Kader Attia, Pieter Vermeulen

On 15-03-14 at 8pm NICC will host a conversation between Kader Attia and Pieter Vermeulen.

Born in 1970 into an Algerian family in Paris, Kader Attia spent his childhood between a Parisian banlieue and the neighbourhood of Bab el Oued in Algiers. He studied both Philosophy and Fine Art in Paris and spent a year at Barcelona’s School of Applied Art “La Massana” in 1993. His childhood between France and Algeria, going back and forth between the Christian Occident and the Islamic Maghreb, has had a profound impact on his work, and his time spent living in the Congo-Kinshasa, as well as Venezuela, has further informed his vision. His work tackles the relations between the Western Thought and extra-Occidental cultures, particularly through Architecture, the Human body, History, Nature, Culture, and Religions.

Attia’s first solo exhibition was held in 1996 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He gained international recognition at the 50th Venice Biennale (2003).
Recent exhibitions include Continuum of Repair : The Light of Jacob’s Ladder, a solo show at Whitechapel Gallery, London / UK, Reparatur 5. Acts, a solo show at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin / Germany, Construire, Déconstruire, Reconstruire : Le Corps Utopique, a solo show at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris / France, dOCUMENTA(13) in Kassel / Germany, Performing Histories (1) at MoMA, New York / USA, 10 ans du Projet pour l’Art Contemporain, Centre Pompidou, Paris / France, 4th Moscow Biennale, Moscow / Russia, The Global Contemporary. Art World after 1989, ZKM, Karlsruhe / Germany, Contested Terrains, Tate Modern, London / UK

Pieter Vermeulen (° 1983) is an independent curator, researcher and art critic. He studied philosophy and cultural studies, and is currently affiliated to Sint Lucas Antwerp (Master of Research in Art & Design) and Ghent University (research centre S:PAM).