Kader Attia solos at Institute of Contemporary Art ( ICA)

Thursday, 15 November 2007 00:16

Boston, MA - The ninth exhibition in the Institute of Contemporary Art’s Momentum series features French artist Kader Attia. Momentum examines new developments in contemporary art, inviting emerging artists from the U.S. and around the world to create new work for the ICA.

Attia, who has worked in photography, video, sculpture, drawings, and installation, will create a new piece while living in Boston over a six week period this fall, working with students at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Attia’s project for the Momentum series will be his first solo exhibition in the United States. Momentum 9: Kader Attia will be on view from November 14, 2007 to March 2, 2008.

“Kader Attia’s vision is forceful and imaginative,” says Jill Medvedow, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art. “He has emerged over the past ten years as one of the most compelling young voices in European art, and we are thrilled to present his work to U.S. audiences.” Attia’s work for the ICA draws inspiration from the Chinese philosophy, “Man creates things, but emptiness gives them meaning.” Using simple materials, the artist will create an immersive installation to evoke themes of absence and community. A series of beds or cots will fill the Momentum gallery, each topped with a foam mattress bearing the imprint of an absent body.

“Kader Attia’s work is acutely resonant,” says Chief Curator Nicholas Baume. “He approaches lighting-rod issues and explores the complex global culture in works of art that are conceptually layered, poetic, and urgent.”

Attia’s work deploys humor, politics, pop culture, and personal history in ways that are both formally sophisticated and richly metaphorical. His slide show, The Landing Strip, based on Algerian transsexuals and transvestites living in Paris, was shown at the 2003 Venice Biennale. In 2004 he transformed Kamel Mennour Gallery in Paris into an exclusive fashion boutique, Hallal, purveyor of Islamic-branded fashion. For the Lyon Biennale in 2005 he fashioned Flying Rats, an indoor, caged playground where the children were sculpted from birdseed. They shared the playground with 150 doves, which gradually pecked them into oblivion. Most recently, for the 2006 Art Basel, he created the installation Infinities, which featured gigantic drill bits penetrating a mirrored room from above. Kader Attia was born in 1970 in Dugny, a suburb of Paris, to parents of Algerian origin. He studied art in Paris and Barcelona before spending two years doing national civil service in the Congo. He has shown extensively in galleries and museums around the world, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, and Le Magasin, Grenoble, and in group shows such as the Freize Art Fair, London, ArtBasel 38, and the Armory Show, New York.

The Institute of Contemporary Art, located at 100 Northern Avenue, is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 am – 5 pm; Thursday and Friday, 10 am – 9 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm. Admission is $12 adults, $10 seniors and students, and free for members and children 17 and under. Free admission on Target Free Thursday Nights, 5 −9 pm. For more information, call 617- 478-3100 or visit our Web site at www.icaboston.org .