Adel Abdessemed

Artist Adel Abdessemed refuses to be limited to a single ideology or medium he works across video, animation, performance, and sculptural installation. In his early works he passionately tackled religious, sexual, and taboo subjects and his later exhibitions have often focused on the theme of global violence. In an interview with Elisabeth Lebovici he stated, 'I do not live between two cultures. I am not a postcolonial artist. I am not working on the scar and am not mending anything. I am just a detector ... In the public sphere, I use passion and rage. Nothing else. I don't do illusions.' Abdessemed's practice belongs to a new generation of artists, who appeared recently on the French art scene, looking to offer another perspective on culture and identity. Organized around an extensive essay by Larys Frogier, this monograph offers an overview of his work and is published with La Criee, Rennes.