Join us for a conversation with artist Taysir Batniji as we mark the opening of his Artist’s Room with the work Hannoun.

In dialogue with Art Jameel’s Uns Kattan, Deputy Director and Head of Learning and Research, the conversation will engage with Batniji’s work Hannoun featuring a room that mirrors the size of the artist’s studio space in Gaza, a place that is now inaccessible. The talk will be a space to hear firsthand about the artist’s history with his own studio from 2001 until present day, as well as the early childhood memories in Palestine shaping his practice for many decades.

Open to all. Free to attend. Event held in Arabic. Refreshments provided. RSVP here.

Taysir Batniji (b. 1966 Gaza, lives and works between Paris and Palestine) graduated in arts from Al-Najah University in Nablus, Palestine (1994), and from the School of Fine Arts of Bourges in France (1997). Since then, he has been dividing his time between two countries and cultures, from where he develops a multi-media practice, including drawing, installation, photography, video and performance. Often tinged with impermanence and fragility, Batniji’s artworks draw inspiration from his subjective story, but also from current events and history.

Batniji has participated in numerous group exhibitions and biennials, including the Berlin Biennale (2022), Centre Pompidou (2014), Istanbul Biennial (2012), the Venice Biennale (2011, 2009 & 2003) and many others. In 2018, 2021 et 2022, Les Rencontres d’Arles, MAC VAL and Mathaf dedicated in depth solo exhibitions of his work. He was awarded the Abraaj Group Art Prize in 2012 and the Hermès/Aperture Immersion programme in the US in 2017.

Uns Kattan is Deputy Director and Head of Learning and Research at Art Jameel. She oversees education programmes at Jameel Arts Centre – from school visits and children’s materials through to research initiatives and the Jameel Library. She has a particular interest in visual culture and alternative histories and, over the past ten years, has worked across research, programming and content-development. Previous roles include managing the Global Art Forum at Art Dubai and research and curatorial at the Sharjah Art Foundation.

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Largely drawn from the Art Jameel Collection, ‘Artist’s Rooms’ is a series of capsule solo exhibitions, curated in collaborative dialogue with the artist.