Ali Cherri: How I Am Monument
Ali Cherri presents a major body of new work for our Level 4 gallery inspired by archaeological artefacts and the natural world.
Ali Cherri works across film, sculpture, installation, drawing and performance.
His practice is inspired both by archaeological artefacts and the natural world, exploring the temporal shifts between ancient civilisations and contemporary societies. Using artefacts as a starting point, he considers the links between archaeology, historical narrative and heritage, reflecting on the processes of excavation and the relocation and preservation of cultural objects in museums.
His work addresses colonial histories, cultural loss, nationhood and different geographies of violence in his native Lebanon but also in the broader region, interrogating the ways in which political violence is witnessed, and disseminates into people’s bodies, and how it scars the physical and cultural landscape.
Ali Cherri: How I Am Monument has been developed in partnership with Vienna Secession, where it is presented until 23 February 2025. A second, expanded chapter will be exhibited here in Baltic’s Level 4 gallery from 12 April – 12 October 2025. In the framework of this collaboration, the partners have co-commissioned new works by the artist.
Artist Biography
Recent solo exhibitions include: Returning the Gaze, The Egyptian Museum, Turin, 2024, Envisagement, Giacometti Foundation, Paris, 2024, Dreamless Night, Frac Bretagne, Rennes, 2024 and GAMeC, Bergamo, 2023; Humble and quiet and soothing as mud, Swiss Institute, New York, 2023; Ceux qui nous regardant, CAC La Traverse, Alfortville, 2023; If you prick us, do we not bleed?, National Gallery, London, 2022 (artist in residence). Cherri's work has been exhibited at several biennales, among them the Biennial Secs Videobrasil, São Paulo, 2023; the Sharjah Biennial, 2023 and 2017; the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India, 2022; Manifesta 13, Marseille, 2020; the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Ekaterinburg, 2019, and his work is in leading art institutions collections such as MoMA New York, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Guggenheim New York and Abu Dhabi, MACBA Barcelona, Sursock Museum, Beirut, The British Museum, London, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai and Mathaf, Doha. In 2022, he was awarded the Silver Lion for his participation in the International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, The Milk of Dreams.
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