Born 1970 in Dugny, Seine Saint-Denis, France
Lives and works in Paris, France and Berlin, Germany
Kader Attia (*1970 in Dugny, Seine Saint-Denia, France) has been interested in socio-cultural phenomena since the beginning of his practice. As an Algerian French artist arising themes of colonialism seem to answer and connect to said interests. His experiences of growing up in Algeria as well as the parisian Banlieues are used as a starting point to develop a dynamic practice that reflects on the aesthetics and ethics of different societies and investigates identity politics of historical and colonial eras, and our modern, globalized world. Attia examines these phenomena in a wide variety of disciplines that can go from psychoanalysis and sociology, to architecture and philosophy. Kader Attia studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Appliqués „Duperré“ in Paris, France, at the Escola de Artes Applicades „La Massana“ in Barcelona, Spain and at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France. Since 2009, he has been organising and holding numerous symposiums and lectures about his socio-cultural research. In 2016, he founded La Colonie, a space in Paris to share ideas and to provide an agora for vivid discussions focussing on decolonialisation. He was awarded the Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2016, the Prize of the Miró Foundation, Barcelona, and the Yanghyun Art Prize, Seoul, both in 2017.
Kader Attia’s first significant solo exhibition was held in 1996 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, his artistic career has gained international recognition with inclusion in major international exhibitions such as the 50th Venice Biennal, Venice, Italy (2003), 8th Lyon Biennial, Lyon, France (2005), and documenta (13) Kassel, Germany (2012), Kochi Muziris Biennale, Koci, India (2014), 57th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy (2017), Manifesta 12, Palermo, Italy, 12th Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai, China (2018), 13th Gwanju Biennal, South Korea (2021). Notable exhibitions of the artist include solo shows at important art venues around the world such as The Hayward Gallery, London; Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona; MacVal in Vitry-sur-Seine; The Power Plant, Toronto; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; SMAK, Ghent; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main; Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts de Lausanne; Beirut Art Center; Whitechapel Gallery, London; and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin.
