Kader Attia
dal 24/5/2013 al 24/8/2013
Segnalato da
24/5/2013
Kader Attia
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin
Repair. 5 Acts. The French-Algerian artist develops a site-specific installation in five acts, which applies his concept of "repair" as reconstruction in a wider sense to political, cultural and scientific topics, examining their various interactions.
REPAIR. 5 ACTS at KW Institute for Contemporary Art is French-Algerian artist Kader Attia’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany. For KW, Attia develops a site-specific installation in five acts, which applies his concept of “repair” as reconstruction in a wider sense to political, cultural and scientific topics, examining their various interactions.
The exhibition places subjects Attia has been working with for several years in relation to each other, at times associatively and at times as framing an argument. He combines the European approach to its own colonial past within the framework of World War I with struggles for independence on the African continent, with current migration politics and with mechanisms of identity construction. Attia's research is situated on the verge of reason and abstraction, of science and spirituality, which he understands as complements rather than antonyms. His work for dOCUMENTA(13) was a starting point for these examinations, which he now develops further for REPAIR. 5 ACTS.
The artist locates a central aspect of his understanding of “repair” in processes of re-appropriation, whose transfers he illustrates by means of their visual and acoustic manifestations. On the one hand, these transfers are of a cultural nature, for example, when African musicians cite American Blues, which itself has its roots in Africa. On the other hand, Attia sees re-appropriation in the relationship between humankind and nature, such as in the field of bionics or the imitation of “civilization noise” by songbirds. Attia uses “repairs” to the human body, such as plastic surgery, body art and prosthetics, to juxtapose African and Western concepts of beauty.
“Repair” also manifests itself as a strategy in the collage-like structure of the installation, which weaves together found objects, images, artifacts, sound and video works in various spatial concepts. Attia develops a dramaturgy that leads the audience through the installations as if it were an obstacle course and prompts the visitor to reflect without prescribing any pre-determined perspectives. Each of the five acts illuminates the topos of “repair” from a different point of view, so that an overall picture of Attia’s concept of “repair” unfolds as the course is completed act for act.
The artistic practice of Kader Attia (*1970 in Dugny) is characterized by his life between various European and African cultures and places and their contrasts and differences. Attia’s spatial installations, videos and photographs draw their potential from the tension between sensually experiential forms and content which examine our constructions of realities.
REPAIR. 5 ACTS is curated by Ellen Blumenstein and takes place as part of the project RELAUNCH.
A publication by diaphanes will accompany the exhibition.
Kader Attia: REPAIR. 5 ACTS is generously supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. With the kind support of the Office for Visual Art/Institut français and the French Ministery of Culture and Communication as well as of Galerie Nagel Draxler, Galleria Continua and Galerie Krinzinger.
The cultural programs of KW Institute for Contemporary Art are made possible with the support of the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery – Cultural Affairs.
Image: Fragmental #2, 2013 Drawing on printed Image © Kader Attia, 2013
Press Contact
Henriette Sölter, T +49.30.243459.42, press@kw-berlin.de
Press Conference: 23.5.13, 14 h
Opening: Saturday, 25.5.13, 17 h
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststr. 69 - D-10117 Berlin
Opening Hours
Wed – Mon 12 – 19 h, Thur 12 – 21 h, Tuesdays closed
Admission
6 Euro, reduced 4 Euro