Kabul, 1973.
Lives and works in Los Angeles and Kabul.
The first artist of her country to represent Afghanistan at the 51st edition of the Venice Biennale in 2005, she was then selected to participate in numerous other Biennales and Triennales: São Paulo Biennial 2006; Gwangju Biennial 2006; Moscow Biennial 2007; Sharjah Biennial 2007; Göteborg Biennial 2007; Venice Biennale 2015; Busan Biennale 2016; Istanbul Biennial 2022. Her work has also been presented at: Istanbul Modern, Istanbul; Kunsthalle, Vienna; Museum of Modern Art, Arnhem; Miami Central, Miami; ICA Toronto, Toronto; ZKM Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe; Capc, Bordeaux; CAC, Brétigny; Frac Lorraine, Metz; Musée Chagall, Nice; National Museum, Kabul; Tate Modern, London; MOMA, New York; Location One, New York; OK Centrum for Contemporary Art, Linz; Western Front Exhibitions and Centre A, Vancouver; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis; Royal Academy of Arts, London; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Zentrum Paul Klee, Berne; Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem; Louis Vuitton Espace, Paris; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon; CAC, Málaga; Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris; MART, Rovereto; Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; Fondazione Merz, Torino; CAP, Lyon; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei; National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. She has won the Taiwan Award (2005), the Premio Pino Pascali (2005), the Prince Claus Award (2006), as well as the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts (2007). She was a finalist of the First Edition of the Mario Merz Prize (2015).
Her work appears in numerous public and private collections, including the Frac Lorraine, Metz; GAM – Torino, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; the MOMA, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE.
EDUCATION AND RESIDENCIES
M.F.A., University of California, Irvine, California, U.S.A.
B.A., Philosophy, California State University, Fullerton, California, U.S.A.
B.A., Political Science, California State University, Fullerton, California, U.S.A.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, U.S.A.
Intra-Nation Residency, Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada
Cité International Residency, Paris, France
AWARDS
2015
Finalist Mario Merz Prize 1, Fondazione Merz, Turin
2007
UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts, Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah, UAE
Shortlisted for the Artes Mundi Prize 2008, Cardiff, Wales, U.K.
2006
Prince Claus Cultural Award, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2005
Taiwan Award, 51st International Art Exhibition: La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Pino Pascali Award, Polignano a Mare, Bari, Italy
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Lida Abdul, Time, Love and the Workings of Anti-Love II, Giorgio Persano gallery, Progetto Fo.To, Turin, Italy
2015
CAP Centre, Lyon, France
2014
Lida Abdul, Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, France
2013
Lida Abdul, Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, France
What We Have Overlooked, Giorgio Persano Gallery, Turin, Italy
Videotank #7: Lida Abdul, Foreman Art Gallery, Bishop’s University, Quebec, Canada
Lida Abdul, Centro De Arte Contemporáneo De Málaga, CAC Málaga, Spain
2010
Lida Abdul, Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A., curated by Tumelo Mosaka
2008
In Transit, OK Center for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria, curated by Martin Sturm
In Transit, Giorgio Persano Gallery, Turin, Italy
In Transit, Le Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse Art Festival, Toulouse, France, curated by Odile Biec
Lida Abdul, Western Front Exhibitions and Centre A, Vancouver, Canada, curated by Candice Hopkins and Makiko Hara
Lida Abdul, IDEA Space, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.A
Lida Abdul, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., curated by Sarah Urist Green
Lida Abdul, Alessandra Bonomo Gallery, Rome, Italy
Lida Abdul, GSK Contemporary Royal Academy of Arts, London, U.K.
