Khaled Barakeh

Conceptual artist and activist Khaled Barakeh’s work is based on reframing moments of dissonance, and often outright injustice in political and social structures. Many of his projects have investigated the media’s portrayal of victims of conflict and the dynamics of refugee integration. Connected to his art practice is his activist cultural work which brought him to create the non-profit coculture.de with programs including a Syrian Artist Index and a roaming Syrian Biennale. He explains “I thought, ‘How can we reconnect these dispersed communities and this cultural fabric, which is not even visible?... I hope that with these small initiatives we can show a different image of ourselves, because we (are) portrayed so poorly in the media.”

Born in Damascus, Khaled Barakeh (1976) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus and received his MFA from Funen Art Academy in Odense, Denmark. In 2013, he completed a Meisterschuler study at the Städelschule Art Academy in Frankfurt. He founded coculture.de, which addresses the challenges faced by displaced cultural producers. A conceptual artist and cultural activist, Barakeh’s practice is based on reframing moments of dissonance, and often outright injustice in political and social structures. Many of his projects have investigated the media’s portrayal of victims of conflict and the dynamics of refugee integration.

Barakeh has exhibited at numerous institutions such as: Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Shanghai Biennale, Salt Istanbul, The Frankfurter Kunstverein, Artspace New Zealand, The Busan Biennale and The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg and Smack Mellon, New York.