Kader Attia: Urgency of Existence

Urgency of Existence, the first solo exhibition in Asia by Kader Attia, will be on display from November 23, 2024, to March 16, 2025. Curated by Gridthiya Gaweewong, Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center and former artistic director of the Thailand Biennale Chiang Rai 2023, this exhibition delves into the concept of repair, investigating the urgency of global decolonization and crypto colonization in Thailand and its hinterland.

Kader Attia’s Urgency of Existence builds upon his work showcased at the Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai 2023, expanding into a deeper understanding of the complex processes of repair. It incorporates themes of gathering and separation, both literally and metaphorically, reflecting on the historical, cultural, and psychological impacts of colonialism, as well as the process of revisiting the trauma it caused. The exhibition presents a variety of media, ranging from sculpture and craftwork to paper installations and newly created films, to provide deeper insights into the philosophical dimensions of decolonization and repair. 

This exhibition seeks to merge aesthetic, abstract, and political dimensions through the metaphor of repair. By engaging with historical and contemporary issues of separation and gathering, Kader Attia’s exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the ongoing impact of colonialism, the complexities of cultural memory, and the potential for healing and unity through artistic practice.

About the artist
Kader Attia (1970, Dugny, France) is a multidisciplinary artist who draws upon the lived experiences of two disparate cultural identities: Algerian and French. From this place of cultural intermediacy, Attia’s practice interrogates sociopolitical complexities rooted in histories of colonialism and cultural obfuscation. In his practice, Attia employs poetic installations and sculptural assemblages to investigate the far-reaching emotional implications of western cultural hegemony and colonial systems of power for non-western subjectivities, focusing particularly on collective trauma and notions of repair.

His work is part of the collections of Sharjah Art Foundation; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Museo Jumex, Mexico City; Tate Gallery, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, among others. He also served as interlocutor for the Sharjah Biennial 13 off-site project Vive l’Indépendence de l’Eau, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar (2017).

Attia was awarded the Joan Miró Prize (2017), the Yanghyun Prize (2017), the Prix Marcel Duchamp (2016), Cairo Biennale Prize (2009) and the Abraaj Capital Art Prize (2009). He was also curator of the 12th Berlin Biennale (2022).

About curator
Gridthiya Gaweewong (1964, Chiang Rai, Thailand) is the Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center in Bangkok. Together with Rirkrit Tiravanija, she directed the Thailand Biennale 2023/2024 in Chiang Rai. Gridthiya Gaweewong is one of the best-known curators working in Southeast Asia today. After earning her Master of Arts in Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996, Gridthiya co-founded the alternative art space Project 304 with Montien Boonma, Kamol Phaosavasdi, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (1996–2003). Next to her role as Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center in Bangkok she is Guest Curator of the MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai. She co-founded the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival with Apichatpong Weerasethakul (1997–2007). Her curatorial projects address issues of social change faced by artists from Thailand and beyond since the Cold War, including Imagined Borders, the 12th Gwangju Biennale (2018), Missing Links, Bangkok (2015), Between Utopia and Dystopia, Mexico City (2011), Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Oberhausen (2009), Politics of Fun, Berlin (2005), and Underconstruction Tokyo (2000–2002). Gaweewong is the Curator of the ICI traveling exhibition Apichatpong Weerasethakul: The Serenity in Madness in Chiang Mai, Manila, Hong Kong, Chicago, Oklahoma, and Taipei (2016–2020).