San Gimignano
Beijing
Les Moulins
Habana
Roma
Sao Paulo
Paris
Born in Constantine, Algeria in 1971, he lives and works in Paris, France.
Adel Abdessemed embraces a wide variety of media, including drawing, sculpture, performance, video and installation. His work often deals with the themes of war, violence and religion and is characterised by brutal imagery that attempts to depict the inherent violence of the contemporary world.
Memory, trauma, conflagration, intoxication, and lucidity: French artist of Berber origin, Adel Abdessemed has been building a committed and incandescent body of work for more than thirty years, which has quickly found an echo on the international scene.
He fled Algeria after the beginning of the 1992 civil war, taking with him the memory of the war and the range of atrocities. “I’ve experienced very directly the violence that I talk about. Even today, the wounds remain open and the questions unanswered: the arson, the rapes, the unpunished murders.” As the writer Kamel Daoud says about Adel Abdessemed: “You have to come from a country of origin like Adel's, with still alive terrible symbols, capable of real life and death, to understand that the artist's indignation is a necessity, rather than an aesthetic.”
Once in France, he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. Steeped in classical culture, literature and poetry, and with a passion for music, Abdessemed has appropriated various media and languages to make art the place where a society exposes its violence and fragility. Kounellis asserts that his vehemence is a bulwark against conformism and the uniformity of the bien-pensance.
It is this need to mix all forms of cultural expression that has led him to collaborate with writers and poets such as Hélène Cixous, Julia Kristeva, Christophe Ono-dit-Biot, Adonis, with whom he has published several joint works, but also architects such as Jean Nouvel and Jean Michel Wilmotte.
In the eighteenth century, Lessing made the cry the unrepresentable in art and the taboo of all visual arts. Through his work, Abdessemed has turned art into an organ of collective cry: an exercise in freedom, an exhortation to free ourselves once and for all from our barbarism.
Since Abdessemed’s first solo exhibition in 2001, he has had others at: PS1/MoMA, New York; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA, USA; CNAC - Le Magasin (Centre National d’Art Contemporain), Grenoble, France; Parasol unit, London; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy; Centre Pompidou, Paris (Adel Abdessemed Je suis innocent, 2012); CAC, Málaga, Spain; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada (Adel Abdessemed: Conflict, 2017); Otchi Tchiornie at MAC’s, Grand-Hornu, Belgium; L’Antidote at MAC, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Lyon, France .
Adel Abdessemed's work has been shown at the Venice Biennale three times (2003, 2009, 2015), as well as at the Biennial of Istanbul (2017), Havana (2009), Gwangju (2008), Lyon (2007) and Saõ Paulo (2006). In 2017 he participated in the Triennale di Milano The Restless Earth and the Oku-Noto Triennale in Japan.
In 2020 the artist exhibited at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris as part of the group show Crossing Views, and in March 2022 he inaugurated “An Imperial Message”, a major solo show over five floors at Rockbund Museum, Shanghai.
2000-2001
International Studio Program, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, NY, USA
1999-2000
Cité internationale des Arts, Paris, France
1994-1998
École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon, France
1987-1994
École supérieure des beaux-arts d’Alger ; École régionale des beaux-arts de Batna, Algeria
2023
Mon Enfant, Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris, France
2022
Adel Abdessemed: an Imperial Message, Rockbund Art museum, Shanghai, China
2021
Die Taubenpost, Passage de Retz, Paris
2020
Description d’un combat, Wilde Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
Play it Again, Art Front gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019
Candele Candelotti e Sei Lumini, Galleria Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy
Eran las cinco en todos los relojes, Galería Solo - Eva Albarran y Christian Bourdais, Madrid, Spain
Unlock, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
2018
Au-delà du principe de plaisir, Les rencontres de la photographie, Arles, France
Otchi Tchiornie, Mac's Grand-Hornu, Belgium
L'Antidote, MAC Lyon, Lyon, France,
Le chagrin des Belges, Dvir Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2017
Conflit, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal, Canada
2016
Politics of Drawing, Cahiers d’Art, Paris, France
Surfaces, église des Célestins, Festival d'Avignon, France
Bristow, commissioned by Bold Tendencies CIC, London, United Kingdom
2015