2007
Lida Abdul, Musée Chagall, Nice, France, curated by Maurice Fréchuret
Lida Abdul, Musée national Picasso, Vallauris, France, curated by Maurice Fréchuret
Lida Abdul, ICA Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, curated by Scott McLeod
Lida Abdul, National Museum of Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan
What We Saw Upon Awakening, Location One, New York, U.S.A., curated by Pieranna Cavalchini
White House, Netwerk Centrum voor hedendaagse, Aalst, Belgium, curated by Ronny Heiremans
Modern Mondays, MoMA, New York, U.S.A., curated by Barbara London
2006
Petition for Another World, Museum Voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem, The Netherlands, curated by Mirjam Westen
Lida Abdul, Giorgio Persano Gallery, Turin, Italy
After War Games, Musées Palais du Tau de Reims, Reims, France, curated by Jerome Descamps
Pino Pascali Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Polignano a Mare, Italy, curated by Rosalba Brana
Now, Here, Over There. Lida Abdul/Tania Bruguera, FRAC Fonds régional d’art contemporain de Lorraine, Metz, France, curated by Béatrice Josse
What We Saw Upon Awakening, CAC Brétigny Centre d’art contemporain, Brétigny, France, curated by Pierre Bal-Blanc
2005
Afghan Pavilion, 51st International Art Exhibition: La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria, Ursula Blickle Videolounge, curated by Gerald Matt
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
17th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
Home, MMoCA Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI, U.S.A.
The Sun Rises in the West and Sets in the East, curated by Sara Raza, Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, MA, U.S.A.
2021
Memory of Defence: Physical and Mental Architectures, Es Baluard Museu d’Art Contemporani de Palma, Palma, Spain
L’altro, lo stesso, ZACentrale, curated by Beatrice Merz and Agata Polizzi, Palermo, Italy
The Literacy of Failure, Lumen Quarterly 2021, VCD, Beijing, China
Quatra Quatra (Drop by Drop), Galleria delle Prigioni, Treviso, Italy
2020
Emptiness equality, New Delhi, India
Lahore Biennale, 2nd ed., Lahore, Pakistan
2019
Truth is flexible, Akershus Art Centre, Lillestrøm, Norway
Entropie, j’écris ton nom, MAGASIN des horizons, Grenoble, France
Clapping with Stones: Art and Acts of Resistance, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A.
Infinitude. Es Baluard Collection, BIENALSUR and Es Baluard, Centro Cultural Kirchner – CCK, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2018
Dal-Baħar Madwarha, St Elmo Examinations Centre, Valletta, Malta
The Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, GAM, Milan, Italy
She Devil X: resisters, Studio Stefania Mascetti, Roma
International Contemporary Art Exhibition: Armenia 2018 (ICAE2018), Yerevan, Armenia
BILD MACHT RELIGION Kunst zwischen Verehrung, Verbot und Vernichtung, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany
Get Out of Art School, PXL-MAD School of Arts, Hasselt, Belgium
Territorios que importan: género, arte y ecología en Huesca, CDAN – Centro de Arte y Naturaleza. Fundación Beulas, Huesca, Spain
Film screenings, Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery – Reed College, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
2017
Un-Official Stories, Galleria Doris Ghetta, Bolzano/Pontives, Italy
QUAD / FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby, U.K.
The materiality of the invisible, Bureau Europa, Maastricht, Netherlands
States of Emergency, Imperial War Museum, London, U.K.
2016
Mining Warm Data, Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Inherit in the wind, Fundação Eugénio de Almeida, Évora, Portugal
The Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, Guggenheim Museum, New York, U.S.A.
Surprise, Netwerk vzw, Aalst, Belgium
Busan Biennale 2016, Busan, Korea
Social calligraphies, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2015
Mario Merz Prize. The 5 Finalists, Fondazione Merz, Torino, Italy
Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris, France
A room of his own: masculinities in Korea and Middle East, Art Sonje Center, Pocheon, South Korea
56. Biennale di Venezia, Pavilion of Cuba
56. Biennale di Venezia, Pavilion of Iran
Fairy tales, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
Triennale Brugge 2015, Bruges, Belgium
Gimme Shelter – forts and fictions in the lowlands, KunstFort Asperen, Acquoy, The Netherlands
Siderare, Fondazione Volume!, Rome, Italy
Everything must go: Art and the Market, The Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College, Cork, Ireland
2014
Art Amongst War: Visual Culture in Afghanistan, 1979-2014, TCNJ Art Gallery, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ravaged, Art and Culture in Times of Conflict, M-Museum Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Utopian Days x Freedom, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
Beyond Pressure Public Art Festival, Yangon, Myanmar
Le Musée international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge, Geneva, Switzerland
Kulturhuset Stadsteatern Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
White lest we forget, Limerick City Gallery of Art (LCGA), Ireland
La guerra che verrà non è la prima, MART Rovereto Trento, Italy
2013
Transition Project, Yapi and Kredi Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey
43 Salón (inter) Nacional de Artistas, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
2012
dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany
Nuit Blanche 2012, White Spirit at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Migrasophia, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE, curated by Sara Raza
Shifting Sands: Recent Video from the Middle East, The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, The University of Texas, El Paso, Texas, U.S.A.
