Michael Rakowitz is an Iraqi American artist working at the intersection of problem-solving and troublemaking. 

His work has appeared in venues worldwide including dOCUMENTA (13), P.S.1, MoMA, MassMOCA, Palais de Tokyo, the 16th Biennale of Sydney, the 10th and 14th Istanbul Biennials, the 8th, 14th and 15th Sharjah Biennials, Tirana Biennale, National Design Triennial at the Cooper Hewitt, Transmediale 05, FRONT Triennial in Cleveland, and CURRENT:LA Public Art Triennial. 

He has had solo projects and exhibitions with Creative Time, Tate Modern, The Wellin Museum of Art, MCA Chicago, Jane Lombard Gallery in New York, SITE Santa Fe, Galerie Barbara Wien in Berlin, Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, Malmö Konsthall, Tensta Konsthall, Kunstraum Innsbruck, and Waterfronts - England’s Creative Coast. 

He is the recipient of the 2020 Nasher Prize; the 2018 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts; a 2012 Tiffany Foundation Award; a 2008 Creative Capital Grant; a Sharjah Biennial Jury Award; a 2006 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Grant in Architecture and Environmental Structures; the 2003 Dena Foundation Award, and the 2002 Design 21 Grand Prix from UNESCO. 

He was awarded the 2018-2020 Fourth Plinth commission in London’s Trafalgar Square.

 From 2019-2020, a survey of Rakowitz’s work traveled from Whitechapel Gallery in London, to Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Torino, to the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai. 

Rakowitz is participating in this year’s edition Aichi Triennale in Japan, and a solo exhibition of his work will open in September 2025 at the Stavanger Art Museum in Norway.  

In 2025 and 2026, Rakowitz will present a trilogy of exhibitions with NEON in Greece. The first chapter, Allspice, is currently on view at the Acropolis Museum in Athens through the end of October.