Born in 1969, France.
Lives and works in Paris (France) and New York (United States).
 

Websites :
http://melikohanian.com/
http://stuttering.ommx.org/
 

Melik Ohanian is a French visual artist for whom the exhibition primarily constitutes a figure of time: a privileged site where relationships between space and temporality are replayed and recomposed.

Melik Ohanian’s work is conceived in terms of physical and conceptual territories, with the notion of time as its central focus. Nourished by research, scientific methods, and philosophy, his work unfolds through a multiplicity of media.

At the intersection of science, philosophy, contemporary history, and visual arts, Melik Ohanian explores and transcends, through different supports, the material aspect of the artwork. Drawing on a strong visual culture, he takes inspiration from cinematic procedures and contemporary projection techniques to question the status of the image and the concept of time.

In his works and dispositifs, which interrogate modes of exhibition display and exceed the usual frames of the image, the notion of time is grasped in its relationship to reality and through the experience of its duration. Placing the viewer in a state of exploration, the artist brings to light the complexity of the gaps that, in more or less evident ways, govern our relationships with others, inviting us to question the constitutive and/or reflective realities of our world.

In 2015, he was awarded the Prix Marcel Duchamp and took part in the exhibition of the Pavilion of the Republic of Armenia at the Venice Biennale, which was awarded the Lion d'or for Best National Pavilion. His permanent installation in Trembley Park in Geneva, Les Réverbères de la Mémoire, received the Visarte Prize in Zurich in 2019. He was also the eighth artist invited to the Pinault Collection Residency in Lens in 2021–2022.

The artist’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at international museums such as the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris (2023); Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2016); CRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, Sète (2014); Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City (2013); Matucana 100, Santiago (2008); CCA Kitakyushu (2007, 2003); South London Gallery (2006); De Appel, Amsterdam (2006); IAC, Villeurbanne (2006); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2002).

He has participated in numerous biennials: the Gwangju Biennale (2018, 2006); the Lyon Biennale (2017, 2005); the Sydney Biennale (2016, 2004); the Venice Biennale (2015, 2007); the Sharjah Biennial (2011); the Seville Biennial (2006); the São Paulo Biennial (2004); and the Berlin Biennial (2004).

Among the institutions that have presented his work in group exhibitions are The WareHouse, Dallas (2025); Museum of Modern Art Aalborg (2021); Tate Modern, London (2019); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016); Carré d’Art, Nîmes (2015); Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin (2013); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2012); Sharjah Art Foundation (2012); Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2011); The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2010); Beirut Art Center (2009); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2008); MUMOK, Vienna (2005).