French-Algerian artist Kader Attia named curator of upcoming Berlin Biennale

An artist will curate the twelfth edition of the Berlin Biennale, to be held in 2022: he is French-Algerian Kader Attia, one of the leading names on the international scene, who has focused much of his work on the destruction-reconstruction dialectic, in the context of which reconstruction is understood as a way of cultural resistance as well as a means for a society to reclaim its history and identity.

Attia was nominated by the international committee, made up of prominent art personalities: Yael Bartana (artist), Beatrice von Bismarck (professor of art history at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig), Anita Dube (artist and independent curator), Krist Gruijthuijsen (director of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin), Sohrab Mohebbi (curator of the 58th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh), Gabi Ngcobo (artist, educator and independent curator) and Gabriela Rangel (writer and director of Fundación Malba - Museo de Arte Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires).

Who is Kader Attia

Born in Dugny in 1970, raised in Paris and Algeria, Kader Attia studied philosophy at the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Duperré and the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as well as at the Escola Massana in Barcelona. Today he lives and works between Berlin and Paris. In 2016 he founded the space La Colonie in Paris, which aims to be a place for discussion on decolonization, and therefore to reunite what has been dispersed or taken away over the years. Attia has exhibited in major international events: at the 57th Venice Biennale, Documenta 13, the 12th Shanghai Biennale, the Gwangju Biennale, and Manifesta 12, held in Palermo. He has also exhibited in shows held at MoMA and Guggenheim in New York, Tate Modern in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and Kunsthalle in Vienna. His solo exhibitions have been held at Kunsthaus Zurich, Hayward Gallery in London, Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, and Whitechapel Gallery in London. In 2016, Kader Attia won the Marcel Duchamp Prix in Paris and in 2017 he won the Joan Miró Prize.

Attia will solo lead the new edition of the event conceived in 1997 by the Kunst Werke space (the first edition was curated by Klaus Biesenbach, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Nancy Spector). This is the third time the Berlin Biennale has been led by one person: it had happened in the third edition with Ute Meta Bauer and in the sixth with Kathrin Rhomberg. The last, the eleventh, had been curated by María Berríos, Renata Cervetto, Lisette Lagnado and Agustín Pérez Rubio. There has been only one edition curated by Italians, the fourth, entrusted to Maurizio Cattelan and Massimiliano Gioni together with the American Ali Subotnick.

French-Algerian artist Kader Attia named curator of upcoming Berlin Biennale

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