Dugny (Seine Saint-Denis), France, 1970.
The son of Algerian parents, he grew up in a Paris suburb where he received a multicultural upbringing. He has very close ties to Africa. He spends time in the Congo resting after long periods of work, always looking for new sources of inspiration. He has also lived in Venezuela an Algeria. His upbringing and his cultural experiences are reflected in the aesthetics of his work. He takes a poetic and symbolic approach to issues such as immigration, colonialism and western cultural supremacy. Based on historical sources, he uses this to create hegemony in a globalized world. He defends the popular and academic culture of his childhood.
He attended the School of Applied Arts in Paris and the École Duperré, graduating in 1993. He went on to study for one year at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Barcelona. He started out working with photography.
He has a very special relationship with architecture. He is interested in the works of Michel Foucault and Le Corbusier.
He uses many modes of expression. He has participated in exhibitions at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, the Middelheim Museum in Antwerp, the Beirut Art Center, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de París, the MOMA in New York, the Tate Modern in London, etc.
He has also attended Documenta (13) in Kassel.
He was nominated for the Marcel Duchamp Award in 2005.
He lives and works in Berlin and Algiers.
Works in the collection: