Alaa Minawi
Alaa Minawi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1982 (age 43–44) Beirut, Lebanon |
| Education | Lebanese American University, Beirut |
| Known for | Luminal art, theater |
| Notable work | My Light is Your Light... (2014) The Liminal (2025) |
| Website | alaaminawi.com |
Alaa Minawi (born 1982, in Beirut) is a Lebanese, Palestinian and Dutch interdisciplinary artist and lecturer based in Amsterdam. His work ranges between performing arts and installations, often merging the two practices, and explores themes such as belonging, conflict and healing, and Arab-futurism.
Education and career
Minawi graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the Lebanese American University in 2008, and earned a MA in Fine Arts from Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht in 2018. He went on to study lighting design lighting design at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
Minawi began his career in 2006 as a lighting designer and scenographer, collaborating with various theater and dance companies in Lebanon and the Arab region. In 2010, he began creating his own installations, which have been frequently exhibited in public spaces. Some of his notable works include Beyond Myself... (2013), My Light is Your Light... (2014), The Bride (2016), Waiting for It to End... (2020), and The Liminal (2024). In 2016, Minawi began an artistic research project focused on the concept of belonging and its connection to physical space, culminating in a series of performances collectively titled 2048. In this work, Minawi aimed to integrate installation and performance art, involving the audience as a part of his performance.
Minawi is a teacher at the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK) and the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (HKU), and is a lecturer at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. He is the founder and program director of the Beirut Summer School for Theater and Performance.
Awards and nominations
Minawi's installation My Light is Your Light... was selected for UNESCO's International Year of Light 2015 and was nominated for the Best Light Art Award at the D’Arc Awards, London, UK in 2016. In 2024, Minawi's work-in-progress installation The Liminal received a Special Jury Award in International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam's immersive non-fiction competition; it premiered in 2025 and was nominated for the Best Dutch Director Award in the Digital Storytelling category at the Dutch Directors Guild Awards.
Selected works
Installations
- 2013 - Beyond myself...
- 2014 - My light is your light...
- 2016 - The Bride
- 2020 - Waiting for it to end...
- 2022 - Cobie's light
- 2022 - Figure no. 7
- 2023 - Out-of-body experience
Performances
- 2012 - A piano in my pillow
- 2018 - 2048 – The machine
- 2019 - 2048 – Bodies – Borders – Belonging
- 2019 - 2048 – What does not make us one
- 2021 - That breath we held...
- 2023 - 2048 – Identity in Dissolution
- 2025 - The Liminal
References
Citations
- 1 2 van den Eijnden 2024.
- 1 2 3 Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond 2023.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht 2024.
- 1 2 Broeken 2020.
- ↑ Ghandour Hert et al. 2021.
- ↑ Frame Magazine editorial 2014.
- ↑ Embrechts & Etemad 2024.
- ↑ BBC News 2016.
- ↑ Stichting Spring 2024.
- ↑ Artiflex editorial 2021.
- 1 2 3 DOTE 2020.
- 1 2 Patel 2016.
- ↑ Linssen, Dana (2024-11-12). "Nederlanders verkennen grenzen van de documentaire op IDFA". NRC (in Netherlands Dutch). Retrieved 2024-12-31.
- 1 2 3 Stichting Spring 2023.
- ↑ Merhi 2023.
- ↑ Beirut Summer School 2025.
- ↑ IDFA Festival. "IDFA Professionals | Winners 1988–2024". IDFA. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
- ↑ IDFA Festival (2024). "Jury reports 2024". IDFA. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
- ↑ Dutch Directors Guild 2025.
- ↑ Amsterdam Light Festival 2025.
- ↑ Lumiere Festival 2018.
- ↑ Stadsschouwburg-Utrecht 2024.
- ↑ The Crown Estate 2022.
- ↑ Al Jazeera Documentary الجزيرة الوثائقية 2016.
- ↑ Brabant Remembers 2020.
- 1 2 I Light U 2025.
- ↑ Beirut.com 2012.
- ↑ OLJ 2012.
- ↑ Torbey 2020.
- ↑ DOTE 2020a.
- ↑ Al Bustan Festival 2021.
- ↑ UNESCO 2022.
- ↑ Agenda Culturel 2023.
- ↑ Vanwijnsberghe 2023.
