Kader Attia

A leading figure in the international contemporary art scene, Kader Attia offers a profound reflection on historical wounds, collective trauma and the processes of healing. Born in France in 1965 to Algerian parents, he grew up straddling two worlds, a formative experience that informs his entire body of work. After studying architecture in Paris and Berlin, Attia gradually established himself as a multidisciplinary visual artist, mastering sculpture, photography, video and installation in equal measure. His career, marked by constant movement between Paris, Dakar and Berlin, has enabled him to explore the riches of African, Arab and Western cultural heritage, which he synthesises into a unique and socially engaged body of work. 

Since the 1990s, Kader Attia has established himself as one of the leading thinkers on the postcolonial condition. Far from any dogmatism, his art combines conceptual rigour with visceral emotion to examine the traces of colonialism, the intergenerational transmission of trauma and the capacity of cultures to regenerate. He rejects imposed categories to invent a hybrid visual language, where aesthetics take precedence without ever denying the political stakes. Honoured with the Golden Nica at the Venice Biennale in 2011, he remains a ‘totally free’ artist, in his own words, who does not confine himself to any particular school and remains guided by a ceaseless quest for meaning.