 2020, Dubai (2021); “Feeling the Stones” Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennial, Riyadh (2021); “Phantasmapolis” Asia Art Biennial, Taiwan (2021); “Our World is Burning” Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020); “Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars” MoMA PS1, New York (2019-20); Future Generation Art Prize, Kyiv (2019); “Antikino” Berlinale Forum Expanded, Berlin (2019); Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane (2018); Lulea Biennial, Sweden (2018); Athens Biennial, Athens (2018); “Crude” Jameel Arts Center, Dubai (2018); among others. In 2022, Al Qadiri was featured in the Venice Biennale’s central exhibition “The Milk of Dreams.”
FULL CV
