Bio:
Firas Shehadeh is a Palestinian artist. His work explores worldbuilding, meaning, aesthetics, and identity. His practice investigates the post-colonial condition through the lens of technology, history, digitality, and speculative realities. Working across film, video, and sound, Shehadeh conducts a sustained inquiry into the ways narratives and identities are constructed, contested, and mediated within contemporary society. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Shehadeh’s work has been presented internationally at festivals and institutions including the second MUNCH Triennale, Almost Unreal (Oslo), the 18th Lo schermo dell'arte (Florence), the 14th Mercosul Biennial (Porto Alegre), London Short Film Festival, Centro de Cultura Digital (Mexico), Beta Festival (Dublin), Beursschouwburg (Brussels), Soft Centre (Naarm/Melbourne), Images Festival (Toronto), B7L9 Art Center (Tunis), Los Angeles Filmforum, Ashkal Alwan (Beirut), unsafe+sounds (Vienna), the 7th Singapore Biennale, Centre d’Art Santa Mònica (Barcelona), A.M. Qattan Foundation (Ramallah), 7th Cairo Video Festival, 4th Digital Marrakech and the 64th Berlinale (Berlin). Through his multifaceted practice, Shehadeh examines dominant paradigms and offers new perspectives on meaning-making and worldbuilding.


info@firasshehadeh.com


Education:
2021 - 2023 / PhD Candidate - Philosophy, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria. (discontinued)
2016 - 2020 / Video and Video Installation, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria.
2015 - 2016 / Conceptual Art (Post-Conceptual Art Practices), Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria. 
2015 / Decolonizing Knowledge and Power: Postcolonial Studies, Decolonial Horizons, Center for Decolonial Thought, Barcelona, Spain.  
2006 - 2008 / Architecture, Al-Balqa’ Applied University, Amman, Jordan.  

Current:
2026 / Kayfa ta, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Upcoming:
2026 / A Few Rules for Predicting the Future, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, Malta.
2026 / 44th International Festival of Films on Art (Le FIFA), Montreal, “Canada”
2026 / Palazzo Grassi invita Lo schermo dell'arte XIII Edizione, Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy.

Selected Exhibitions and Screenings:
2026 / Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts, Bergen, Norway.
2025 / Narrating [with] the Videogame Image, Fundación Foto Colectania, Barcelona, Spain.
2025 / Almost Every Day, Contemporary Image Collective (CIC), Cairo, Egypt.
2025 / The second Munch Triennale, Almost Unreal, Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway.
2025 / 18th Lo schermo dell'arte, Florence, Italy.
2025 / Whispers, Hubbub and Paradoxes, Centre d'Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain.
2025 / There Is Nothing Solid About Solidarity, Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium.
2025 / The Wuhan bǎilin Film Festival, Wuhan, China.
2025 / Gaza Film Unit, 44th Uppsala Short Film Festival, Uppsala, Sweden.
2025 / Octobre Numérique - Faire Monde, Arles, France.
2025 / OP=OP, moezeum, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
2025 / Out Of Bounds, ArteEast, Millennium Film Workshop, “New York”.
2025 / The Way of the Future. Introduced by Matteo Bittanti, Milan Machinima Festival - VRAL, Milan, Italy.
2025 / Security / Borders, OFF-Biennale, Budapest, Hungary.
2025 / Maknana: An Archaeology of New Media Art in the Arab World, Diriyah Art Futures, Saudi Arabia.
2025 / 14th Mercosul Biennial - Estalo, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2025 / D'abord les fraises, puis les fleurs, Galerie d'art Forde, Geneva, Switzerland.
2025 / London Short Film Festival, London, UK.

2024 / Ultracinema Experimental Film Festival, Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, Mexico.
2024 / Beta Festival, Dublin, Ireland.
2024 / Tashweesh Festival, Beursschouwburg, Brussels, Belgium.
2024 / 17th Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF), Toronto, “Canada”.
2024 / Supermodel, Soft Centre, Naarm/Melbourne, "Australia".
2024 / 6th Gabes Cinema Fen Festival, Gabes, Tunisia.
2024 / A Tyrant’s Fear of Songs, Images Festival, Toronto, "Canada".
2024 / The Deluge and the Tree, B7L9 Art Center, Tunis, Tunisia.
2023 / So Much I Want To Say: A Glimpse Into Palestinian Erasure, Filmforum, Los Angeles.
2023 / Partly, Art Hub, Copenhagen, Denmark.
2023 / Encontro Em Solidariedade À Palestina, Largo das Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2023 / Palestina, Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain.
2023 / Like An Event In A Dream Dreamt By Another — Rehearsal. Introduced by Matteo Bittanti, Milan Machinima Festival - VRAL, Milan, Italy.
2023 / like a lurch of earth on the edge of sleep, aashra - Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon.
2023 / Landscapes of the Political Imaginary, Open Systems, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
2023 / Instant Modernism, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, Palestine.
2023 / On the New, school, belvedere 21, Vienna, Austria.

