Kader Attia (1970) is a French sculptor, installation artist. He grew up in Paris and in Algeria. Preceding 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, the histories of which over centuries have been characterised by rich trading traditions, colonialism and multi-ethnic societies, has fostered Kader Attia’s intercultural and interdisciplinary approach of research. For many years, he has been exploring the perspective that societies have on their history, especially as regards experiences of deprivation and suppression, violence and loss, and how this affects the evolving of nations and individuals — each of them being connected to collective memory.
His socio-cultural research has led Kader Attia 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 — thus 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. Repair reaches far beyond the subject and connects the individual to gender, philosophy, science, and architecture, and also involves it in evolutionary processes in nature, culture, myth and history.
In 2016, Kader Attia founded La Colonie, a space in Paris to share ideas and to provide an agora for vivid discussion. Focussing on decolonialisation not only of peoples but also of knowledge, attitudes and practices, it aspires to de-compartmentalise knowledge by a trans-cultural, trans-disciplinary and trans-generational approach. Driven by the urgency of social and cultural reparations, it aims to reunite which has been shattered, or drift apart.
In 2016, Kader Attia was awarded with the Marcel Duchamp Prize, followed by the Prize of the Miró Foundation, Barcelona, and the Yanghyun Art Prize, Seoul, in 2017.
© 2024. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Kader Attia or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Kader Attia |
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Childhood, 2005
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| Childhood, 2005 |
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| Holy Land, 2006 |
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| Holy Land, 2006 |
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Untitled (Skyline), 2007
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| Ghost, 2007 Austria |
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| Untitled (Concrete Pillars), 2007 |
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Demo(n)cracy, 2009
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| Tawaaf, 2009 |
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Untitled (Ghardaia), 2009
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| Satellite Dishes, 2009 photo |
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Tawaaf, 2009
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| Measure and Control, 2013 |
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| Measure and Control, 2013 |
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| Measure and Control, 2013 |
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Mirrors and Masks, 2013
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| Mirrors and Masks, 2013 |
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| Continuum of Repair, 2013-14 |
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| The Light of Jacobs Ladder, 2013-14 |
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| Untitled, 2014 |
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| Asesinos ! Asesinos !, 2014 |
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| Culture, Another Nature Repaired, 2014 |
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| Culture, Another Nature Repaired, 2014 |
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| Untitled, 2016 |
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| When Cardboard repairs Plastic # 3, 2016 |
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| Les racines poussent aussi dans le béton, 2018 |
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| On n’emprisonne pas les idées, 2018 |
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| Untitled, 2018 |
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| Schizophrenic Melancholia, 2018 |
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| Some Modernity’s Footprints, 2018 |
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| On Silence, 2021 |
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