“Hippos”(“Qalâat Al-Husan”) was filmed in Hippos on the shortest day of the year. Hippos, a historical basalt stone built city, is currently an archeological site located between Syria and Israel. The now abandoned city, since its military use, has seen a revival of flora and fauna previously considered extinct. The soundtrack of the video work was composed by recordings of the females from a rare bat species as they navigate at night looking for prey above the basalt city. The movement of light and camera throughout the video varies in cadence, evoking gun turrets scanning for a target, navigation devices, or the frantic commotion of a battlefield. The work also includes the most prominent first modern maps of Palestine that were made by German researcher Gottlieb Schumacher, dating back to 1885.
Biography
Dor Guez Munayer is a Jaffa-based artist and educator exploring themes of race, displacement, and memory through diverse mediums, including photography, video, installations, sculpture, and performance. Born in Jerusalem into a Palestinian family from Lydda and Jewish immigrants from North Africa, Guez’s work interrogates the intersection of these identities, revealing how personal narratives often interact with dominant historical accounts. For over 20 years, Guez has focused on archival research and photographic practices, mapping traces of change and disruption in landscapes. His recent overview, “‘Catastrophe,” at the Museum of Modern Art Bogota, exemplifies his commitment to community engagement and ongoing studies of the Middle East and North Africa.
Since 2006, Guez’s studio has initiated several community and educational ongoing initiatives, including the CPA (Christian-Palestinian Archive). The archive originated with Munayer’s family photo albums from Palestine, as well as from communities in cities such as Lydda, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, and Amman, reflecting the interconnected histories of these locations. Moreover, since 2018 Guez serves as the Director of the ‘SeaPort: Mediterranean Curatorial Residency Program’, a project that fosters the exchange of ideas among curators working across the Mediterranean region. In 2023, Guez’s studio inaugurated the ‘Samira Munayer Scholarship Program,’ aimed at promoting and supporting higher education for female Palestinian art students.
In his multimedia performances, Guez transforms art into a vehicle for storytelling, utilizing historical photographs and objects to weave together narratives of the past century in his homeland—one of the most photographed regions globally. By connecting public and private archives, he examines the complex colonial projections that shape his homeland’s identity. Guez’s performances have taken place at prestigious institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, the American Colony Archive in Jerusalem, and the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin.
Exhibitions
Guez’s work has been displayed in over 60 solo exhibitions worldwide at notable institutions, including Laboratorio Arte Alameda in Mexico City (2023), Felix Nussbaum Museum in Osnabrück (2023), Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey (2022), MAMBO: Museum of Modern Art in Bogota (2022), Kunst im Kreuzgang in Bielefeld (2021), and Futura Gallery in Prague (2020). His exhibitions also include the American Colony Archive in Jerusalem (2019), MAN Museum in Nuoro (2018), DEPO in Istanbul (2017), Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem (2017), Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit (2016), Institute of Contemporary Arts in London (2015), Center for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv (2015), Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University in Massachusetts (2013), Artpace in San Antonio (2013), The Mosaic Rooms at the A.M. Qattan Foundation in London (2013), KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin (2010), and Petach Tikva Museum of Art (2009).
Guez has participated in group exhibitions at a variety of institutions, including Kunstmuseum Bonn (2023), The Jewish Museum in New York (2021), Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin (2020), Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg (2019), Musée des Beaux-Arts in France (2018), and MODEM Museum in Hungary (2018). His work has also been featured at Brown University in Providence, (2017), Arab World Institute in Paris (2017), CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, (2017), UNTREF Museum in Buenos Aires (2016), and the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art (2016). Other notable exhibitions include the North Coast Art Triennial in Denmark (2016), Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina (2015), and the 17th, 18th, and 19th International Contemporary Art Festival Videobrasil in São Paulo (2011, 2013, 2015). Additionally, he has exhibited at the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2014), Cleveland Institute of Art (2014), Triennale Museum in Milano (2014), Centre of Contemporary Art in Torun (2014), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2014), Maxxi Museum in Rome (2013), Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2012), the 12th Istanbul Biennial (2011), and the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana (2010). To date, nine books have been published internationally about Guez’s practice. Publishers include Kerber Verlag, Distanz, New England Press, and A.M Qattan Foundation.
Guez’s works are a part of substantial public collections, including Tate Modern London, Center Pompidou Paris, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, LACMA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, The Jewish Museum New York, Rose Art Museum, FRAC collection Marseille, Museum of Modern Art Bogota, and more.
Dor Guez Muanyer is represented by Dvir Gallery, Paris/Brussels/Tel Aviv, Goodman Gallery, London/Johannesburg/Cape Town/ New York, and Carlier-Gebauer Gallery, Berlin/Madrid.
