Born in 1983 in Dakar, Senegal
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983, Dakar, Senegal) is a Kuwaiti artist whose practice explores global histories, ecologies, and cultural narratives. Raised between cultures and educated in Japan, where she earned a Ph.D. in Intermedia Art from Tokyo University of the Arts, Al Qadiri’s work primarily focuses on the worldwide impact of natural resource extraction. Through a combination of in-depth research and humor, in her sculpture, videos, and installations, she brings to the fore the effects of what she refers to as “petro-culture”—a society shaped by and reliant on oil consumption. Often characterized by seductive shapes and iridescent colors, her work blends autobiographical elements, literature, pop culture, and science fiction. Whether juxtaposing opulence and adversity, tradition and innovation, and the fragility of both natural and human ecosystems, her work encourages deep reflection on the pressing and urgent issues of our time.
Al Qadiri has been widely shown in prestigious museums worldwide including the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany (2025-2026); Kiasma Museum, Helsinki, Finland (2025); Bozar, Brussels, Belgium (2024–25); SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, US (2024); Halle Verrière, Meisenthal, France (2024); UCCA Dune, Beidaihe District, China (2023); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2023); Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, USA (2022); Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2022); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2020), and Kunstverein Göttingen, Germany (2019), among others. Her work was included in the acclaimed 59th Venice Biennale "The Milk of Dreams" (2022), and other biennials such as the Sharjah Biennial (2025, 2023); 8th Boras Art Biennial, Sweden (2024); 24th Biennial of Sidney, Australia (2024); Noor Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2023-24); 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA (2022-23); Venice Biennale, Italy (2022); Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2021-22); Asian Art Biennial, Taiwan (2021); 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Seoul, South Korea (2021); Asia Pacific Triennial 9, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Australia (2018-19). Al Qadiri has been commissioned public installations for Public Art Fund, New York and Lassonde Art Trail, Toronto (2025–26); Penistone Hill, Bradford, UK (2025); Desert X AlUla, Saudi Arabia, (2024); Noor Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2023); Art 22, Doha, Qatar (2022); Hayward Gallery, London, UK (2021), and Dubai Expo (2020).
Her work is included in the permanent collections of renowned institutions such as CCA Warsaw, Poland; CIRCL Pavilion, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Hartwig Art Foundation, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, UAE; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Qatar Museums, Doha, Qatar; Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki, Finland; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
education
2010 - Tokyo University of the Arts, Ph.D. in Intermedia Art.
solo shows
2025
Cosmic Machine, Perrotin New York, NY.
Deep Fate, Kiasma Museum, Helsinki, Finland.
Hero, Berlinishe Galerie, Berlin, Germany.
Burning Desire, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg, Sweden.
2024
Monira Al Qadiri. The Archaeology of Beasts, Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium.
Holy Quarter, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA.
Benzene Float, Halle Verriere, Meisenthal, France.
Siloed Beings, Bergson, Munich, Germany.
USURPER, Koenig Galerie, Berlin, Germany.
2023
Landscapes of Extraction, De Balie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Floating World, ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai, UAE.
Haunted Water, UCCA Dune, China.
Mutant Passages, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria.
2022
Holy Quarter, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain.
Refined Vision, Blaffer Art Museum, Texas, USA.
Behind the Sun, Digital Arts Resource Center (DARC), Ottawa, Canada.
2021
Monira Al Qadiri: IBB Videoraum, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany.
Diver, Art Gallery of Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
2020
Holy Quarter, Haus Der Kunst, Munich, Germany.
2019
Empire Dye, Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
2018
Reservoir Bits, Circl Pavilion, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2017
The Craft, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon.
The Craft, Gasworks, London, UK.
Bubble, ACUD Macht Neu, Berlin, Germany.
Legacy, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Muhawwil (Transformer), Virginia Commonwealth University, Doha, Qatar.
Attempts to Read the World Differently, Stroom Den Haag, the Hague, the Netherlands.
2016
Melting the Sky, duo exhibition, 1x1 Gallery, Dubai, UAE.
2014
Muhawwil (Transformer), Sultan Gallery, Kuwait.
2011
The Tragedy of Self, Sultan Gallery, Kuwait.
2010
The Tragedy of Self, Harmas de Fabre Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
2009
The Tragedy of Self, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan..
group shows
2025
To Carry, 16th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates.
2024
Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Biennial of Sydney, Australia.
Layers, Loops, Lines, 8th Boras Biennial, Boras, Sweden.
Desert X Al Ula, Al Ula, Saudi Arabia.
Rayons Jouet, Hangar Y, Paris, France.
Rewilding, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland.
The Bird Show, ERES foundation, Munich, Germany.
Humain Autonome, MAC VAL, France.
2023
Our Ecology: Toward a Planetary Living, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan.
After Laughter Comes Tears, MUDAM, Luxembourg.
Noor Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
POWER, CIVA Brussels, Belgium.
Plastic World, Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt, Germany.
Diving into Art, Museum under Tage, Bochum, Germany.
AnteFutur, CAPC Bordeaux, France.
New Visions, The Henie Onstad Triennial for Photography and New Media, Norway.
Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah, UAE.
So it Appears, ICA Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Prendre Corps au Monde, CAC Passerelle, Brest, France.
2022
The Milk of Dreams, The 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy.
Is it morning for you yet? The 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA.
The Vibration of Things, The 15th Triennial of Small Sculpture, Fellbach, Germany.
Devonian (public sculpture), Hayward Gallery, London.
Super Futures, Selfridges x Reference Festival, London, UK.
Space for Kids, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria.
Pattern Recognition, Kunstpalais Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
Made in X, Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium.
