Kader Attia

b. 1970, French-Algerian

By Sylvia Walker

November 30, 2020

Kader Attia is a contemporary artist living and working in Berlin, Germany. Born in 1970 in France, the French-Algerian artist began his artistic practice with photography before taking on sculpture, installation and collage.

Portrait of Kader Attia. Photo: Michael Danner.

His work is characterized by a multidisciplinary and intercultural approac h of research. Central in his work is the notion of ‘repair’.[1] “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.”[2]

Kader Attia has had group and solo shows at major institutions such as the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Whitechapel Gallery, Museum fur Moderne Kunst (MMK), The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum, Palais de Tokyo, New Museum, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Mori Art Museum, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. The French artist has participated in major biennials such as the Venice Biennale, Documenta, the Sharjah Biennial, the Biennale de Lyon, Dak’Art, Prospect New Orleans, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, EVA international or the Marrakech Biennale.

His works are collected by major institutions and reputed public and private collections such Tate, London, United Kingdom and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, the United States of America. Major art publications such Artforum, Frieze, The Guardian, Texte our Kunst, Art in America, Flash Art, ArtAsiaPacific have reviewed his works over the years.[3] On the Artfacts list, Attia is ranked very highly as number twenty one globally and top ten in France. As a result, Kader Attia is featured in our article The Most Influential Young Artists Today.[4]

Artworks

Kader Attia, Untitled, 2019. Wood, steel — 120.7 × 50.8 × 30.5 cm / 47 1/2 × 20 × 12 in. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

Kader Attia, Untitled, 2019. Steel – 75.5 x 145 x 1.25 inches (overall) / 191.8 x 368.3 x 3.2 cm. Photo by Matthew Herrmann. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

Kader Attia, The Embrace, 2019. 2 sculptures, concrete plinth – 39.5 x 69.5 x 25 inches (overall) / 100.3 x 176.5 x 63.5 cm. Photo by Matthew Herrmann. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

Kader Attia, Mirrors, 2018. Stitched canvas – 55 1/10 × 47 1/5 × 1 3/10 in / 140 × 120 × 3.2 cm. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

Kader Attia, Some Modernity’s Footprints, 2018. Railway ties and metal staples – Installed dimensions variable. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

Kader Attia, Reflecting Memory, 2016. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Lehmann Maupin, Galerie Krinzinger and Galleria Continua.

Kader Attia, Artificial Nature, 2014. Installation View. 27 leg prosthesis, leg prosthesis from WW1 and WW2, and contemporary leg prosthesis – variable dimensions. Kader Attia: Contre Nature Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon. May 22 – August 22, 2014 . Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin / Photo by Paul Ghorra.

Kader Attia, Gueules cassées, 2014. Wood – variabel dimensions. Collection Middelheim Museum, Antwerp.

Kader Attia, Untitled (Al Aqsa), 2009. Collection Middelheim Museum, Antwerp.

Kader Attia, Untitled (Ghardaïa), 2009.Cooked couscous and photocopies of portraits of Fernand Pouillon and Le Corbusier – variabel dimensions. Installation view at But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. April 29 – October 5, 2016. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin. / Photo: David Heald.

Kader Attia, Untitled (Concrete Blocks), 2008. Cement blocks — variable dimensions. Courtesy of Galleria Continua (San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins) / Photo: Oak Taylor-Smith.

Notes:

[1] Artsy, Kader Attia at https://www.artsy.net/artist/kader-attia consulted 18/09/2020.
[2] Kader Attia, Biography at http://kaderattia.de/biography/ consulted 18/09/2020.
[3] Artsy, Kader Attia at https://www.artsy.net/artist/kader-attia consulted 30/11/2020.
[4] Artfacts, Kader Attia at https://artfacts.net/artist/kader-attia/14965 consulted 30/11/2020.

Sylvia Walker

Sylvia Walker (b. 1986, US) is an art historian, essayist, art critic, and curator. After contributing to numerous publications, and curating exhibitions in the United States of America and beyond, she currently works as the assistant director of Contemporary Art Issue (CAI).

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