Sources
- Agence France Press (23 July 2021). "هل يمكن أن يتنفس ضحايا انفجار بيروت مجددا؟ عرض تفاعلي يروي على المسرح بالرسم والعزف الارتجاليين مشاعر لبنانيين عاشوا المأساة" [Can the victims of the Beirut explosion breathe again? - An interactive performance brings to the stage, through live drawing and improvisational music, the emotions of Lebanese people who lived through the tragedy.]. The Independent - Arabia (in Arabic). Media Arabia. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- Agenda Culturel (13 January 2023). "2048 – Identity in Dissolution". Archived from the original on 2024-05-19. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Al Bustan Festival (2021). "The Breath We Held". Archived from the original on 2022-01-25. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Al Jazeera Documentary الجزيرة الوثائقية (2016-08-23). ما تبقى لنا - رسائل كنفاني. Retrieved 2025-09-30 – via YouTube.
- Amsterdam Light Festival (2025). "Beyond myself..." Amsterdam Light Festival. Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Artiflex editorial (2021). "In gesprek met... alaa minawi" [In conversation with... alaa minawi]. artifex.nu (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- BBC News (2 February 2016). "Beş sanatçının gözünden Suriye'de savaş ve göç" [War and Migration in Syria Through the Eyes of Five Artists]. BBC News Türkçe (in Turkish). Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- Beirut.com (2012). "A Piano in My Pillow". Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
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- Brabant Remembers (2020). "Waiting fot it to end". Brabant Remembers. Archived from the original on 2020-08-06.
- Broeken, Anja (10 March 2020). "Nieuw kunstwerk 'Waiting for it to end' bij het Biesbosch Museum" [New artwork 'Waiting for it to end' at Biesbosch Museum]. Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- DOTE (2020). "Alaa Minawi". Dancing on the Edge. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- DOTE (2020a). "2048 – What Does Not Make Us One". Dancing on the Edge. Archived from the original on 2020-08-09. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- van den Eijnden, Janus (2024). "my light is your light". Light Art Collection. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- Dutch Directors Guild (2025-05-26). "Dit zijn de shortlists van de DDG Awards 2025!". www.directorsguild.nl (in Netherlands Dutch). Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
- Embrechts, Annette; Etemad, Mina (26 May 2024). "Spring-festival trapt af met naakte solo van Manon Santkin en prachtige trance tussen negen dansers" [Spring festival kicks off with nude solo by Manon Santkin and beautiful trance between nine dancers]. Volkskrant (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 16 July 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- Frame Magazine editorial (26 January 2014). "Beyond Myself by Alaa Minawi". Frameweb.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- Ghandour Hert, Maya; Khalaf, Colette; Khoury, Gilles; Mallat, Danny; Zalzal, Zéna (29 December 2021). "Les 21 coups culturels de 2021". L'Orient Le Jour (in French). Archived from the original on 29 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (2024). "Van lichtkunstenaar naar ongrijpbare performer" [From light artist to elusive performer]. HKU (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- Lumiere Festival (2018). "My Light is Your Light". Lumiere Festival. Archived from the original on 2024-10-10. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- I Light U (2025). "Out of Body Experience". Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- "Nieuw kunstwerk 'Waiting for it to end...' bij het Biesbosch Museum". BN DeStem. 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Merhi, Zahra (2023-01-17). "المسرحي اللبناني ـ الفلسطيني علاء ميناوي يبني شراكة مع الجمهور بحثا عن الهوية" [Lebanese-Palestinian playwright Alaa Minawi builds a partnership with the audience in search of identity.]. Al-Quds al-Arabi (in Arabic). Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- OLJ (2012). "Concerts". L’Orient-Le Jour. Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Patel, Heenali (2016-02-01). "Palestinian artist Alaa Minawi wants to help Angela Merkel by auctioning his latest piece". CNN. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
- Stadsschouwburg-Utrecht (2024). "Lichtinstallatie "My Light is Your Light"". Stadsschouwburg-Utrecht. Archived from the original on 2024-05-16. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Stichting Spring (13 February 2024). "alaa minawi - Spring Festival". Spring Utrecht. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- Stichting Spring (22 February 2023). "2048 – identity in dissolution (٢٠٤٨ – تَحَلّلْ هَوِيَة) - SPRING Festival". Spring Utrecht (in Netherlands Dutch). Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- The Crown Estate (2022). "Lumiere London Festival". St. James London. Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Torbey, Georges (30 June 2020). "Amsterdam Fringe Festival - 2048: Visual Identity". Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- UNESCO (2 March 2022). "The Breath We Held". Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Vanwijnsberghe, Peter (31 January 2023). "Kunstenfestival Beyond the Black Box". de Lage Landen. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond (2023). "Alaa Minawi". brakkegrond.nl (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.