Photograph by Elias Williams
I'm an American artist based in Miza, Abu Dhabi working in socially engaged art and installation. I collaborate with academics, architects, scientists, and everyday people to imagine new ways of living and create new sites of knowledge production. Inspired by my 11 years living in the United Arab Emirates, I like to research how the homeland endures inside immigrant populations.
Current long-term artistic research projects include spearheading an archive of Black dance with scientists from MIT’s Immersion Lab with funding from Meta and Brooklyn Museum; designing a public park for the government of Abu Dhabi; and heading a team of architects and urbanists to re-imagine overcrowded low-income housing in the United Arab Emirates.
My exhibitions have been presented at museums, biennials and art fairs around the world including the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, Fikra Graphic Design Biennial (Sharjah, UAE), and Abu Dhabi Art: Beyond Emerging (59th Venice Biennale). Further projects have been exhibited at Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai, UAE); 421 Art Campus (Abu Dhabi, UAE); Dubai Design Week; and BLOCKHOUSE (Tokyo, Japan), among others. My art and research have been televised on the BBC and CNN, and in print with GQ, Harper's Bazaar, and Architectural Digest.
Funded by the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, I hold a master's degree in Art, Culture, and Technology from MIT, where I earned the Obermayer Prize and the Harold & Arlene Shnitzer Prize. I've also completed programs and fellowships with University of Georgia as a HOPE Scholar and University of Oxford as a Gilman Scholar. I'm the former global creative director for Huawei.
Feature story televised on CNN International
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Master of Science in Art, Culture, & Technology | School of Architecture and Planning
The University of Georgia
Bachelor of Arts in English | Franklin College of Arts & Sciences
University of Oxford
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholar | Keble College | Study Abroad
SOLO PRESENTATIONS & BIENNIALS
2024
2022
2021
2021
2018
Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, Abu Dhabi, UAE | Curated by Reem Fada
59th Venice Biennale, Collateral Exhibition at Palazzo Franchetti Cavalli, Venezia, Italy | Curated by Dyala Nusseibeh
The World Was My Garden | Abu Dhabi Art: Beyond Emerging | Abu Dhabi, UAE | Curated by Till Felrath and Sam Bardaouil
Worked (So and so and on and on and so on and so on) | Art Space, Al Ain, UAE
Fikra Graphic Design Biennial, Sharjah, UAE | Curated by Prem Krishnamurthy & Common-Interest
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITONS
2025
2025
2024
2024
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023
2022
2022
2022
2022
2021
2021
2021
2021
2021
2021
2020
2020
2019
2019
2019
2018
2017
Iyad Quanzea Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Tokyo Arts & Space Creator's Residency Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan
Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial, Abu Dhabi, UAE
All is Flux, Nothing Stays Still, Rizq Art Initiative, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Zero.zero, MIT.nano, Cambridge, MA
Counteractions, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA
Documentary Fictions, Harvard Carpenter Center, Cambridge, MA
Counteractions, Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA
Noshka Presents, Sikka Art Fair 2023, Dubai, UAE | Curated by Zayed University
Abu Dhabi Art 2022
Frome Photo Festival, Culture Pool, Maker’s Yard, Frome, UK
Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts Exhibition, MIT Wiesner Art Gallery, Cambridge, MA
I Shout My Laughter to the Stars, Aicon Contemporary, NY, NY
So Different, So Appealing, Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi, UAE (collab. w/ Rakan Ghresi & Ashay Bhave)
Garden of E-arthly delights, Sumac Space, Dubai, UAE | Curated by Ruba Al-Seel
East East Vol. 4: The Curio Shop Part III, ILY Hub, Tokyo, Japan | Curated by Sophie Arni
East East Vol. 4: The Curio Shop Part II, Block House, Tokyo, Japan | Curated by Sophie Arni
East East Vol. 4: The Curio Shop Part I, H.B. Nezu, Tokyo, Japan | Curated by Sophie Arni
Al Seef Festival, Al Seef, Dubai, UAE
UAE Designer’s Exhibition, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE | Curated by Ghassan Salamat
Practice & Critique, Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Localities, Satellite Gallery, Dubai, UAE
001, Blue Cave Gallery, Dubai, UAE
SIKKA Art Fair, Dubai, UAE
Blue Cave Urban Art Festival, Dubai Design District, Dubai, UAE
SIKKA Art Fair, Dubai, UAE
COMMISSIONS
2023
2022
2020
2019
“When I Get Home.” Dubai Public Art | Dubai, UAE | Curated by Samayya Vally [Finalist]
“City Behind My Window.” Adidas Middle East Flagship, Dubai, UAE
“How to Be at Rest.” Dubai Design Week, Dubai, UAE
“Who Gets Paid for Digital Labor?” Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE
RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS
2025
2024
2023
2023
2022
2021
2019
Tokyo Arts & Space Residency (TOKAS), Tokyo, Japan
421 Art Campus Residency, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Massachusetts Institute of Technology ACT Research Affiliate, Cambridge, MA
Zayed University Noshka Printmaking Residency, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Satellite Residency, Satellite, Dubai, UAE
Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation Art Residency, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation & Rhode Island School of Design Emerging Artist Fellowship
GRANTS & AWARDS
2023
2023
2023
2023
2022
2022
2022
2022
2021
2021
2021
2020
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
Artadia Award - Boston (Finalist)
MIT Obermayer Prize for Academic Writing
MIT Sandbox Grant
MIT ACT Gallery Grant
Council of the Arts at MIT Grant
Instagram / Brooklyn Museum Emerging Black Visionary
Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts Prize
MIT ACT Pilot Grant
MIT ACT Pilot Grant
Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation Emerging Artist Fellowship Scholarship
MIT Department of Architecture Graduate Fellowship
Art Jameel Research and Practice Platform Grant
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship
UGA Incentive Scholarship
UGA Foundation Scholarship
International Education Week Scholarship
Katherine John Murphy Scholarship
The Georgia HOPE Scholarship
SELECTED PRESS
2023
2022
2022
2021
2021
2021
2020
2020
2020
2020
2020
"CNN Stylish Moments.” Television program. CNN.
“Christopher Joshua Benton Presents a Lightbox Installation.” GQ Middle East.
“Meet Christopher Joshua Benton.” Architectural Digest Middle East.
“Christopher Benton builds humble colorful bright art pieces from found objects.” It’s Nice That.
“Vox Populi: Christopher Benton.” Harper’s Bazaar ART BOOK.
"Abu Dhabi's Cultural DNA Is Evolving—Emerging Artists' Work Proves It.” Cultured Mag.
"Young Voices from Dubai." Canvas Magazine.
"Rethinking Design." Television program. BBC World News.
“An Art Exhibition in Dubai on the Meaning of Homeland.” Vice Arabia.
"How to be at Rest installation features bricolage chairs made by migrants in the UAE.“ Dezeen.
"How to Be At Rest: Christopher Benton." Cover story. Identity Magazine.
TEACHING & LECTURES
2022
2022
2022
2021
2022
2020
2020
2020
2018
2018
2018
2018
Teaching Fellow at MIT
Guest Lecture, MIT List Center
Guest Critic, Massachusetts College of Art & Design
Visiting Artist, Zayed University, Noshka Printmaking Lab
Guest Critic, MIT
Workshop, Al Qattara Arts Centre
Workshop, Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi
Panelist, Dubai Design Week Talks
Workshop, 421 Arts Campus
Panelist, 421 Arts Campus
Visiting Guest Lecture, American University of Dubai
Panelist, World Art Dubai