Osman Khan

* 1973 in Karachi, Pakistan lives in Detroit und Ann Arbor, U.S.A.

Osman Khan was born in Pakistan and grew up in New York City. He studied at Columbia University in New York and at the University of California in Los Angeles, where he graduated in 2004. Since 2009 he has taught at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he has been a professor since 2015 and director of the MFA program since 2016.

In his work Khan combines social criticism and aesthetic expression. He addresses the question of identity and home, exploring social and public spaces through participatory and performative installations or site-specific interventions.

Osman Khan’s works have been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2016), Socrates Sculpture Park (Long Island City, 2008), L.A. Louver (2007), Witte de With, Centre for Contemporary Art (Rotterdam, 2006), Shanghai Biennale (2006) and Ars Electronica (Linz, 2004; 2007), among others.

Khan has received numerous awards and scholarships for his work. He has received the Art Matters grant, the Knight Foundation Arts Challenge grant, the Doris Duke Foundation grant and the Ars Electronica’s Prix Ars Award of Distinction, among others. In 2009 he was a fellow of the Arctic Circle.