1st Montevideo Biennial, Montevideo, Uruguay
2011
Beyond Memory, Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel
Shift and Flow, Dorsky Gallery, New York, U.S.A.
Roaming Images, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
2010
HomeLessHome, Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel
CUE: Artists’ Videos, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Monument to Transformation, Miroslav Kraljevic Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
Individual / War, Ausstellungshalle Zeitgenössische Kunst Münster (AZKM), Germany
Spatial City: An Architecture of Idealism, Institute of Visual Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
Human Condition, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria
2009
Moving Perspectives: Lida Abdul and Dinh Q Le, Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, U.S.A.
The End, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
Dream and Reality. Contemporary Art from the Near East, Zentrum Paul Klee, Berne, Switzerland
Anabasis. Rituals of Homecoming – Ludwik Grohman Villa, Lodz, Poland
Futur, FRAC Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France
History of Violence, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel
Bilderschlachten, EMAF European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany
Monument to Transformation, City Gallery Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Stranded positions, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel, Switzerland
Riwaq Biennial, Ramallah, Palestine
2008
4th Triennale of Friedrichshafen, Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen, Germany
Biennale Cuvée, Ok Centrum for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria
Videoformes, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Eurasia. Geographic cross-overs in art, MART Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy
Loss, The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden
Yellow Cruise, Louis Vuitton Espace, Paris, France
Artes Mundi 3rd Award Exhibition, National Museum of Cardiff, Wales, U.K.
The Furious Gaze, Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Intimacies of Distant War, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A.
2007
II Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia, curated by Rosa Martínez
VIII Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE, curated by Jack Persekian
Re-thinking Dissent, IV Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Göteborg, Sweden, curated by Joa Ljungberg and Edi Muka
III Auckland Triennial, Auckland, New Zealand, curated by Victoria Lynn
Thermocline of Art. New Asian Waves ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany, curated by Peter Weibel, Wonil Rhee, Catherine David
Memorial to Iraq War, with Sam Durant, Liam Gillick, Christoph Buchel, ICA, London, U.K., curated by Mark Sladen
Timeout: Art and Sustainability, with On Kawara, Giovanni Anselmo, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein, curated by Friedemann Malsch
Selection São Paulo, MAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile, curated by Francisco Brugnoli
Global Feminisms, Feminist Biennale, Brooklyn Museum, New York, U.S.A., traveling show, curated by Maura Reilly and Linda Nochlin
Culture and Conflict, Stedelijk Het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands, curated by Els van der Plas
Asian Attitude/Transient Forces, The National Museum in Poznan, Poland; Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China, traveling show, curated by Binghui Huangfu and Shen Qibin
Beyond the Dust, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy, curated by Renata Caragliano
The Art of Reconciliation, Central Museum of Utrecht, The Netherlands, curated by Peter Stepan
Illuminations, Tate Modern, London, U.K., curated by Lucy Askew and Ben Borthwick
About time II, Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, Denmark
Relics and Ruins, Espaço Cultural Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, curated by Alfons Hug
Soft Power, Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China, traveling show, curated by Shen Qibin
Riwaq Biennial, Ramallah, Palestine, curated by Charles Esche
2006
XXVII Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, co-curator Rosa Martinez
First Chapter Trace Root, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea
The Doubtful Strait, A Visual Art Event, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, Costa Rica, curated by Virginia Pérez
Mens, S.M.A.K, Gent, Belgium; K.U., Leuven, Belgium, curated by Philippe van Cauteren
Painting As a Way of Living, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey, curated by Rosa Martínez
The UnQuiet World, The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Victoria, Australia, curated by Juliana Engberg
Undercurrents06, Göteborg Konstmuseum, Göteborg, Sweden, curated by Dariush Moaven Doust
Courants Alternatifs, Le Parvis Centre d’art contemporain, Ibos-Tarbes, France, curated by Odile Biec
Courants Alternatifs, CAPC Musée d’Art contemporain, Bordeaux, France, curated by Maurice Fréchuret
Painting Ruins, Foundation for Culture and Civil Society, Kabul, Afghanistan, curated by Ali MacGlip
