Haig Aivazian is an artist living in Beirut. Working across a range of media and modes of address, he delves into the ways in which power embeds, affects and moves people, objects, animals, landscape and architecture. Aivazian explores apparatuses of control and sovereignty at work in sports, museums, the office and music. He is currently Artistic Co-Director of the Beirut Art Center.
Selected international solo and group exhibitions include All of the Lights, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, 2020, curated by Karsten Lund within The Consortium Commissions, an initiative of Mophradat; The Space Between Classrooms curated by Alia Farid at The Swiss Institute, New York, 2021; Soft Power, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 2019-20; Home Works 8: A Forum on Cultural Practices, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon, 2019; Second Hand, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, 2019; From Ear to Ear to Eye: Sounds and Stories From Across the Arab World, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK, 2018; Home Beirut. Sounding the Neighbors, MAXXI, Rome, Italy, 2017-18; Precariat’s Meeting, Ming Contemporary Art Museum (McaM), Shanghai, China, 2017; and 1440 Sunsets per 24 hours, Kadist, Paris; 2017.
Aivazian has participated in biennials and triennials internationally, and in 2022 will contribute to the 12th Berlin Biennial, curated by Kader Attia with the artistic team Ana Teixeira Pinto, Đỗ Tường Linh, Marie Helene Pereira, Noam Segal, and Rasha Salti. His work is currently included in Soft Water Hard Stone, the fifth New Museum Triennial, New York, 2021; and previously has contributed to Afterglow, Yokohama Trienniale, Yokohama, Japan, directed by Raqs Media Collective, 2020; Not New Now, 6th Marrakech Biennale, Marrakech, Morocco, 2016, curated by Reem Fadda and Ilaria Conti; The Grand Balcony, La Biennale de Montréal (BNLMTL), Canada, 2016, curated by Philippe Pirotte; SALTWATER: a Theory of Thought Forms, the 14th Istanbul Biennial, 2015, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev in which Aivazian worked with Beyoğlu Üç Horan (Yerrortutyun) Armenian Church Asogik Choir; the National pavilion of Armenia at the Venice Biennale, 2015; and Videobrasil, São Paulo, 2013 and 2017.
Aivazian’s writing has been featured by publications including INCITE Journal of Experimental Media, Ibraaz, Afterall, Manifesta Journal, Arab Studies Journal, and Bidoun. He is the editor of The Derivative (المشتق), a bi-annual online publication launched in October 2020.