Adel Abdessemed

Overview

Adel Abdessemed born 1971, Constantine, Algeria. Lives and works in Paris.

Abdessemed’s artistic practice ranges in various medias including drawing, video, photography, performance, and sculpture, and collaborates with creators from many fields, from poetry to dance and architecture. He manipulates familiar materials and images to create provocative and often violent works influenced by his exposure to the Gulf War and its global impact. Working on personal, political, and historical narratives, the artist believes that his art ‘is a confrontation that leads to a break with the norm and is accompanied by extreme anger,’ but that his work is simultaneously ‘...actually positive. The world is violent – not me.’

Abdessemed’s work has been presented at four Venice Biennales (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015), where he received the Benesse Prize in 2007. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at major institutions including the Centre Georges Pompidou, the San Francisco Art Institute, MoMA PS1, and the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain in Geneva. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Musée national d’art moderne Georges-Pompidou, Paris; the Collection Budi Tek, Shanghai; the Fondation François Pinault, Venice; among many others. Currently, Abdessemed is working on the scenography and costumes for the opéra Saint François d’Assise by Olivier Messiaen due to be staged in 2024 at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva as well as a solo exhibition at Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

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