From Here to Eternity, Venus Over Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Adel Abdessemed: Jalousies – complicités avec Jean Nouvel, Musée de Vence, France
Palace, CAC, Malaga, Spain
Adel Abdessemed: Opening of Archives, Video Bureau, Pékin, Cina
Adel Abdessemed, Soldaten, Christine König Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2014
Adel Abdessemed, Solo, Yvon Lambert, Paris, France
Mon Enfant, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Oiseau / Pasăre, Spatiu Intact, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Merci, Blondeau & Cie, Geneva, Switzerland
2013
L'âge d'or, Mathaf Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
Le Vase abominable, David Zwirner, London, United Kingdom
2012
Adel Abdessemed Je suis innocent, Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Décor, Musée Unterlinden, Colmar, France
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?, David Zwirner, New York, NY, USA
2011
NU, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
2010
The Future of Décor, Onsite [at] OCADU Gallery, Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto, Canada
Silent Warriors, Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London, United Kingdom
2009
RIO, David Zwirner, New York, NY, USA
Les ailes de dieu / Le ali di dio, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
2008
Situation and Practice, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA, USA
Nuit des Musées, Musée Rodin, Paris, France
Orient for Global Bordelo, Christine König Galerie, Vienna, Austria
Trust Me, The Common Guild, Glasgow, Scotland
Don’t Trust Me, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA
Drawing for Human Park, Le Magasin – Centre national d’art contemporain de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
2007
Poursuite, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Dead or Alive, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY, USA
The Street Is My Heart, Libreria Borges Institute for Contemporary Art, Guangzhou, China
2006
Conversation / Sirha, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Practice Zero Tolerance, FRAC Île-de-France / Le Plateau, Paris and La Criée centre d’art contemporain, Rennes, France
2005
Holidays – God Is Infinity, Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France
Happiness in Mitte, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom
2004
Le Citron et le lait, MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland
Habibi, FRAC-Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
2003
Nuit, Galleria Laura Pecci, Milan, Italy
2002
Adel Abdessemed, Centre international d'art et du paysage de l'île de Vassivière, France
Adel Abdessemed, Institute of Visual Arts, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
2001
Adel Abdessemed, Galleria Laura Pecci, Milan, Italy
Adel Abdessemed, Project Room, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland
2023
Dans l’air, les machines volantes, Hangar Y, Meudon, France
Parc des sculptures, Hangar Y, Meudon, France
Temporality-Capturing the transience of the present moment, Module of Temporality, Kyiv, Ukraine
2022
Parcours Belle époque, Saison 2, Villa du temps retrouvé, Cabourg, France
2021
Napoléon ? Encore ! - De Marina Abramović à Yan Pei-Ming, Musée de l’armée, Hôtel National des Invalides, Paris, France
La Biennale, Grand Palais Ephémère, Paris, France
Albion Fields sculpture park, Oxford, United Kingdom
Au-delà de la couleur, le noir et le blanc dans la collection Pinault, Couvent des Jacobins, Rennes, France
2019
The Shining, La Louisiane, Paris, France
Jeux de balles, Jeux de ballons, Musée de Tessé, Le Mans, France
Rothko in Lampedusa, Palazzo Querini, Venise, Italy
Eldorama, Tripostal, Lille, France
Hommage à Léonard et à la Renaissance, Château du Rivau, Lémeré, France
Un cœur simple, Dvir Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium
2018
Trinidad, The Arsenale, Miami, USA
La Strada. Dove il mondo si crea, MAXXI, Rome, Italy
No looking back, Okay ?, Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor, Slovenia
Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale, Niigata, Japan
Debout !, couvent des Jacobins, Couvent des Jacobins, Rennes, France
Talking about a revolution ! , 22 Visconti, Paris, France
Video Europe for Everybody, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia, Bulgaria
Faith Love Hope, Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria
Dancing with Myself, Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana, Venise, Italy
Sexy and Cool, Postminimalistische Kunst, Kunsthalle, Tübingen, Germany
Contemporary White, Protestant church, St Moritz, Switzerland
2017
Urban Glass Brooklyn, New York, USA
15th Istanbul Biennale, Turkey
Suzu 2017 : Oku-Noto Triennial, Suzu, Japan
Innocent Material, Dvir Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium
Le Mois de la Photo, Montréal, Canada
The Restless Earth: Milan Triennial, Nicola Trussardi Foundation, Milan, Italy
