Hypomnemata (2023) and other works

Overview

Kader Attia’s poetic installations and sculptural assemblages 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. The mixed media installation Hypomnemata (2023), which borrows its name from the theory developed by Michel Foucault, connects the plundering of knowledge initiated during colonial times with modernity and capitalism’s blind logic of wealth extraction.
Le Grand Miroir du Monde (2017), a site-specific installation usingthe former swimming pool of the Sheikh Khalid Bin Mohammed Palace, replicates the rippled surface of water through thousands of shards of mirrored glass. The artist gestures at the affective dimensions of the site’s historical memory, folding both trauma and joy into the quintessential image of leisure.