Maria Hassabi
miart

The Breeder is pleased to announce its participation in miart 2025 (booth B51) with a solo presentation by Maria Hassabi.

Maria Hassabi (b. Cyprus) is an artist and choreographer working with live performance, installation, sculpture, painting, photography and video. Since the early 2000s she has carved a unique artistic practice based on the relationship between the live body, the still image, and the sculptural object. Hassabi’s works reflect concepts of time and the human figure, while employing a variety of media to emphasize the complexity of formal organization. In most of Hassabi’s works the performing body is the main subject, often embedded within imposing installations. Her photographic, video and sculptural works use her live performances as a departure point, while the use of technological tools and approaches are employed to override the limitations that occur within the format of liveness and realness.

Hassabi’s works collectively encourage a re-examination of one’s own image in a fragmented, digital age, reclaiming a nuanced sensitivity often dulled by the rapid pace of visual consumption. In this disconnected world, she portrays an illusory presence, and blurs the lines between stillness-movement, space-time, subject- viewer. The strokes of warm colors attempt to draw us towards a corporeal form of self-perception. Her paintings feature elongated gold leaf figures on a white background. While a similar process with the photographic works was applied to create the paintings, their materiality resembles an outer skin, a distorted layer of a posed body. Stillness here is prominent. The figures are descriptive and yet, their lack of breath is palpable.

Solo exhibitions and presentations include Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2023); LUMA Arles (2022); OGR, Turin (2022); Secession, Vienna (2021); Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis (2019); MUDAM, Luxenberg (2019); Point Center, Cyprus (2018); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018); K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein- Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2017-18); Onassis Stegi, Athens (2017); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2017); Museum of Modern Art, NY (2016); Hammer Museum, LA (2015); The Kitchen, NY (2019, 2016, 2013, 2011, 2006); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2015); Performance Space 122, NY (2007, 2009).

Her works have been featured in group exhibitions and festivals such as MAPS Museum of Arts in Public Spaces, Køge, Denmark (2025); Ennova Art Biennale, Langfang, Hebei, China (2024); Tom Burr’s Torrington Project, Connecticut (2024); IMMA, Dublin (2024); UNLIMITED, Art Basel (2024); Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (2024, 2017, 2016, 2014); Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai (2023); FRONT Triennale, Cleveland (2022); Museion, Bolzano (2021); River to River Festival, NY (2021, 2017, 2014, 2012); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2020); Performa, NY (2019, 2013, 2009); Serralves Museum, Porto (2019, 2015); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2019, 2012); documeta14, Kassel (2017); the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Crossing the Line Festival, NY (2016, 2011, 2009); ArtSonje, Seoul (2015); Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2014); steirischer herbst, Graz (2014); Panorama Festival, Rio de Janeiro (2012), amongst others.

Her works are part of important collections such as the Tate, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Deutsche Bank; Art Collection Telekom, Germany; Onassis Foundation, Athens; Dakis Joannou Collection. She holds a BFA from California Institute of the Arts. She is represented by The Breeder, Athens.