Pallaksh Pallaksh (I don’t know just where I’m going), Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2016
30th Anniversary, Alfonso Artiaco Gallery, Naples, Italy
The End of the World, Centro Pecci, Prato, Italy
Miracle Marathon, Serpentine Galleries, Second Home, London, United Kingdom
Dancing with Myself. Selbstporträt und Selbsterfindung. Werke aus der Sammlung Pinault, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
Zie de mens/Behold the Man, Museum de Fundatie, Paleis aan de Blijmarkt, Zwolle, Netherlands
Au cœur, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
On connaît la musique, FRAC Franche-Comté, Verrerie de La Rochère, Passavant-la-Rochère, France
The New Human, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Cher(e)s ami(e)s. Nouvelle présentation des collections contemporaines. Hommage aux donateurs, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Souviens-toi du temps présent, Centre d’art Le Lait, Albi, France
Money, Good and Evil: A Visual History of the Economy, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden in collaboration with the Casino, Baden-Baden, Germany
Magie und Macht. Von fliegenden Teppichen und Drohnen, MARTa Herford, Germany
De Warhol à Basquiat. Les chefs d’oeuvre de la collection Lambert, Musée de Vence –Fondation Émile Hugues, Vence, France
Je Tu Il Elle, Dvir Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium
Do It in Arabic, Sharjah Art Foundation's Bait Al Shamsi, UAE
2015
Retour sur l'abîme – L'art à l'épreuve du génocide, Musée d'histoire, Belfort, France
Drawing: The Bottom Line, S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art, Gent, Belgium
Picasso.mania, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Le Cambrioleur, Riga Art Space, Riga, Latvia
Patrice Chéreau / Un musée imaginaire, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
All the World’s Future, 56th Biennale di Venezia, Venise, Italy
Piano Arte – Pianos, Sounds, Concepts, Kunsthalle, Salzburg Museum, Austria
ArtGenève, installation sur les rives du Lac Léman, Switzerland
2014
About Town, Ikon en partenariat avec Hippodrome Plus, Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham, United Kingdom
The Desire for Freedom, Art in Europe since 1945, Musée d'art contemporaine de Cracovie, Poland
Milch / Lait / Latte, Musée d'art du Valais, Sion, Switzerland
Made by… Feito por Brasileiros, Cidade Matarazzo, São Paulo, Brazil
Art Lovers. Histoires d’art dans la collection Pinault, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
Narcisse, l'image dans l'onde, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France
Grandeur, Museum Beelden Aan Zee, The Hague, Netherlands
Entre-Temps, l’artiste narrateur, Musée d'art contemporain de Chengdu, China
La Disparition des lucioles, Collection Lambert, Prison Sainte-Anne, Avignon, France
Myth / History: Yuz Collection of Contemporary Art, The Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China
Ravaged, Art and Culture in Times of Conflict, Museum Leuven, Louvain, Belgium
Lampedusa: Dessins d’Adel Abdessemed & Dessins anciens, Saint Honoré Art Consulting, Paris, France
Utopian Days – Freedom, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
Fútbol: The Beautiful Game, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Les Yeux seuls sont encore capable de pousser un cri, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
2013
Laboratory of the Future: Together / Apart, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Varsovie, Polond
L'Innocence du réel – L'innocenza del reale, Fondazione Centro di Arti Visive di Pietrasanta, Italy
L'Art à l'épreuve du monde, Depoland, Dunkerque, France
Les Aventures de la Vérité, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence, France
Prima Materia, Punta della Dogana, Venise, Italy
Vues d'en haut, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
Every Day Matters, Faurschou Foundation, Copenhague, Danemark
Sous influences, la Maison rouge, Paris, France
Noah’s Ark, Spatiu Intact, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Sous nos yeux (partie 1), La Kunsthalle, Mulhouse, France
Isaac Babel: Makhno's Boys, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Rêver le quotidien. Manuel de survie à l'ordinaire, La Brasserie, Foncquevillers, France
Méditerranées. Des grandes cités d'hier aux hommes d'aujourd'hui, J1, Marseille, France
Point de mire/Focal Point, ESBAMA, Montpellier, France
Nuit Blanche Mayenne, Le Kiosque, Mayenne, France
2012
Mirages d'Orient, grenades et figues de barbarie. Chassé-croisé en Méditerranée, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Biennale Benin 2012: Inventing the World – The Artist as Citizen, Centre Kora, Cotonou, Benin
Voices of Images, Palazzo Grassi, Venise, Italy
Fruits de la passion, Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
La Belle & la Bête, Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux, France
