Hassan Khan

Hassan Khan is a multimedia artist, musician, and writer. His creative endeavors span choreography, music, performance, sound, and video, converging to craft compelling works.

Biography of Hassan Khan

Hassan Khan was born in 1975 in London, UK. In 1995, he received a BA in English and Comparative Literature from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. The artist continued to study and obtained an MA in English and Comparative Literature from the same institution in 2004.

In 2009, he became a Member of the Jury of the 20th Youth Salon in Cairo. In 2017, Hassan Khan won the Silver Lion for the most promising young artist at the 57th Venice Biennale. 

He has presented performances, delivered lectures, and engaged in screenings across the globe, from Abu Dhabi to New York. As a musician, he has crafted soundtracks for theater productions and showcased his original compositions at esteemed venues such as Melkweg in Amsterdam, Babylon in Istanbul, Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, and Point Éphémère in Paris. 

Khan's solo exhibitions have been held at Centre Pompidou, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Jameel Arts Centre, Beirut Art Center, Wilfried Lentz Gallery, SALT, Queens Museum of Arts, Falaki Gallery, and many other venues. 

Hassan Khan has participated in nu,erous group shows, including "Long Gone, Still Here – Sound as Medium" at Museum Marta Herford in Herford (2023), "Alexandria: Past Futures" at Mucem in Marceille (2022), "Portrait of a Young Planet" at Mudam in Luxembourg (2020), Boras International Sculpture Biennale in Sweden (2018), "Sharjah Biennal 12: The Past, the present, the possible" in the UAE (2015), Liverpool Biennial (2014), Momentum Biennial (2014), among others.

Currently, the artist lives and works in Cairo, Egypt.

Hassan Khan's Art Style

Employing choreography, music, performance, sound, video, and writing, Hassan Khan utilizes his rich personal experiences to weave narratives centered on the multifaceted events, characteristics, and individuals of his hometown. Through this creative process, he examines them through the dual perspectives of culture and identity.

Among Khan's sculptures, "Bank Bannister" ("Banque Bannister," 2010) stands out, showcasing his fascination with the intersection of architectural and artistic forms. By employing displaced details, Khan alters our perception of gallery space, leveraging the inherent associations of the works' gold-colored metallic composition with notions of power and wealth. He adds complexity to the project by incorporating representations of specific, identifiable fixtures.

Central to Khan's approach is the integration of his inner consciousness with outward expression; he explores philosophical, political, and social currents, particularly as they manifest on a local scale.