2019
NOGUCHI: BODY-SPACE DEVICES
NOGUCHI MUSEUM - NEW YORK / USA
Curated by Dakin Hart
Rad Hourani: Non-Gendered Sets for Noguchi were a dynamic addition to the Museum’s collection installation, served to enliven the Contract and Release performance series, named after Martha Graham’s technique. Executed by dancers following patterns established by Brendan Fernandes and accompanied by a score co-created with Amanda Jane Graham.
2019
GENDER BENDING
FINE ARTS MUSEUM - BOSTON / USA
Curated by Michelle Finamore
2017
DRESSING IDEAS IN FILMS
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM - BILBAO / SPAIN
Curated by Yon & Xabier Martínez-Jauregi
2015
COUTURE UNISEXE #14
CANADIAN CULTURAL CENTRE (CCC) PARIS - PARIS / FRANCE
Curated by Rad Hourani in collaboration with Arsenal Contemporary Art, featuring works by Anselm Kiefer, David Altmejd, Giuseppe Penone, Nick Cave, Oscar Tuazon, Theaster Gates, Tony Lewis, and Ugo Rondinone.
From the Archives :
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
From the Archives :
SECURE - 2022
Private Collection
ROBOT ME 05 + 1/2 ROBOT ME 04 - 2019
Private Collection
FLESH 12 - 2018
Private Collection
FLESH 03 - 2018
Private Collection
EYE 05 - 2016
Private Collection
MANIFESTO - 2015
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Collection
CURRENCY - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
ORIENTATIONS - 2015
Private Collection
ANATOMY - 2015
Private Collection
SELF-CONSTRUCTION - 2015
Private Collection
COMPLETE - 2015
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
COMMANDEMENTS - 2015
Private Collection
UNISEX LAB - 2023
NEUTRAL-WORLD - 2022
RHF MUSEUM - 2022
STUDIO - 2022
From an early age, Rad observed how the world is constructed into fragmentation or generalization, analyzing various forms of oppression linked to the labeling of identity—whether based on gender, age, race, class, or other. His early memories of noticing these supremacies contributed to his familiarity with exposing the boundaries of social constructs. Constantly confronted with the question, “Where are you really from?” due to his diverse background—born in Jordan to a Syrian Melkite Greek Catholic mother and a Jordanian-Canadian Orthodox Christian father and growing up in Canada—Rad's experiences inspired an ongoing exploration of the connotations associated with identity and the societal impact of categorization. Even as a non-religious adult living in cities like Paris and New York, he continued to feel a sense of non-belonging, shaping his attentive observations of humanity from a global perspective.
Rad perceives humanity as a synonymous ecosystem of cultures, asserting that nonconformity is the essence of individuality. His critique of the discriminatory bases of nationalism, racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, and authoritarianism foregrounds a pluralist perspective that questions our existence and modes of operation as a tool for uniting all. The artist’s philosophical baseline maintains that all individuals are multi-faceted and unique, with his ideas being universal and inclusive, always ensuring that marginalized communities are represented in his work. The transdisciplinarity of his vision, confronting institutional formalism and aesthetics by assuming a decompartmentalization between disciplines, is reflected in a lens of union. Furthermore, with no post-secondary academic background, the learning is inherently beyond systematized construction and expansive in nature.
Between 2005 and 2007, Rad Hourani invented the first gender-neutral patterns and a non-gendered sizing system specific to a complete unisex wardrobe. In October 2007, he introduced the first entirely unisex ready-to-wear collection in fashion history via a runway performance. In 2012, he was approached by the “Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture” in Paris to become a “guest member.” In January 2013, Rad Hourani became the first to create and present a unisex couture collection in the history of “Haute Couture.” His revolutionary concept of gender-neutral collections aims to initiate a dialogue on non-binarity through the medium of costume.
Rad's contribution is groundbreaking within the context of counterculture; his invention stands out in the historical context of fashion trends, such as the garconne look of the 1920s and the peacock revolution of the 1960s. Rad Hourani’s depictions propose non-gendered definitions of cuts and forms, inviting contemplation to empower individual narratives. Upholding a baseline of equality, Rad Hourani’s genderless work paved the way for boundary-pushing creations of the future, employing non-binary terms such as non-gendered, agender, genderfluid, all genders, ungendered, human, and others.