Blue Assembly: Oceanic Thinking, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia.
Fossil Experience, Prater Galerie, Berlin, Germany.
2021
Feeling the Stones, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dubai Expo 2020, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Phantasmapolis, 2021 Asia Art Biennial, Taipei, Taiwan.
Experiences of Oil, Stavanger Art Museum, Stavanger, Norway.
Sharbaka: Entanglement / Attunement, New York University, New York, USA
Thinking Like and Octopus or: Tentacular Grasp, Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany.
Oil: Horror and Beauty in the Petrol Age, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany.
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, Berliner Festspiele, Berlin, Germany.
Living Content: Under Pressure, Mobius Gallery, Bucharest, Romania.
A I S T I T I | Coming to our Senses, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Finland.
One Escape at a Time, Seoul Mediacity Biennial, Seoul, South Korea.
Studio Berlin, Boros Foundation and Berghain, Berlin, Germany.
Sunrise | Sunset, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany.
Guangzhou Image Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China.
Ruhr Ding: Klima, Urbane Künste Ruhr, Recklinghausen, Germany.
X is not a Small Country, MAAT, Lisbon, Portugal.
Dark Mofo Festival, Tasmania, Australia.
Rising Festival, Melbourne, Australia.
2020 Our World is Burning, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France.
Potential Worlds 1: Planetary Memories, Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland.
Body. Gaze. Power: A Cultural History of the Bath, Kunsthalle Baden Baden, Baden Baden, Germany.
Not Fully Human, Not Human At All, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Apparation, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan.
Alles im Wunderland, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany.
Dreaming in Everywhen, IMPAKT Center for Media Culture, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
2019
Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1990-2011, MoMA PS1, New York, USA.
History is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Minnesota, USA.
AntiKino, Berlinale Forum Expanded exhibition, Cinema Galleries, Brussels, Belgium.
In One Drop of Water, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Future Generation Art Prize, Palazzo Ca Tron, Venice, Italy.
Refracted Realities, Videonale 17, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany.
Future Generation Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine.
Deep Sea, Ystad Konstmuseum, Ystad, Sweden.
The Theft of Fire: From Prometheus to Petroleum, Kapelhaus, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Videonale 17 - Refracted Realities, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
AntiKino, Berlinale Forum Expanded exhibition, Silent Green, Berlin, Germany.
2018
9th Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane, Australia.
Lulea Biennial, Lulea, Sweden.
6th Athens Biennial, Athens, Greece.
Crude, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, UAE.
Spectrum 1, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Deep Sea, Stadtische Galerie Bremen, Germany.
Jaou Tunis, Tunisia.
Let's Talk About the Weather: Art & Ecology in a Time of Crisis, Times Museum, Guangzhou, China.
Beirut, Beyrut, Bayrut, Beyrouth, Beyrout, Oslo Kunstforening, Norway.
She Devil Remix, exhibition, Centro Pecci, Prato, Italy.
2017
20th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Impakt Festival, Casco, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Ordered Dance, Station Independent Projects, New York, USA.
Northen Spark Festival, Minneapolis, USA.
Performing the Border, Kunstraum Neideroesterreich, Vienna, Austria.
Glasstress 2017, Palazzo Franchetti San Marco, Venice, Italy.
2016
Living On: In Other Words on Living, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria.
Social Calligraphies, Zacheta National Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
Invisible Threads: Technology and its Discontents, New York University Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, UAE.
Let's Talk About the Weather: Art and Ecology in a Time of Crisis, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon.
Les Rencontres Internationales, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany.
In Search of Lost Time, Brunei Gallery - SOAS, London, UK.
2015
DUST, Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland.
Whose Subject Am I?, Kunstverein Dusseldorf, Germany.
Accented, Maraya Art Center, Sharjah, UAE.
2014
Invisible Dubai, public art commission by AFAC, Dubai, UAE.
Never Never Land, Edge of Arabia Projects, London, UK.
The Return of Ghosts, Taiwan Video Art Exhibition, Hong-gah Museum, Taiwan.
Off Scene, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria.
2013
Exposure 2013, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon.
X-Apartments, Home Works 6, Beirut, Lebanon.
2012
The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art & Society, Princeton Arts Council & Rutgers University, USA.
2011
50/20, Sultan Gallery, Kuwait.
2010
Paradiso, Watermill Center, New York, USA.
2009
GOTH GULF VISUAL VORTEX (G.G.V.V.), Sultan Gallery, Kuwait.
2008
In Transition Russia 2008, Moscow Center of Contemporary Art, Russia.
Tokyo Wonder Wall, Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan.
Ib Beiti Ana Geezi, Sultan Gallery, Kuwait.
2006
The Unveiling of Hishshik Bishshik, Sultan Gallery, Kuwait.
public collections
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
Jameel Arts Center, Dubai
Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Qatar Museums, Doha, Qatar
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
CIRCL pavilion, Amsterdam
CCA Warsaw
Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki
Schmelzer Foundation, Germany
Hartwig Foundation, Amsterdam
awards
RESIDENCIES
2023
AlUla artist residency, Al Ula, Saudi Arabia.
2018
RAW Material Company, Dakar, Senegal.
2016 - 2017
Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2012
Ashkal Alwan (Lebanese Association of Plastic Arts), Home Workspace Program, Beirut, Lebanon.
2010
The Watermill Center, New York, USA.
AWARDS
2022
Triennale award of the The Triennial of Small Sculpture, Fellbach, Germany.
2019
Nominated for the Future Generation Art Prize, Kiev, Ukraine.
2018
Nominated for the International Film Festival Rotterdam - Ammodo Tiger Shorts, the Netherlands.