Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige


Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige are filmmakers and artists. Their work includes feature and documentary films, video and photographic installations, sculpture, performance lectures and texts.

Personal life

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige were born in Beirut in 1969 and spent their childhood there during the Lebanese Civil Wars. They have collaborated since the early 1990s on videos, films, photographs, and installations. Their artworks are the result of long-term research projects and interweave thematic, conceptual and formal links through photographs, video installations and films.
They occasionally use explicit life events as subjects for their work, such as the kidnapping and disappearance of Joreige's uncle, Alfred Junior Kettaneh, or Hadjithomas's paternal origins in the documentary ISRMYRNA, with the poet and painter Etel Adnan.
Hadjithomas and Joreige are also university lecturers and the authors of numerous publications and performances.
Joana Hadjithomas is a former member of the Curriculum Committee of the Ashkal Alwan Academy, Home Work Space. They are also active members of the board of Metropolis Cinema, and co-founders of Abbout Productions with Georges Schoucair.

Work

Hadjithomas and Joreige are known to work over several years on a single project, and often revisit earlier works in retrospection. The importance of research in their work is such that they prefer to describe themselves not as artists but “chercheurs” - literally ‘those that are looking for something’ but also ‘researchers.' Inspired by personal archives and found documents, they work and research in collaboration with other writers, philosophers, historians, archaeologists and illustrators, and have spoken about the importance of this aspect:
'We believe in encounter more than in influence and, beyond that, we cultivate admiration: so many photos, film sequences, conversations, meetings and exchanges have nurtured and enabled us, at some time, to admire someone or something.'
They are represented by In Situ – fabienne leclerc in Paris, and The Third Line in Dubai.

Medium

Hadjithomas and Joreige interweave formal, conceptual and thematic links through photographs, video installations and films. Their work in film often influences and leads to projects in the plastic arts, and vice versa.
In 2016 and 2017 Hadjithomas and Joreige presented a large selection of their work from the late 1990s to the present day in 'Two Suns in a Sunset', a travelling museum exhibition that was shown at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, Sharjah Art Foundation in Sharjah, Haus der Kunst in Munich and IVAM in Valencia.

Film

As well as artists, Hadjithomas and Joreige are film directors. Their filmography includes the documentaries Khiam 2000 – 2007, The Lebanese Rocket Society : The Strange Tale of the Lebanese Space Race, 2013, and ISMYRNA, 2016 and the feature films Around the pink house, 1999, A Perfect Day, 2005, and I Want to See, starring Catherine Deneuve and Rabih Mroué, 2008.
In their fiction films, they are known to borrow tropes from documentary filmmaking, and vice versa, blurring the lines between the real and the illusory.

Recent work

Since 1999, the artists have collected over four thousand junk emails, digital scams intended to con their readers into sending financial aid. Over the course of many exhibitions and installations, Hadjithomas and Joreige created an itinerary around these modern day scams, and traced their history back to the literary tradition known as The Jerusalem Letter. As part of this project, Hadjithomas and Joreige created the sound and video installation The Rumor of the World, where they asked 38 amateur actors to read and incarnate these scams. A monograph under this title was published in 2015, edited by Omar Kholeif.
In 2017 Hadjithomas and Joreige won The Marcel Duchamp Prize for their presentation 'Unconformities', shown at the Pompidou Center in Paris. The installation constituted of core samples that had been collected over the past three years, underneath the cities omnipresent in the artists’ history and thinking: Athens, Paris and Beirut.
Hadjithomas and Joreige have described this project as an interrogation about the possible era of the Anthropocene.

