Kader Attia
Lives and works in Berlin and Algiers. Prior to his studies at the École supérieure des arts appliqués Duperré and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, and at Escola Massana Centre d’Art i Disseny in Barcelona, he spent several years in Congo and in South America. The experience with these different cultures fostered Kader Attia’s intercultural and interdisciplinary approach to research. His socio-cultural research has led him to the notion of Repair, a concept he has been developing philosophically in his writings and symbolically in his oeuvre as a visual artist. With the principle of Repair being a constant in nature – and therefore also in humanity – any system, social institution or cultural tradition can be considered as an infinite process of Repair, which is closely linked to loss and wounds, to recuperation and re-appropriation. In 2016, he founded La Colonie, a space in Paris to share ideas and provide an agora for vivid discussion. Focussing on decolonialisation, not only of peoples but also of knowledge, attitudes and practices, he aspires to de-compartmentalise knowledge through a trans-cultural, trans-disciplinary and trans-generational approach. Kader Attia’s work has been shown in group shows and biennials such as the 12th Shanghai Biennial; the 12th Gwangju Biennial; the 12th Manifesta, Palermo; the 57th Venice Biennial; documenta 13 in Kassel; MoMA, New York; Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2016. He is the curator of the Berlin Biennale 2022.
