Yazan Khalili received a degree in architecture from Birzeit University in 2003 and in 2010 received his MA degree from the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, and in 2015 his MFA degree at Sandberg Institute, Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam. He was one of the founding members of Zan Design Studio (2005-2010). He was a finalist in the A. M. Qattan Foundation’s Young Artists Award (YAYA 2006). He was the production coordinator for Sharjah Biennials 9 & 10, and the technical director of the inaugural exhibition of the Palestinian Museum “Jerusalem Lives”. He curated (YAYA 2012), The City | The Image symposium with Goethe Institute, Ramallah 2012, The Long Journey exhibition, working with the UNRWA Audio-Visual archive for Palestine refugees, in 2013, and in 2015 he co-organized Walter Benjamin in Palestine workshop and symposium. He is the winner of Extract V young artist prize 2015. Currently he is a visiting lecturer at the media department at Al-Quds Bard college, and since September 2015 Yazan has been the artistic director of Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre.
His writings and photographs have been featured in several publications, including among others Assuming Boycotts, WDW Magazine, Kalamon, Manifesta Journal, Frieze Magazine, Race & Class, C-Print, Ibraaz, Contemporary Art: World Currents, and Subjective atlas of Palestine. In 2009, alongside Lara Khaldi, Khalili co-curated We Were Never Heroes as part of the Jerusalem Show, and the film and video programs; Cinema of Independence 2009 and In The Name of the Father 2011 at the Arab Shorts Festival presented by the Goethe Institute, in Cairo.