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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

nERF scan of studio at MIT

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