Selected prizes

2017
The Marcel Duchamp Prize: won
2012
Best Documentary Award for The Lebanese Rocket Society: The Strange Tale of the Lebanese Space Race, Doha Tribeca Festival, Qatar.
Abraaj Capital Art Prize, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
2008
Best Singular Film for Je veux voir, Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma et des Films de Télévision, Paris, France.
Non-fiction and Documentary Award for Je veux voir, Gijón International Film Festival, Spain.
Prix Georges de Beauregard pour Khiam, FID Marseille
2005
Fipresci Prize and Don Quixote Award for A Perfect Day, Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland.
Bayard d’Or for Best Actor and Special Jury Mention for A Perfect Day, Namur Francophone International Film Festival, Belgium.
Montgolfière d’Argent, Best Actor and SACEM Prize for Sound and Original Music for A Perfect Day, Festival des 3 Continents, Nantes, France.
Best Film for A Perfect Day, Belfort Entrevues International Film Festival, France
2000
Best Film Award for Around the Pink House, Beirut International Film Festival, Lebanon.

Filmography

· 2016: ISRMYRNA, in conversation with Etel Adnan
· 2013: The Lebanese Rocket Society: The Strange Tale of the Lebanese Space Race
· 2008: Khiam 2000–2007
· 2008: I want to see
· 2006: Open the Door, Please
· 2005: A Perfect Day
· 2003: Ashes
· 2003: The Lost Film
· 2001: Rounds
· 2000: Khiam
· 1999: Around the Pink House

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2017
Se Souvenir de la lumière, Musée National Pablo Picasso, La guerre et la paix, Vallauris, France
Two Suns in a Sunset, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Spain.
Still In Need To Apologize, Tranzitdisplay, Prague
2016
Two Suns in a Sunset, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany.
Se souvenir de la lumière, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France.
Two Suns in a Sunset, Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates.
I Must First Apologize…, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, United States.
2015
I Must First Apologize…, HOME, Manchester, United Kingdom.
2014
Je dois tout d’abord m’excuser…, Villa Arson, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Nice, France.
The Lebanese Rocket Society, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia.
2013
The Lebanese Rocket Society, In Situ –fabienne leclerc, Paris, France.
Khiam: l’emploi du temps, 3bisf, Aix-en-Provence, France.
2012
How Soon Is Now: A Tribute to Dreamers, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut Exhibition Center, Lebanon.
2011
Films retrospective, MOMA, New York, United States.
2010
Histoire du vent, Festival d’Avignon, France.
I Want to See, Gasworks, Triangle Arts Trust, London, United Kingdom.
2009
Wish We Could Tell, Image Festival, A Space Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Wonder Beirut, Centre de la Photographie de Genève, Switzerland.
I’m There Even if You Don’t See Me, Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal, Canada.
Tel des oasis dans le désert, Église des Célestins, Festival d’Avignon, France.
We Could Be Heroes Just for One Day, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France.
2008
Circulo de confusion , Musée de Gigon, Spain
We could be heroes just for one day, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France
Histoires tenues secrètes, Fort du Bruissin, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Francheville, France
Back to the présent, Homeworks IV, Ashkal Alwan, in AGIAL Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Oú sommes-nous? , Festival d’Automne, Espace Topographique de l’art, Paris, France
Circle of Confusion, CRG Gallery, New York, United States
2000
Wonder Beirut, Ecole régionale des Beaux Arts, Rennes, France
1998
Wonder Beirut, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut, Lebanon
1997
Beyrouth: Fictions urbaines, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

