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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.

Education

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

Selected Solo Exhibitions

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

Selected Group Exhibitions

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 PinaultMuseum 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 IslandBusan 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