Ala Younis is an artist, trained as an architect in Amman. Research forms a big part of her practice, as do curating, collaboration, film and book projects. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including solo shows at Darat al Funun (2009) and Delfina Foundation (2010 and 2018), MMAG Foundation in Amman (2017), Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville (2018), Art Jameel Projects Space (2018), 17ESSEX in New York (2018), Sharjah Art Foundation (2018) and VIPER in Prague (2020).
Her projects include “High Dam” (2016–2023) presented in several iterations in exhibitions around the world including the Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, “Drachmas” (2018) commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation, “Plan for Greater Baghdad” (2015) commissioned for 56th Venice Biennale’s “All the World’s Futures” curated by Okwui Enwezor, “An Index of Tensional and Unintentional Love of Land” within “Here and Elsewhere” at New Museum (2014), and “Tin Soldiers,” presented at Home Works 5 (2010), Istanbul Biennial (2011), Gwangju Biennial (2012 and 2018), New Museum Triennial (2012), and in Sao Paulo, Berlin, Frankfurt, Bergen, Oslo, and Amman. As well as group shows at Survival Kit in Riga (2023), Kaunas Biennale (2023), Uppsala Art Museum (2022), Biennale d’Architecture d’Orléans (2019), MoMA PS1 (2019), Khoj (2019), Tabakalera, International Centre for Contemporary Culture (2019), Berlinale Forum Expanded exhibitions (2018 and 2019), Marta Herford (2017), CCS Bard Galleries, New York (2017); Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2017); Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016); Contemporary Image Collective (2017), Homeworks ‘5 (2010), and others.
Ala Younis curated the first Kuwaiti Pavilion at the Venice Biennale; and the Museum of Manufactured Response to Absence and its interventions in Algeria and Kuwait. She holds a B.Sc. in Architecture from University of Jordan, and a Masters of Research from Goldsmiths College. She is co-section head of Berlinale’s Forum Expanded, and Artistic Director of Akademie der Kunst der Welt (Cologne). Ala Younis co-founded Kayfa ta, a non-profit publishing initiative that has published over twenty titles since its foundation in 2012. She co-organised four iterations of exhibitions on independent publishing and publishing as artistic practice, at Beirut Art Center, Warehouse421 Abu Dhabi, MMAG Foundation, and Kochi Biennale. She co-edited “The Time is Out of Joint” (2016, Sharjah Art Foundation) and “On the Book of Sceneries” (2022, Dubai Expo 2020 and Hatje Cantz), and “How to Maneuver: Shapeshifting texts and other publishing tactics” (2020, Kayfa ta and Warehouse421). She authored book chapters and individual texts, and lectured extensively in academic, art institutions and art events. She is based between Amman and Abu Dhabi, where she is a Research Scholar at New York University Abu Dhabi.
Get in touch!