Group exhibitions

2017
Unconformities, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Keimena Project, Documenta 14, Athens, Greece
Bahar, 13th biennale of Sharjah in Istanbul, Turkey
Home Beirut, Sounding the neighbours, Maxxi, Rome
2016
But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States.
Electronic Superhighway, Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
2015
All the World’s Futures, 56th Venice Biennale, Italy.
Streamlines, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany.
Lest the Two Seas Meet, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland.
Territoire d’affects, Beirut Exhibition Center, Lebanon.
2014
Une Histoire, Centre Pompidou/musée national d’Art moderne, Paris, France.
Visual Dialogues 2013, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece.
Lasting Images, Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States.
2013
Terms & Conditions, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
Vue d’en haut, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France.
Ici, ailleurs, Marseille-Provence 2013, France.
Sweet Sixties: Stories and Morals, Gallery Nova, WHW, Zagreb, Croatia.
2012
Biennial from the Global South, Kochi-Muziris Biennial, India.
Light from the Middle East, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom.
Six Lines of Flight: Shifting Geographies in Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, United States.
Round Table, 9th Gwangju Biennial, South Korea.
Arab Express, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan.
Intense proximité, La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France.
Spectral Imprints, Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2012, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
2011
Due to Unforeseen Events, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, United States.
Seeing Is Believing, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany.
Image in the Aftermath, Beirut Art Center, Lebanon.
Untitled, 12th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey
Une terrible beauté est née, 11th Lyon Biennial, La Sucrière, Lyon, France.
Plot for a Biennial, 10th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates.
2008
Zones of conflict, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, United States
Roads were opened/roads were closed, The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Art now in Lebanon, Darat al Funun, The Khalid Shoman foundation, Amman, Jordan
Forum Home works 4, organised by Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon
Conspire, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Fondation jordanienne – Darat el Funun, organised by Sfeir-Semler gallery, Amman, Jordan
Orients Sans Frontières, Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Stratégies de l’histoire, Stratégie de l’art, 6th Biennale de Goumri, Armenia
2007
Ah les belles images ! …, Gallery In Situ Fabienne Leclerc, Paris, France
Ah les belles images ! …, La Tolerie, Clermont Ferrand, France
Distorted Fabric, De Apple Arts Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Whenever it starts, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
2006
Cercle de confusion, Côté court, Pantin, France
Taking place, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
Out of Beirut, Modern Art, Oxford, United Kingdom
Blickdicht. Fotografien aus der arabischen Welt, Ifa-Galerie Berlin, Germany
Coding : Decoding, Kunsthallen Nikolaj, Copenhagen
Coding : Decoding, Museet for Samtidskunst / Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark
2005
Sequence of tense, Altpool, Korea
HOME WORKS III, Beirut, Lebanon
Videokunstwoche, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
2004
Present Absent, Gallery Tanit, Munich, Germany
Love it or leave it, Montenegro Biennale, Montenegro
Appel à témoin, Le Quartier, Centre d’art contemporain de Quimper, France
Mediterraneans, Macro, Rome, Italy
Laughter, Bargehouse LIFT, London, United Kingdom
Nazar, Nooderlich Photofestival, Akerkhof, Netherlands
2003
The Eccho Show, curator Lars Bang Larsen, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland
Deslocamentos, VideoBrazil, Sao Paolo, Brazil
FORUM HOME WORKS 2, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon
2002
Iconoclash, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
Fundamentalism of the new order, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
2001
Missing links, Gallery Townhouse, Cairo, Egypt
Gaba, Marzouk, Sooja, Bonde, Kusolwong, Hadjithomas And Joreige – INOVA – Institute of Visual Arts, Milwaukee, WI, United States
2000
Espace vital, La Criée, Centre d’Art contemporain de Rennes, France
Visages de rencontres, Espace Mira Phalaina, Montreuil, France

Monographs, books and catalogues

Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Two suns in a Sunset, co-edition Jeu de Paume / Sharjah Art Foundation / Haus der Kunst / Institut Valencià d’Art Modern / Koenig Books, 2016
Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige. The Rumors of the World. Rethinking Trust in the Age of the Internet, edited by Omar Kholeif, Berlin: Sternberg, 2015.
‘Khalil Joreige & Joana Hadjithomas. Le centre d’art du 3bisf, Aix-en-Provence, et le Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur’, Semaine, special issue ‘Ulysses’, no. 18, 2014.
Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, edited by Clément Diri., Zurich: JRP | Ringier, Montreal: Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, 2013.
Le Cinéma de Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige. Entretiens avec Quentin Mével, Paris: éditions Independencia, 2013.
El Blanco de los Orígenes. Cuaderno de Textos e Imágenes sobre el Cine de Joana Hadjithomas y Khalil Joreige, Gijón: Gijón International Film Festival, 2008.
Joana Hadjithomas et Khalil Joreige. Je veux voir, Paris: Cahiers du cinéma, coll. ‘Carnets de cinéastes’, 2007.