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Mona Hatoum

Lives and works in London
B. 1952

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Mona Hatoum’s poetic and political work incorporates installations, sculpture, video, photography and works on paper.

Hatoum started her career in the 1980s making visceral video and performance work that focused intensely on the body. Since the early 1990s, however, she has increasingly created large-scale installations that aim to engage the viewer in conflicting emotions of desire and revulsion, fear and fascination. In her sculptures, Hatoum transforms familiar, everyday items such as chairs, cots and kitchen utensils into works that seem foreign, dangerous or even threatening. In installations such as Corps étranger (1994) and Deep Throat (1996) she defamiliarises the body by filming the interior landscape of her own body using an endoscopic camera.

In the large-scale works Homebound (2000) and Sous tension (1999) an assemblage of household furniture is wired-up with an audible electric current. These works combine a sense of threat with a surrealist sense of humour, drawing the viewer in, both on an emotive and intellectual level. In works such as Traffic (2004) or Twins (2006) Hatoum uses found materials, patinated with use and laden with personal histories, to create delicate, powerful sculptures on an intimate scale.

Mona Hatoum was born into a Palestinian family in Beirut, Lebanon in 1952 and has lived and worked in London since 1975. Solo exhibitions include KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2022-23); Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin (2022-23); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2022); Magasin III, Stockholm (2022); Valencia Institute of Modern Art, Spain (2021); Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan (2017); Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, touring to Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St Louis, MO (2017-18); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, touring to Tate Modern, London and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2015-16); Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2014); Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland (2013); Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (2012); Beirut Art Centre (2010); Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice (2009); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2009); Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2005); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, touring to Magasin III, Stockholm and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (all 2004); Tate Britain, London (2000); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (1999); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, touring to New Museum, New York (1997).

Hatoum has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Documenta 14, Kassel, Germany and Athens (both 2017); 6th Marrakesh Biennale (2016); 5th Moscow Biennale; Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (both 2011); 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006); 51st Venice Biennale (2005); Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (2002); The Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London (1995); 46th Venice Biennale (1995); and 4th Istanbul Biennial (1995).

Among other awards, Hatoum has received the Praemium Imperiale (2019), the 10th Hiroshima Art Prize (2017) and the Joan Miró Prize (2011).

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Exhibitions

Gallery Exhibition

Mona Hatoum

Remains to be Seen

12 September – 3 November 2019

Bermondsey, London

Gallery Exhibition

Mona Hatoum

Remains of the Day

7 September – 17 November 2018

Hong Kong

Gallery Exhibition

Mona Hatoum

Bunker

25 February – 2 April 2011

Mason’s Yard, London

Gallery Exhibition

Mona Hatoum

Hot Spot

24 November – 22 December 2006

Mason’s Yard, London

3 – 28 October 2023

New York

14 May – 29 August 2022

Northwich, Cheshire, UK

4 March – 3 April 2022

Paris

11 December 2020 – 23 January 2021

West Palm Beach

6 May 2020 – 7 April 2021

Online

12 September – 3 November 2019

Bermondsey, London

7 September – 17 November 2018

Hong Kong

18 July – 25 August 2018

Hong Kong

11 July – 2 September 2018

Bermondsey, London

11 July – 15 September 2018

Mason’s Yard, London

28 June – 17 September 2017

Bermondsey, London

8 October 2015 – 9 January 2016

Mason’s Yard, London

25 February – 2 April 2011

Mason’s Yard, London

8 July – 28 August 2010

Hoxton Square, London

24 November – 22 December 2006

Mason’s Yard, London

16 July – 21 August 2004

Hoxton Square, London

24 May – 22 June 2002

Hoxton Square, London

15 April – 1 July 2000

Hoxton Square, London

13 January – 25 February 1995

Duke Street, London

Museum Exhibitions

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Museum Exhibition
Miroslaw Balka, Mona Hatoum and Gabriel Orozco at ‘Soap Culture’ in Venice

18 April - 15 June 2024 | Venice, Italy

Museum Exhibition
Mona Hatoum and Käthe Kollwitz at Kunsthaus Zürich

18 August - 12 November 2023 | Switzerland

Museum Exhibition
Mona Hatoum at The ICA Boston

6 October 2022 - 26 February 2023 | Boston, USA

Films

In the Gallery

Mona Hatoum on 'Remains of the Day'

Mona Hatoum discusses her 2018 exhibition 'Remains of the Day' at White Cube Hong Kong. Outlining the ideas and methods in her new work, she talks about her focus on the architecture of ruins and employment of visceral, everyday materials.

In the Gallery

Mona Hatoum on 'Remains of the Day'

Mona Hatoum discusses her 2018 exhibition 'Remains of the Day' at White Cube Hong Kong.

In the Gallery

Susanna Greeves on Dreamers Awake

Susanna Greeves discusses the work in the exhibition 'Dreamers Awake' at White Cube Bermondsey in 2017.

News

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Triennial
Mona Hatoum at the Bruges Triennial

13 April - 1 September 2024 | Bruges, Belgium

Bookshop

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Publications

Mona Hatoum ‘Remains To Be Seen’ (2019)

£40

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Publications

Mona Hatoum ‘Remains To Be Seen’ (2019) Limited edition, signed

£65

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