An artist classified as BIPOC, queer, and neurodivergent, Rad's multidisciplinary practice challenges the categorical preconceptions of identity and generalizations created by society and its established hierarchies. He examines the genetics of categorization and how they are generated. His anthropological studies involve lengthy research throughout his processes, seeking to revive crucial debates on prejudices and open dialogues on issues of inclusion and inequality. Delving into these explorations demonstrates the structures based on the connotations associated with a subject regarding its history and evolution. The oeuvre honors art’s ability to activate the human senses, projecting as a connecting link between concepts. For Rad, this is an act of radically de-compartmentalizing narratives to invite us to question the ways in which we function and to envision an existence free from limitations and conditioning.
"I STARTED CREATING WITH A SENSE OF CURIOSITY AND INNOCENCE DRIVEN BY MY 'NO-BACKGROUND' BACKGROUND. NO SCHOOL. NO TELLY. NO BOUNDARIES. NO FORMATTING. I LIKE THE IDEA OF A WORLD THAT WE COULD LIVE AND SHAPE BY OURSELVES, ONLY BY OBSERVING. EACH OUR OWN. MY AESTHETICS HAVE ERUPTED FROM THIS WORLD OF MINE. THEY ARE GENDERLESS, AGELESS AND LIMITLESS. THEY COME FROM NO NATION, NO RACE, NO RELIGION, YET THEY COULD BE HOME ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. THEY EXUDE THE ESSENCE OF TIMELESSNESS FOR ANTI-CONFORMIST INDIVIDUALS." Rad Hourani
Rad was invited to teach and lecture to spread his knowledge beyond the artistic or academic community in Seoul, Dubai, Beijing, Berlin, Tbilisi, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, London, and other cities, as well as at various institutions, including the Centre Pompidou, FIT Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, UQÀM, and École du Louvre. He was a member of the jury of numerous art and film festivals and programmed a "carte blanche” at Le FIFA. He has curated solo and group exhibitions by diverse artists in public art establishments. His large knowledge and creative expertise have been implemented in private consulting, mentoring, and art direction for countless clients. Rad collaborates with the LGBTQIA2S+ community and projects on feminism, diversity, and peace with contemporary artists such as Shirine Neshat, Nick Cave, Lady Gaga, Larry Clark, Rihanna, Chinawoman, Jared Leto, Yoko Ono, Édouard Lock, and Thundercat. Rad Hourani’s work has been featured internationally in publications such as the New York Times, Interview, Vogue, WSJ, Aesthetica, Time, V, National Geographic, Surface, i-D, The Cut, Vanity Fair, Dazed, Rolling Stone, BBC, Harper’s Bazaar, The Guardian, Forbes, Nowness, etc. His artworks are held in private collections and museums worldwide.
This nonconformist artist (innovator, sculptor, researcher, architect, teacher, philosopher, activist, etc.) seeks to propose, transmit, collaborate, and nurture even further the idea we might have of the arts through his activism. His work has been presented in partnership with the Graham Foundation, the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA), the City of Chicago, the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCASE), the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater, Sherbrooke University, Wesleyan University, the Centre Culturel Canadien à Paris, and endorsed by Sidney Toledano of Christian Dior Couture, Franca Sozzani and Anna Wintor of Palazzo Morando Museum, Phoebe Greenberg of Fondation PHI, Pierre Bergé, and François-Henri Pinault of Andm, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Arts Council, Fonderie Darling, and the Arsenal Contemporary Art. Rad participated in residencies at Artexte and is a grant recipient of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council of the Arts.
Rad Hourani's work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, notably at the Jardin du Palais-Royal in Paris (2009), the Yvon Lambert Gallery in New York (2010), the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2012), Tate Modern in London (2013), the Phi Centre in Montréal (2013), the MU Hybrid Art House in Eindhoven (2014), the Centre Cuturel Canadien in Paris (2015), the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Herning (2015), Arsenal Contemporary Art in Montréal (2015), the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York (2016), the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2017), the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (2019), the Noguchi Museum in New York (2019), and the A.K.T; in Pforzheim (2021).
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2023 ARTEXTE - MONTRÉAL / CANADA
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