Razan Sabbagh (she/her) is a visual and performance artist whose practice examines the systems, narratives, and social relations through which power is exercised, experienced, and contested. Through performance, installation, text, sound, and participatory formats, she connects embodied experience with political structures, tracing power across borders, waterways, sites of confinement, and public space. Her work has been presented at Kunsthalle Bremen, Kampnagel, Thalia Theater, Sharjah Art Museum, the Goethe-Institut Paris, Casino Display Luxembourg, and Simian Copenhagen. She holds an MFA from HBKsaar and received UdK Berlin’s Artist Training Prize (2024) and the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS Fellowship (2025).
Education
2023 Master for Arts, Hochschule für bildende Künste Saar, HBKSaar, Germany.
2021 Artist Training, Berlin Career College, Universität der Künste Berlin.
2011 Bachelor of Arts, Faculty of fine art, Damascus University, Syria.
Selected Exhibitions
2026 Off the Precipice, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, AUT (Upcoming)
2026 أطلس / Atlas / Атлас, Galerie im Körnerpark, 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin, DE
2026 S for Sound, S for Solidarity, Gudskul in Jakarta, ID
2025 Water and Dust, SENDER, Hamburg, DE
2025 Bodies of Waves, S for Sound S for solidarity, Radio Alhara
2025 A DRY MOUTH, Frappant e.V, Hamburg, DE
2025 Under, Simian, Copenhagen, DK
2025 MIS(S)TREATED, MEHR ALS DEINE MUSE!, Kunsthalle Bremen DE
2024 "I had a dream" – Artist Training Prize 2024, Konzertsaal der UDK, Berlin, DE
2024 Stipendium Junge Kunst, Städtische Galerie Eichenmüllerhaus, Lemgo, DE
2023 Internationales Frauen*Theater-Festival, ATELIER ORBIT2, Frankfurt, DE
2023 IN THE WAKE OF LOSS, Frappant, Hamburg, DE
2023 gegenSÄTZE, xpon-Galerie, Hamburg, DE
2023 "I Had a Dream", Ludwigstr 60, Saarbrücke, DE *
2023 Beyond Home, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, DE
2023 Opus Schaufenster, Saarbrücke, DE *
2023 Experimental Re(é)[flex|ct|ion] Expérimentale, Casino Display, LUX
2022 WERFEN, Hbksaar Galerie, Saarbrücken, DE
2022 Malerei. Zeichnung. Grafik, Burgbentheim/ Schlossstraße, Bentheim, DE
2022 RENDEZ-VOUS, DFG, Saarbrücken, DE
2021 SUTURE, Goethe-Institut, Paris, FR
2021 GEHEN_BLEIBEN, HBKSaar, by Prof. Eric Lanz and Prof. Mattias Winzen, DE
2020 STATE OF ART, Galerie Postel, Galerie Postel, DE
2019 IN BETWEEN, Galerie Postel, Hamburg, DE
2018 Where ART you from, Baku Gallery, Berlin, DE
2017 Im Ausland, Mom art space, Hamburg, DE
2017 250 Jahre HFBK, Hamburg, DE
2013 Contemporary Islamic Festival, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE
2010 Jameel Prize, National Museum, Damascus, SYR
Selected Performances
2026 Wir schwimmen alle im selben Wasser, Fringify Festival, Hamburg, DE
2026 Power Move, Occupied Stage, Performance Art Festival, Flutgraben e.V., Berlin, DE
2023 Bodies of Waves, performative sound walk, F.eks, Aalborg, DK *
2023 Counter-Conduct (Remembering, imagining, connecting, resisting), Casino Luxembourg, LUX *
2022 How do you look.., HBKsaar RUNDGANG, Saarbrücken, DE
2021 Tülüfülükülümülü #4, Thalia Theater, Hamburg, DE
2021 30X30, Programmreihe zu designed for Protest, MK&G Museum, Hamburg, DE *
2021 Behind the walls, Von_Bis_, Saarbrücken, DE
2020 SMALL TALK, UDK Rundgang, Coculture, Berlin DE
2020 Space, Mauerpfeife, Saarbrücken, DE
2020 one min between 2 stations, Public space, Berlin, DE *
2018 Gefangene des Schneckenhauses, Thalia Theater, Hamburg, DE
2018 Entrance, Thalia Theater, Hamburg, DE
2016 Still Alive, Kampnagel, Hamburg, DE
2016 Syria Are.., Ingensteds, Oslo, NOR
2016 Utopia, Hamburg University, Hamburg, DE *
2015 You first, Metropolis-Kino, Hamburg, DE
* Solo Exhibition/performance/event
Collections
Contemporary Islamic Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE
Prize
2024 Artist Training Prize 2024
Fellowships & Grants
2026 Intercultural Projects funding, Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg
2026 Project funding, Claussen Simon Stiftung Hamburg
2025 ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS Stipendium
2025 Project funding, Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg
2025 Project funding, Hamburgische Kulturstiftung
23-26 Cross innovation hub, Kreativgesellschaft Hamburg
2024 Shortlisted for Junge Kunst Stipendium
23-24 LeadME | Deutschlandstiftung Integration
22-23 Deutschlandstipendium
22-23 Artistic research lab, display casino Luxembourg
21-22 Gopea Förderprogramm
2021 Artist training, UdK Berlin, Career College
Selected Publications
2025 von Angst zu Hoffnung, ARTE.tv
2024 "I Had a Dream" // ISSUE #6 // (OHN)MACHT, frame[less]
2023 A moment of Rupture, A zine Beyond Home, Kunstraum Kreuzberg
2023 Experimental Re(é)[flex|ct|ion] Expérimentale, Casino Luxembourg
2023 Nahaufnahme - Kunst spiegelt Lebensraum, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken
2022 Gopea 2021: Junge Kunst Fördern
2016 Visual Story: Die Farben des Syrien-Krieges, Der Spiegel
Panel Discussions
2025 Vor welchen Herausforderungen stehen Künstlerinnen im Kulturbetrieb?, Kunsthalle Bremen
2023 In the wake of loss, Frappant, HH
2022 “Artists in exile”, Musée National de la Résistance, LUX
2022 Cultural diversity in the performing arts, Thalia Theater, HH
2022 "Can Art Change the World? - A conversation about human rights”, Abaton, HH
2021 “Is revolution female?, Kampnagel, HH
2020 Exile in the Federal Republic of Germany. Conditions and challenges for artists, Online
2018 In Between, with Veronika Schöne from Freunde der Kunsthalle, Galerie postel, HH
2018 Where art you from?, Baku Gallery, Berlin