Fast Futures: Asian Video Art, Mumbai, India, curated by Johan Pijnappel
ACAW Asian Contemporary Art Week, Brooklyn Art Museum, New York, U.S.A.; Nafas, ifa Gallery Berlin; ifa Gallery Stuttgart, traveling show, curated by Pat Binder and Gerhard Haupt
Liberation, Tradition and Meaning/Women on the Edge of Culture, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
New territories, De Hallen, Bruges, Belgium, curated by Michel Dewilde
2005
Between the Furniture and the Building (Between a Rock and a Hard Place), with Andrea Fraser, Jimmie Durham, CAC Brétigny Centre d’art contemporain, Brétigny, France, curated by Pierre Bal-Blanc,
Between the Furniture and the Building, FR66, Paris, France, curated by Pierre Bal-Blanc
Wall to Destroyed, with Monica Bonvicini, Marguerite Duras, Gordon Matta-Clark, FRAC Fonds régional d’art contemporain de Lorraine, Metz, France
Irreducible, Contemporary Short Form Video, Miami Central, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
In the Shadow of Heroes, Central Asian Biennale, Kyrgyz Republic, curated by Muratbek Djumaliev
Fm 5 Video Festival, Madrid, Spain, curated by Carolina Grau
Video Lounge, South London Gallery, London, U.K.
Vinyl, Redux Projects Gallery, London, U.K., curated by Peter Lewis
Taste of others, Apex Art, New York, U.S.A., curated by Leeza Ahmady
Defense, Sweeney Art Gallery, University of California, Riverside, California, U.S.A.
2004
Contemporaneity, Academy of Fine Arts, Tashkent, Uzbekistan; National Museum of Arts, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Foundation for Culture and Civil Society, Kabul, Afghanistan
On healing, D.U.M.B.O, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A., curated by Bruna Mori and Joe Santarromana
Poetics of Proximity, Chapman University, Orange, California, U.S.A.
2003
Shibuya UNESCO Association, Tokyo, Japan
Alumni Show, University of California, Irvine, California, U.S.A.
Colors of God, Layola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Open Ticket, Guggenheim Gallery Chapman College, Orange, California, U.S.A.
Wide Awake, Highways, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
ENTERINTERCESSOR, Raid Projects, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Live Performance, Track-16, Irrational Exhibit 2, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
2002
All Stars of LA Performance Art, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
After the Ruins of Kabul, Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., live performance and readings
After Ruins of Kabul, “Not in our Name”, The Palace Art Speak, Hollywood, California
Democracy When?, LACE Los Angeles Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
After the Ruins of Kabul, Highways, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
Project Enduring Look, Chicago Exhibition Studies Space, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
GENERATION WHY: ARTISTS OF CONSCIENCE SPEAK, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Performance Marathon, Theatre of NOTE, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
2001
Overflowing, Track-16, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
The Gathering, Highways, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
Slam, Highways, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
Live Performance, Track-16, Irrational Exhibit, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
In Public, Art Center College Of Art and Design, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.
CAPITAL ART, Track-16, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
All Star of LA, Knitting Factory, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., live performance
2000
Film Screening, Seville, Spain
International Performance Festival Ex Teresa, Mexico City, Mexico
Unraveling, Live Performance SPE, San Diego, California, U.S.A.
Hot&Sticky, Highways, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
For Advocate, Unraveling Santa Monica, Highways, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
New Media Visionaries, Side Street Projects, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
33.3, Deep River, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
2nd Coming, Orange County Contemporary Center for the Arts, Santa Ana, California, U.S.A.
Arthouse, Irvine, California, U.S.A.
Execution Funk, Track 16, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
1999
Compulsive Beauty and its Discontents, University Gallery, California State University, Long Beach, California, U.S.A.
Art History Department, University of California, Irvine, California, U.S.A.
Hot&Sticky, Highways, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
Six Degrees, The Art Gallery, University of California, Irvine, California, U.S.A.
1997
Made in California, Brea Gallery, Brea, California, U.S.A.
Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, California, U.S.A., curated by Tyler Stallings
COLLECTIONS
Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.A.
FRAC Fonds régional d’art contemporain de Lorraine, Metz, France
OK Centrum for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria
MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York, U.S.A.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, U.S.A.