Glissement de terrain. Impertinence – Résistance – Survivance, Musée Ianchelevici, La Louvière, Belgium
Mediations Biennale 2012: The Unknown, National Museum, Poznan, Poland
Something Along the Lines, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
2nd Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art, Yekaterinburg, Russia
7th Seoul International Media Art Biennale / MediaCity Seoul 2012: Spell on You, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
Forma de Agir, Museu de Arte Moderna Aloisio Magalhães, Recife, Brazil and Centro Cultural Banco do Nordeste, Fortaleza, Brazil
Foreigners Everywhere: Contemporary Art from the Pomeranz Collection, Jewish Museum, Vienna, Austria
Le Donjon de Vez à l'heure d'été, Donjon de Vez, France
Explorateurs. Œuvres du Centre national des arts plastiques, Musée de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix, Les Sables d'Olonne, France
Explosion! Måleri som handling ⁄ Paintings as Action, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden and Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
La Triennale 2012: Intense proximité, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Lightness and Gravity, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Néon, who's afraid of red, yellow and blue?, La Maison rouge, Paris, France
Evil Is Here, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Nunc et in Hora Mortis Nostrae, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Bruxelles, Belgium
2011
Biens communs 1, Mamco – Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Genève, Switzerland
3rd Thessaloniki Biennale: Roaming Images, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessalonique, Greece
Homage to Bas Jan Ader, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Seeing Is Believing, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
The House without the Door, David Zwirner, New York, NY, USA
Out of Storage, Timmerfabrick, Maastricht, Netherland
Big Brother: Artists and tyrans, Palais des arts et du Festival, Dinard, France
Commercial Break, Garage Projects, 54th Venice Biennale, Venise, Italy
The Power of Doubt, PhotoEspaña 2011, Museo Colecciones ICO, Madrid, Spain and Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, Cina
Fantômes et Cauchemars. Art contemporain & collections 1914 – 1918, Espace culturel Beauvais, France
Meeting Points 6 – Locus Agonistes: Practices and Logics of the Civic, Beirut Art Center, Beyrouth, Lebanon and Argos Centre for Art and Media, Bruxelles, Belgium
Elogio del dubbio / Éloge du doute / In Praise of Doubt, Punta della Dogana, Venise, Italy
2010
21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Lo spazio del sacro, Galleria Civica di Modena, Modène, Italy
Opening the Doors: Collecting Middle Eastern Art, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Fragments éclectiques, L'Eclectic Léo Lagrange, Nantes, France
Misericordia, Prism, West Hollywood, CA, USA
Negotiations – The 2nd Today’s Documents 2010, Today Art Museum, Pékin, Cina
Aichi Triennale 2010: Arts and Cities, Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya, Japan
Signs of Life: Ancient Knowledge in Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
Brouillon, Musée de la danse / La Criée centre d'art contemporain, Rennes, France
Perpetual Battles, BAIBAKOV Art Projects, Moscou, Russia
Languages and Experimentations: Young Artists in a Contemporary Collection, MART, Rovereto, Italy
Drawing Time / Le Temps du dessin, Musée des beaux-arts, Nancy, France
Wystawa, The Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Varsovie, Poland
Art + Religion: 4th International Max and Iris Stern Symposium, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Montréal, Canada
I mutanti / Les Mutants, Académie de France à Rome – Villa Medici, Rome, Italy
C’est la vie! Vanités de Pompéi à Damien Hirst, Musée Maillol, Paris, France
Ripresa, Fondazione Lanfranco Baldi, Pelago, Italy
2009
Barock. Art, Science, Faith, and Technology in the Contemporary Age, Museo MADRE, Italy
Becoming Intense, Becoming Animal, Becoming..., Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Germany
30 Seconds off an Inch, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, USA
Le Printemps de septembre à Toulouse. Là où je suis n'existe pas, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France
10e biennal de Lyon: Le spectacle du quotidien, La Sucrière et Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, France
Mesure du désordre, Le Parvis, Centre d'art contemporain, Ibos, France
Rites de passage, SCHUNCK-Glaspaleis, Heerlen, Netherlands
Qui a peur des artistes? Selected Works from the François Pinault Foundation Collection, Palais des arts et du festival, Dinard, France
Universal Code: Art and Cosmology in the Information Age, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
Risk the Real—A new exhibition of the Berardo Collection, Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal
