Transformations

A French artist of Algerian descent, Kader Attia directs his gaze toward the
African continent, engaging in specters of colonialism in the footsteps of
Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade and activist Franz Fanon. This catalog draws
from the artist s recent exhibition
Repair

5 Acts
, an installation of what he
calls reappropriated materials across culture, politics, science, nature and the
notion of repair in continuity. Spanning installation, sculpture and photography,
Attia s recent work includes an army of crouching figures whose identities
dissolve under silvery rescue blankets often used to aid refugees in distress.
In addition, the publication presents work from 2008 to 2013 and writings
from the artist and French anthropologist Marc Auge, tying together Attia s
central interest in identity with the endless exchange between European and
non-European cultures. The artist is the recipient of the Cairo Biennial Prize
(2008) and was recently featured in dOCUMENTA XIII.