Monia Ben Hamouda
Monia Ben Hamouda (1991, Milan, Italy) lives and works between al-Qayrawan (Tunisia) and Milan. She graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan. Previous positions include a visiting professorship at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Dresden and a seat in the jury at Filmmaker Festival, Milan.
Following the belief that each individual is inextricably connected to their family tree and the psychological universe of their ancestors, Ben Hamouda attempts to master her influences in a contemporary and constantly changing landscape. Born into a Muslim community as the daughter of an Islamic calligrapher, Ben Hamouda navigates and confronts her generational heritage through what she calls a shamanic process – creating works that act as gestural exorcisms of the expectations placed upon her by tradition and the politicized present, drawing their power from the urgency of expression. Her visual language, which translates into a broad range of formal approaches, is steeped in cultural-religious symbology and rituals.
She is a finalist of the MAXXI BVULGARI Prize IV 2024.
Awards: Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation Prize (2024); Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2022); Torino Social Impact Art Award x Artissima (2021); Art Business Accelerator Grant – Artwork, Archive + Redline Contemporary Art Center (2021); DUCATO Contemporary Art Prize Special Award (2020).
Collections: FRAC Corsica, Haute-Corse, Corsica; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes.
Solo Exhibitions:
2023
About Telepathy and other Violences, ChertLüdde, Berlin
The Destruction of the Idols of Ka’ba, Casa Encendida, Madrid
2022
Remarkably Clear, Almost Invisible, curated by Anthony Discenza, Ashes/Ashes, New York
Wudu Diorama, curated by Anthony Discenza, Lower Cavity, Boston
Hamra, curated by Karen Vestergaard Andersen and Helen Nishijo Andersen, Ariel Feminism, Copenhagen
The eye, the hands, The Lunacy of Lunar Sightings, curated by Anissa Touati, Jevouspropose, Zurich
2021
Night of Hinnã, ChertLüdde, Berlin
Two suns upon Shatt al Jarid, curated by Nestor Garcia Diaz, Carles Àngel Saurí, Paula García-Masedo, Pols, Valencia
2019
Extended protection, Allegoric Defence, curated by Camilla Edström Ödemark, Gallery CC, Malmö
2017
MIRANDA, Pane Project, Milan
It Won’t Only Kill You, it will Hurt the Whole Time You’re Dying, Double solo with Michele Gabriele, OJ, Istanbul
Group Exhibitions
2024
Sex Reenchanted, Curated by Mehveş Ungan, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberger (upcoming)
Renaissance, Curated by Leonie Radin, MUSEION Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano
EXPOSURE. Art, culture, fashion in and out of the showcase, Curated by Katya Inozemtseva, MUDEC – Museum of Cultures, Milan
2023
Darker, Lighter, Puffy, Flat, curated by Laura Amann, Kunsthalle Wien, Wien
L’autre Musée, The Treasures Of A Major Contemporary Art Collection, Frac Bretagne, Rennes
Paris Internationale, w/ ChertLüdde, Paris
Spirit Vessel Residency, curated by Sira Piza and Andrew Birk, Espinavesa
My Demons My Angels, ChertLüdde, Berlin
Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn – Deep Knowledge, Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz
Retrofuture, collection, MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Rome
www, curated by Natalia Serkova & Vitaly Bezpalov, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen
2022
The Lying Body: Only the Futures Revisit the Past, curated by Emanuele Guidi, Arge/kunst, Bolzano
A Feminine Lexicon, curated by Pia Diamandis, Giacomo Donati and Elena Tortelli, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence
2021
Cry me a River, curated by Treti Galaxie, Combo – Official lounge Artissima, Turin
Museo Diffuso Contemporaneo, Serralunga d’Alba
Ducato Prize winners exhibition, Volumnia, Piacenza
Perno 4, curated by Musketeers, project coordinator Clarissa Tempestini, Museo Diffuso Contemporaneo, Serralunga d’Alba
Ducato Prize winners Exhibition, Volumnia, Piacenza
2020
Endless Nostalghia, curated by Treti Galaxie, 101 Numeri pari, Museo Pecci Prato, Piazza del Campidoglio Rome and Online
Collagen Shadows, curated by Zoë De Luca, ADA, Rome
Blade Banner, curated by Dafne Boggeri, Sprint & Istituto Svizzero,, Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali, Milano
Love Data – Alios 16 me Biennale d’Art, Contemporain Théâtre Cravey Pavilion, La Teste-de-Bûch
2019
NORTHERN LIGHTS, curated by Something Must Break, Alta art space, Malmö
Unsupported Message Format, curated by Pierre Clement, Galerie Valeria Cetraro, Paris
Orrido 120 residency, curated by Something Must Break and Zoe De Luca, Swan Station, Buco del Piombo
Swamp Horses, curated by Andrew Birk, Spirit Vessel + ALTAN, Espinavesa
2018
WET, Haunt project space, Yogyakarta
Swamp Thing versus Man-thing, curated by Anthony Discenza, Et.al gallery, San Francisco
First I Have to Put my Face On, Like a Little Disaster, curated by Cristina Gigliotti, Polignano a Mare
Hope, curated by New Scenario, Universitätssammlungen Kunst, Dresden
Trigger Party #6, curated by Siliqoon, Marselleria Permanent Exhibition, Milan
Fantasy Direct vol II, The Wrong – Digital Art Biennale, Nathan Road, Hong Kong
2017
The Bunt, curated by Fred Powell, Ginny Projects, London
Assiette ou Virage et Dérapage, curated by Something Must Break, Milan
2016
Milano Film Festival, Milan
VideoEspanso, RivoliDue Fondazione per l’Arte, Contemporanea, Milan
2014
L’Intimità dell’immagine come luogo in comune, curated by Gianni Caravaggio, Viafarini DOCVA, Milan
Curatorial projects:
2024
To Romanticize with Indecision, Curated by Monia Ben Hamouda & Michele Gabriele, Cassina Projects, Milan
Residencies & Lectures:
2022
Lower Cavity Residency Holyoke, Massachusetts
2021
Talk at Artissima Fair, Torin
Visiting Professor at Istituto Marangoni, Florence
Visiting Professor at Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden
2019
Orrido 120 residency, Swan Station, Buco del Piombo
2016
Academy Awards residency, Viafarini, Milan
2015
Filmidee summer residency, Filmidee, Sardinia
2014
Jury member at Filmmaker Festival, Milan
Press selection:
2023
“Kultur im April” by Maria Hunstig, Vogue, April 2023, p. 81.
“La“forzadebole”di Monia Ben Hamouda”, interview by Francesco Stocchi and Gabriele Sassone, Il Folgio, 23 September 2023, online.
“Berlin’s Biggest-Ever Gallery Weekend Was Full of Wonders” by Max L. Feldman, Hyperallergic, April 2023, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda” by Mohamed Amer Meziane and Anissa Touati, Flash Art, p. 40-51.
“Les œuvres d’art immanquables de la foire Paris Internationale” by Matthieu Jacquet, Numéro, 20 October 2023.
2022
“Monia Ben Hamouda: In-between” by Frederico Montagna, L’Essenziale Studio, March 2022, print.
“Monia Ben Hamouda and Michele Gabriele: ASHES/ASHES” by Gabriel H. Sanchez, ArtForum, 1 November 2022.
“Zwischen Gewalt und Heilung” by Alexandra Wach, ART – Das Kunstmagazin, October 2022, p. 96 – 97.
“Monia Ben Hamouda” by Brainard Carey, Yale University Radio, 29 September 2022, online.
“Coexistence: Monia Ben Hamouda and Michele Gabriele interviewed by Elizaveta Shneyderman, by Elizaveta Shneyderman, Bomb Magazine, 8 August 2022, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda “Hamra” at Ariel – Feminism in the Aestethics, Copenaghen”, Mousse, 30 May 2022, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda: Hamra”, Kuba Paris, May 2022, online.
2021
“Wenn der Stammbaum knurrt Monia Ben Hamouda im ChertLüdde Bungalow” by Lara Brörken, GalleryTalk.net, 13 October 2021, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda “Night of Hinnā” at Bungalow/ChertLüdde”, Mousse, 21 October 2021, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda” by Vashti Ali, Artforum, September 2021, online.
2020
“Monia Ben Hamouda”, Artribune, September/October 2020, online.
“Monia Ben Hamouda: Winner of the Contemporary Art Special Mention”, Ducato Prize 2020, online.
“Pane project interviews Monia BenHamouda”, Fluoxo, May 2020, online.
Catalogues – Publications:
2020
“Flatland Reader,” edited by Nuno Patricio, O Fluxo Editions, 2020, Lisboa, PT. ISBN: 9781714564620
Catalogue: “Ducato Prize 2020,” Ducato Prize, online.
2018
“Young Black Romantics,” published and edited by Ndayé Kouagou, 2018. Paris