Mapping the Studio: Artists from the François Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi et Punta della Dogana, Venise, Italy
Time versus Fashion, Kunstverein Nürtingen, Nürtingen, Germany
Mixed Bathing World, Beppu Contemporary Art Festival, Beppu, Japan
Transmission Interrupted, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
10th Havana Biennial: Integration and Resistance in the Global Age, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, La Havane, Cuba
Un certain état du monde? A Certain State of the World? A Selection of Works from the François Pinault Collection, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscou, Russia
2008
Political / Minimal, KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany and Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland
Medium Religion. Faith. Geopolitics. Art, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany and The Model, Sligo, Irland
Vou-te contar uma história / Let Me Tell You a Story, Porta 33, Funchal, Portugal
3rd International Biennale of Contemporary Art of Seville: YOUniverse, Séville, Spain
Political Correct, Blondeau & Cie, Genève, Switzerland
7th Gwangju Biennale: On the Road / Position Papers / Insertions, Gwangju, South Korea
The Gallery, David Zwirner, New York, NY, USA
L’Argent, FRAC Île-de-France / Le Plateau, Paris, France
Mes Amis: Adel Abdessemed, Douglas Gordon et Lawrence Weiner, Dvir Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Valeurs Croisées / Crossing Values, Les ateliers de Rennes – Biennale d’art contemporain, Rennes, France
Traces du sacré, Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Shifting Identities, Kunsthaus Zürich, Suisse, 6 juin – 31 août 2008; CAC, Vilnius, Lituania
God & Goods: Spirituality and Mass Confusion / Spiritualitá e Confusione Massa, Villa Manin Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Codroipo, Italy
God is Design, Galeria Fortes Vilaca, São Paulo, Brazil
In Geneva No One Can Hear You Scream, Blondeau & Cie, Geneva, Switzerland
Always Begins by Degrees, The Common Guild, Glasgow, Scotland
Flow, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, USA
2007
French Kissin’ in the USA: An Emerging Art Scene in France, The Moore Space, Miami, FL, USA
So Close/So Far Away, BE-PART/Platform voor Actuele Kunst, Waregem, Belgium and Museum Het Domein, Sittard, Netherlands
Global Multitude, La Rotonde 1, Luxembourg
Passage du temps. Une sélection d'œuvres autour de l'image. Collection François Pinault Foundation, Tri Postal, Lille, France
Um Atlas de Acontecimentos / An Atlas of Events, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbonne, Portugal
Versailles Off, Nuit Blanche, Versailles, France
Intrusions, Petit Palais, Paris, France
Geopolitics of Animation / Geopoliticas de la animación, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Séville, Spain and MARCO, Vigo, Portugal
10th Istanbul Biennial: Not Only Possible, but Also Necessary – Optimism in the Age of Global War, Istanbul, Turkey
Provokation? II, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna, Austria
Reconstruction #2, Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, United Kingdom
Eau, air, terre. La sagesse du jardinier, Biennale internationale d’art contemporain de Melle, Melle, France
Beautiful People (et la blessure Secrète), Centre Rhénan d'Art Contemporaine d'Alsace, Altkirch, France ; Centro de Arte la Panera, Lérida, Spain ; Ambassade de France, Prague, Czech Republic
52nd Venice Biennale: Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense, Venise, Italy
Silenzio. Una mostra da ascoltare, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
Her(his)tory, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athènes, Greece
1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art: Heterotopias, Thessalonique, Greece
Power Play, Artpace, San Antonio, TX, USA
Airs de Paris, Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Experience Pommery #4, Domaine Pommery, Reims, France
TransCape, Cape Town, South Africa
Rue Montgrand, École des beaux-arts de Marseille, France
Fantasmagoria: Dibujo en movimiento, Fundación ICO, Madrid, Spain
2006
5th Shenzhen International Ink Painting Biennale, Shenzhen, Cina
Yan Pei-Ming & Adel Abdessemed: Each From His Own Side, The Same Destiny, Galerija Mala, Ljubljana, Slovenia
1st Architecture: Art and Landscape, Biennale of the Canaries, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Ovunque andiamo: arte, identità, culture in transito / Wherever We Go: Art, Identity, Cultures in Transit, Spazio Oberdan, Milan, Italy and San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA
27th São Paulo Biennale: Como viver junto / How to Live Together, São Paulo, Brasil and Museo de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago, Chile
Brighton Photo Biennial, University of Brighton Gallery, Brighton, United Kingdom
