Biography

Rayyane TABET

© Douglas Friedman

Nominated by Lorenzo Giusti

Rayyane Tabet (b. 1983, Achqout, Lebanon) lives and works in Beirut. He received a Bachelor in Architecture from The Cooper Union in New York and a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of California in San Diego.

He has had solo shows at Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare, Bolzano (2018); Kunstverein in Hamburg (2017), daadgalerie, Berlin (2017), Witte de With center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2017), Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2016) and TROUW Amsterdam (2014). His work has featured in the 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018), the 15th Istanbul Biennial (2017), the 32nd São Paulo Biennial (2016), the 6th Marrakech Biennale (2016), the 10th & 12th Sharjah Biennial (2011 & 2015), the 55th Venice Biennial (2013), and the 2nd New Museum Triennial (2012). He is the recipient of the Emerging Artist Award of the Sharjah Biennial (2011), the Jury Prize of the Future Generation Art Prize (2012) and the Abraaj Group Art Prize (2013).

Work(s)

" Fragments (2016-ongoing) "

Courtesy of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg

FRAGMENTS by Rayyanne Tabet was nominated by Lorenzo Giusti, director of GAMeC in Bergamo. The project, initiated in 2016 and evolved through multiple presentations around the world, centres on Max von Oppenheim’s archaeological excavation of Tell Halaf and the subsequent destructions of many of its findings. “In 1929 Tabet’s great-grandfather, Faik Borkhoche, was appointed by the governing authorities of the French Mandate stationed in Beirut as von Oppenheim’s secretary to gather information on the excavations the latter was conducting in the village of Tell Halaf in Syria. This encounter leads Tabet to uncover a story that connects his family to major historical figures. He raises questions on the survival of heirlooms, the preservation of historical artifacts, cultural appropriation, museological practices, and migration patterns.”