2023 / Tashattot, KIOSK, Gent, Belgium.
2022 / Natasha - 7th Singapore Biennale, Singapore. 
2022 / There, Where You Are Not, Performative Screenings #73, school, Vienna, Austria.
2020 / For The Days Yet To Come, Fluc, Vienna, Austria.
2020 / Sin límites, Casa Árabe, Madrid - Córdoba, Spain.
2019 / Wild Spoerri Rosenstein, Principle of Equality, Vienna Art Week, Austria.
2019 / Stars Are Closer and Clouds Are Nutritious Under Golden Trees, MMAG Foundation, Amman, Jordan.
2018 / We Shall be Monsters, the Young Artist of the Year Award (YAYA), A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, Palestine.
2018 / In the Margin, The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts - Factory, Amman, Jordan.
2018 / Truth is black, write over it with a mirage’s light, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan.
2017 / si:n festival of video art and performance, Palestine.
2016 / 29th Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille, France. 
2016 / If All Relations Were to Reach Equilibrium, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough, UK. 
2016 / Anti*Colonial Fantasies / Decolonial Strategies, Friday Exit, Vienna, Austria. 
2016 / Moment.Movement, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria. 
2016 / Colectivo Acciones de Arte (C.A.D.A.), Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain. 
2015 / 7th Cairo Video Festival, Cairo, Egypt.
2015 / Phase Space, Kings Artist-Run, Naarm/Melbourne, "Australia". 
2015 / Body Politics, Àngels Barcelona, Loop Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 
2015 / I Came From There, La Capella (BCN Producció_2015), Barcelona, Spain. 
2015 / Kristallisationen, Elektrohaus Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. 
2014 / Unexplored Territories 06_Palestina, Madatac 06, Madrid, Spain. 
2014 / 4th Digital Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco. 
2014 / Minrasy Projects, Qalandiya International, Ramallah, Palestine. 
2014 / Monte de Estépar, Espacio tangente, Burgos, Spain. 
2014 / 9th Forum Expanded: 64th Berlinale, Berlin, Germany.  
2010 / Sentences on the banks and other activities, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan.

Performance/Sound [+]
2026 / Manual for an Unsettled World, Unsettled Earth, Spore Initiative, Berlin, Germany.
2025 / Estalo - 14th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2024 / School, Vienna, Austria
2024 / B7L9 Art Center, Tunis, Tunisia.
2024 / Radio TNP, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2023 / Hope. A Politics Of Healing, unsafe+sounds, Vienna, Austria.
2022 / Natasha - 7th Singapore Biennale, Singapore.
2022 / MMAG foundation, Amman, Jordan.

Selected Workshops, Seminars and Talks:
2026 / Workshop, Like an Event in a Dream Dreamt by Another, Manual for an Unsettled World, Unsettled Earth, Spore Initiative, Berlin, Germany.
2025 / Talk, Misuse as Method, There Is Nothing Solid About Solidarity, Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium.
2025 / Talk, Diriyah Art Futures, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
2025 / Seminar, Double Vision, Palestinian Cinema Beyond the Frame, 10th Palestinian Film Festival , De Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2024 / Workshop, There, Where You Are Not_Appendix, B7L9 Art Center, Tunis, Tunisia.

Grants and Awards:
2024 / Radical Forms Award, Images Festival, Toronto, "Canada".
2018 / Second prize, Young Artist of the Year Award (YAYA), A.M. Qattan Foundation.
2015 - 2019 / Study grant, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, supported by Darat al Funun - The Khalid Shoman Foundation.
2015 / Study grant, The International Summer School, Decolonizing Knowledge and Power, supported by Rana Sadik and Samer Younis.
2015 / BCN Producció | la Capella, Barcelona City Council.

Arts Residencies:
2019 / MMAG foundation, Amman, Jordan.
2019 / Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Guatemala city/Panajachel, Guatemala.
2018 / UNIDEE - University of Ideas, Cittadellarte, Biella, Italy.
2017 / Kulturvermittlung Steiermark, Graz, Austria.

Collections:
- Vera Chaves Barcellos Foundation, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
- A.M. Qattan Foundation. Ramallah, Palestine.
- Collection of Museum of Manufactured Response to Absence (MoMRtA). London, UK.
- Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art E.V, Berlin, Germany.

Articles / Publications:
- "When Play Confronts Power" by Amanda Boulos, C Mag, Toronto, “Canada". 2025
- "Reclaim Power And Agency With Music" – An Interview With Asifeh & Firas Shehadeh, Struma+Iodine, Vienna, Austria. 2023
- Notes on the Logic of Speed, The JVC Palestine Portfolio, Journal of Visual Culture, Vol. 20 Issue 2. London, UK. 2021
- Value, Weird Economies (W.E). 2021
- Aesthetics of Liberation, Awhām Magazine, Issue 3. Berlin, Germany. 2020
- Internet of Things: Another World is Possible, Art Monthly by Stephanie Bailey, Issue 439. London, UK. 2020
- We Shall be Monsters, A. M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, Palestine. 2020
- Anti*Colonial Fantasies / Decolonial Strategies, Vienna, Austria. 2017
- I came from there, BCN Producció, Barcelona, Spain. 2015
- After Image, Frieze-magazin. 2014