Peintures / Malerei – Art France Berlin, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany
L'Image révélée. De l'orientalisme à l'art contemporain, Municipal Museum of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
Choosing My Religion, Kunstmuseum Thun, Thun, Switzerland
Accumulation – Canton Express the Next Stop, TANG Contemporary Art, Pékin, Cina
Adel Abdessemed: God is Design, L'Appartment 22, Rabat, Morocco
Hot / Cold: Summer Loving, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Varsovie, Poland
Testigos / Witnesses, Fundación Montenmedio Arte Contemporáneo, Vejer de la Frontera, Spain
Take a Walk on the Wild Side, de Pury & Luxembourg, Zürich, Switzerland
Between Bodies and Object, MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany
Sweet Taboos: A Mini Tirana Biennale in New York, Apexart, New York, NY, USA
Faces, Blondeau & Cie, Geneva, Switzerland
La Force de l’art, Grand Palais, Paris, France
7th Biennale of Contemporary African Art: Dak’Art, Dakar, Senegal
Notre histoire…, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2005
3rd Tirana Biennale: Sweet Taboos / Episode 5: Go Inside, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania
Gott sehen, Kunstmuseum des Kantons Thurgau, Warth, Austria
2004
Periplo del Mediterraneo: Maestri e nuove espressioni tra Genova e Istanbul, Museo dell’Accademia Linguistica di Belle Arti e Loggia di Banchi o della Mercanzia, Genova, Italy
Playlist, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Prosismic, Espace Paul Ricard, Paris, France
Odyssey(s) 2004, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, Cina
Group Show, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France
Dimension Folly / Dimensione Follia, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy
Sensi Contemporanei in Calabria dalla 50esima Biennale di Venezia, Villa Genoese Zerbi, Reggio Calabria, Italy
Movimento/Movimenti, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Renato Guttuso, Bagheria, Italy
The Ten Commandments / Die zehn Gebote, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresde, Germany
L’arte del Mediterraneo, MACRO, Rome, Italy
Shake, OK Center for Contemporary Art, Linz, Autriche, 28 mai – 25 juillet 2004; Villa Arson, Nice, France
Total Fear / Miedo total, Fundación la Caixa, Barcelona, Spain
White Spirit, FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France
2003
Happiness: A Survival Guide for Art and Life, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Blood: Lines and Connections, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO, USA
L’Art d’être au monde à Melle, Biennale internationale d’art contemporain de Melle, France
50th Venice Biennale: Dreams and Conflicts – The Dictatorship of the Viewer, Venise, Italy
2002
Nos troubles, Centre régional d’art contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sète, France
Cosi lontano cosi vicino, Fondazione Lanfranco Baldi, Pelago, Italy
Puerto Rico Biennale, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Quarta estacio, Benifallet, Spain
Vidéotrafic, exposition itinérante produite par l'AFAA Ciné Lumière, London, United Kingdom ; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina ; 33rd International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2001
Necessità di relazione / Necessity of Relationship, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy
1st Tirana Biennale: Escape, National Gallery of Tirana, Tirana, Albania
Le Ludique, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada and Musée d'art moderne de Lille Métropole, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
YOKOHAMA 2001 International Triennale of Contemporary Art MEGA WAVE: Towards a New Synthesis, Yokohama, Japan
Watou Poëziezomer ⁄ Een lege plek om te blijven, Watou, Belgium
National and International Studio Program Exhibition, Clocktower Gallery, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY, USA
Uniform: Order and Disorder, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, NY, USA
2000
Finale di partita / Endgame / Fin de partie, Institut Français, Florence, Italy
Paris pour escale, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
Mes rendez-vous (2)…, Michel Rein, Paris, France
Leaving the Island, Busan International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Busan Museum of Modern Art, South Korea
Manifesta 3, European Biennial of Contemporary Art: Borderline Syndrome. Energies of Defence, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Passeurs, Le Rectangle, Lyon, France
Juste au corps. De la peau au vêtement, La Criée centre d’art contemporain, Rennes, France
Carnet d’adresse. Un critique, une œuvre, un artiste, Musée de Louviers, France
1999
Woolways 99, UR, Paris, France
9th Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, Rome, Italy
1997
Carte Blanche, La Maison, Douai, France
1990
Group Show, École régionale des beaux-arts de Batna, Batna, Algeria
