Kader Attia (b. 1970, Dugny, France; lives and works in Berlin and Paris) 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 characterized 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. Focusing on decolonization not only of peoples but also of knowledge, attitudes and practices, it aspired to de-compartmentalize knowledge by a trans-cultural, trans-disciplinary and trans-generational approach. Driven by the urgency of social and cultural reparations, it aimed to reunite which had been shattered.
Solo exhibitions of his work have been organized at Arter Collection, Istanbul, Turkey (2025); Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2025); CAAC Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (2025); MUAC, Mexico City, Mexico (2025); Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand (2024); MAMBO, Bogota, Colombia (2024); MO.CO., Montpellier, France (2024); Berlinische Gallerie, Berlin, Germany (2024); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar (2021); BAK – basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, Netherlands (2021); Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland (2020); Sesc Pompeia São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2020); Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, CA (2019); Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2019); Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Vitry- sur-Seine, France (2018); Fundació Joan Miró, Centre d’Estudis d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2018); Power Plant, Toronto, Canada (2018); Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (2018); Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2018); The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (2017); Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany (2017); Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University, St. Louis, MO (2017); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium (2017); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (2016); Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2016); Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland (2015); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2013); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2013); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2012); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (2007); and Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, France (2006).
Recent group exhibitions featuring his work include Utopia, Recht auf Hoffnung, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2025); Copistes, Centre Pompidou Metz, Metz, France (2025); Structures, Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa (2025); The Story of Public Art - Dancing in the Streets (On Power), KØS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Køge, Denmark (2025); Magdalena Abakanowicz, Het Noordbrabants Museum, Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands (2025); Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, United States (2025); My Garden’s Boundaries Are the Horizon, de Appel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2024); Pre-Architectures, CIVA, Brussels, Belgium (2024); The Atlantic Ocean, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Hovikodden, Norway (2024); Repair / Reparar, Hangar - Centro de Investigação Artística, Lisbon, Portugal (2024); Per què la guerra?, El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria, Barcelona, Spain (2024); The Threshold under Turbine Vents, The Sun Blanket Foundation, Seoul, South Korea (2024); In the Presence of Absence, Desert X AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia (2024); Dix and the Present, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany (2023); The Great Repair, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany (2023); The Other, Re- Imagine the Future, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria (2023); YOYI! Care, Repair, Heal, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany (2022); Human, 7 Questions, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea (2021); The Roaring Twenties, Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain (2021); Africa Reborn, Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris, France (2021); Smoke and Mirrors: The Roaring Twenties, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland (2020); Down to Earth, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany (2020); Global(e) Resistance, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2020); Mythologies - The Beginning and End of Civilizations, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark (2020); Our World is Burning, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2020); Phantom Limb, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2019), When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration Through Contemporary Art, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston, MA, traveled to Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (2019-2020); The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacements, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2019); The Flow of Forms, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany (2017); Foreign Gods: Fascination Africa and Oceania, Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria (2016); But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (2016); Picasso in Contemporary Art, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany (2015); The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited, The Smithsonian Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., traveled to SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, and Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2014-2015); Here and Elsewhere, New Museum, New York, NY (2014); Performing Histories, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2012); and Contested Terrains, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom (2011).
Attia was selected as the curator of the 12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2022), and he participated in numerous biennial exhibitions as an artist, including 36th Bienal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2025); OFF-Biennale Budapest, Budapest, Hungary (2025); Sharjah Biennial 15, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (2023); Aichi Triennale, Nagoya, Japan (2022); the 13th and 12th Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju, South Korea (2020 and 2018); 12th Shanghai Biennale, China (2018); Marrakesh Biennial 4 and 6 (2014 and 2016); 8th and 13th Lyon Biennale (2005 and 2015); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012); and the 50th and 54th Venice Biennales (2003 and 2011). His work is in numerous international public and private collections, including Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, Unite Arab Emirates; Collection Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création, Paris, France; Fond National d’Art Contemporain, France; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Museo Jumex, Ciudad de México, México; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar; Margulies Collection, Miami, FL; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; S.M.A.K. Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium; Société Générale, Paris, France; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom; Vehbi Koç Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey; and the Vanmoerkerke Collection, Belgium.
Attia has received several prestigious awards including the 2017 Joan Miró Prize, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain, the 2017 Yanghyun Prize, Seoul, South Korea, and the 2016 Prix Marcel Duchamp, Paris, France.
Artist portrait by Camille Millerand