Monira Al Qadiri 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.
Read MoreShe has held solo exhibitions at The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao (2022), Digital Arts Resource Center (DARC), Ottawa (2022), Art Gallery Burlington, Ontario (2021), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2020), Kunstverein Gottingen, Gottingen (2019), The CIRCL Pavilion, Amsterdam (2018), Sursock Museum, Beirut (2017), Gasworks, London (2017), Stroom Den Haag, the Hague (2017), and Sultan Gallery, Kuwait (2014). Her participation in collective exhibitions includes: The Milk of Dreams the 59th International Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2022), Phantasmapolis Asia Art Biennale, Taiwan (2021–2022), 'Feeling the Stones' Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennial, Riyadh (2021–2022), Expo 2020, Dubai (2021), One Escape at a Time Seoul Mediacity Biennial, Seoul (2021), Intermingling Flux, Guangzhou Image Triennial, Guangzhou (2021), Our World is Burning, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020), Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars, MoMA PS1, New York (2019–2020), Future Generation Art Prize, Kiev (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.
Text courtesy KÖNIG GALERIE
