Omar Kholeif Explained

Omar Kholeif is an Egyptian-born artist, curator, writer and editor. Kholeif's curatorial practice focuses on art that intersects with the internet, as well as works of art from emerging geographic territories that have yet to be seen in the mainstream.[1]

Kholeif is currently the Sharjah Art Foundation’s Director of Collections and Senior Curator.[2] Previous roles have included Senior Visiting Curator at HOME Manchester;[3] Co-Curator of the 14th Sharjah Biennial;[4] Curator of the V-A-C Foundation Venice headquarters, Palazzo delle Zattere, during the 58th Venice Biennale;[5] a curator for Abu Dhabi Art, and is a guest curator and advisor for numerous international festivals and biennials.[6]

Previously, Kholeif was the Manilow Senior Curator and Director of Global Initiatives at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.[7] Prior to that, they were Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery, Senior Editor at Ibraaz Publishing and Senior Curator at Cornerhouse in Manchester.[8] Previously, they were Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery, Senior Editor at Ibraaz Publishing and Senior Visiting Curator at HOME in Manchester.[9]

Early life and education

Kholeif was born in Cairo, Egypt and holds degrees from the University of Glasgow, the Royal College of Art, London, and the University of Reading, where they completed a PhD in curatorial and cross-disciplinary cultural studies.[10]

Career

Previously, Kholeif was Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery, Senior Visiting Curator at Cornerhouse and HOME in Manchester, Curator at Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT), London and Senior Editor at Ibraaz Publishing.[11] Their work focuses on issues of narrative and geography in contemporary accelerated culture. They have curated major exhibitions nationally and internationally including the Cyprus Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, Abraaj Group Art Prize at Art Dubai and Armory Focus: Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean at the Armory Show, New York.[12]

Kholeif is the author and/or editor of over two-dozen books and has written for The Guardian,[13] Frieze,[14] Wired[15] and HuffPost.[13] Their books include: Vision, Memory and Media (2010), Jeddah Childhood circa 1994 (2014) and You Are Here: Art After the Internet (2014) which was reviewed in Artforum by Douglas Coupland as the "smartest book on this topic."[16]

In 2014, Kholeif was voted one of the 50 most powerful people in the Middle Eastern art world by Canvas Magazine, one of the 100 most powerful people in the art world by ArtLyst[17] and one of eight curators to watch by Artsy.[18]

Kholeif has taught and guest lectured at numerous universities including the University of Chicago, Hunter College, New York, Northwestern University, and the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. They are a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Churchill Fellow, a member of ICOM, the International Council of Museums, CIMAM, International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art, and AICA, the International Association of Art Critics.[1]

Other activities

In 2023, Kohleif was part of the selection committee that nominated Zasha Colah as artistic director of the Berlin Biennale in 2025.[19]

Selected exhibitions

Sharjah Art Foundation

1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Manchester International Festival

V-A-C Foundation

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Ministry of Education and Culture (Cyprus)

The Armory Show

Art Dubai

Whitechapel Gallery

HOME

ICA London

SPACE

Liverpool Biennial

Cornerhouse

FACT, Foundation for Art and Creative Technology

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Omar Kholeif Writer, Curator. www.omarkholeif.com. 2019-08-07.
  2. Web site: Omar Kholeif Named Sharjah Art Foundation's Director of Collections and Senior Curator. Armstrong. Annie. 2019-06-06. ARTnews. en-US. 2019-08-06.
  3. Web site: Omar Kholeif.
  4. Web site: Omar Kholeif.
  5. Web site: SIDEBAR: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Omar Kholeif, and W.J.T. Mitchell. artandeducation.net.
  6. Web site: Omar Kholeif. omarkholeif.com.
  7. Web site: Friends: Omar Kholeif.
  8. Web site: Omar Kholeif appointed Manilow Senior Curator at MCA . entertainment.suntimes.com . 14 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150916102815/http://entertainment.suntimes.com/entertainment-news/mca-names/ . 16 September 2015 . dead.
  9. Web site: Press release.
  10. Web site: Sharjah Art Foundation People. sharjahart.org. 2021-06-01.
  11. Web site: Who we are: Staff. MCA Chicago. 21 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170222110859/https://mcachicago.org/Who-We-Are/Staff/Omar-Kholeif. 22 February 2017. dead.
  12. Web site: THE ARMORY SHOW, FOCUS: MENAM. edgeofarabia.com.
  13. Web site: Reflections on the 2014 Whitney Biennial. 27 May 2014.
  14. Web site: Postcards from Beirut: Part 1 | Blog | Frieze Publishing . 2015-02-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150223210638/http://blog.frieze.com/homeworks-6/ . 2015-02-23 . dead .
  15. Web site: La chambre des machines cause electro-acoustic resonance (Wired UK) . 2017-09-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304233648/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-03/26/la-chambre-des-machines . 2016-03-04 . dead .
  16. Web site: Douglas Coupland. artforum.com.
  17. News: Artlyst Power 100: 2014 Alternative Art Power List revealed - Artlyst. Artlyst. 2018-03-16. en-GB.
  18. News: Curators To Watch in 2015, as Chosen by Art-World Insiders. Thackara. Tess. 2014-12-20. Artsy. 2017-11-03. en.
  19. Francesca Aton (5 July 2023), Zasha Colah Named Curator of the 13th Berlin Biennale ARTnews.

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