On the proposal of the selection committee chaired by Charlotte Laubard, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs and Franck Riester, Minister for Culture, selected Zineb Sedira to represent France at the 59th Venice International Art Biennial in 2021.

According to the selection committee: Zineb Sedira paved the way for a re-reading of colonial history from the end of the 1990s when these issues were still little taken up by French society. She was chosen for her ability to multiply views and perspectives on these issues while assuming a strong poetic and aesthetic dimension. In recent years, she has expanded her research to other geographies and has extended the colonial issue to economic and human flows and the circulation of ideas.”

Since yesterday, false information has been circulating on Zineb Sedira. In a statement, the artist strongly condemns these unfounded accusations. Franck Riester reaffirms his support for the selection committee’s choice: As she said, I know that Zineb Sedira is committed to fighting against all forms of hatred, acts or racist or anti-Semitic remarks. It will bring these humanist values to the next International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Venice in 2021.”

Zineb Sedira was born in 1963 in Paris. She lives in London and works between Algiers, London and Paris. She studied at the Central St Martin’s School of Art, the Slade School of Art, and the Royal College of Art in London. She is the founder of aria (artist residency in algiers), which supports the development of the contemporary art scene in Algeria. In 2015, she was nominated for the Marcel Duchamp Award.

It has numerous solo exhibitions in France (Palais de Tokyo, MAC Marseille), and internationally (Switzerland, Israel, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia, Canada, United States, Qatar, Dubai). She participated in the Rencontres de la photographie d'Arles and the Biennale de photographie de Florence.

From October 15, 2019 to January 19, 2020, the Jeu de Paume presented a retrospective exhibition of his work since 1998, L'espace d'un instant.

Zineb Sedira is represented by Kamel Mennour (Paris), The Third Line (Dubai).

 

To learn more about the selection committee:

Chair: Charlotte Laubard

Art historian and curator, Charlotte Laubard has taught at HEAD - Geneva since 2013 and has headed the Visual Arts Department for the past two years. Previously, she worked in various institutions dedicated to contemporary art, including the CAPC museum of contemporary art in Bordeaux, of which she was director from 2006 to 2013. Recently, she was artistic director of the 2017 edition of Nuit Blanche in Paris entitled Faire œuvre commune, as well as curator of the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019 with the exhibition Moving Backwards: Pauline Boudry/ Renate Lorenz.

Expert Panel Members:

Naomi Beckwith is curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago since 2011. Prior to joining MCA, she held various positions at the Harlem Studio Museum and the Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art. Many of his exhibitions focus on the recurring resonances of African-American cultural practices in contemporary art, including The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now or 30 Seconds off an Inch. She was one of the first to highlight artists such as Rashid Johnson, Jimmy Robert, Keren Cytter… In 2015, she was a member of the jury of the 56th Venice Biennale.

Hélène Guenin is director of the Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art (MAMAC) in Nice. Between 2008 and 2016, she was responsible for programming at the Centre Pompidou-Metz where she curated many exhibitions. From 2002 to 2008, she was curator at Frac Lorraine, and assistant curator at Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain in 2001. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Manifesta 13, Marseille; President of the Scientific Council of ENSA Nancy; Jury of the Franco-German Perspektiv Prize for Art and Architecture; Member of the College of Plastic Arts of the CNAP Purchasing Commission.

Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel is Executive Director of Lafayette Anticipations. A graduate in Art History, History and Political Science from the University of Paris I - La Sorbonne, Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel began her career at the Ministry of Culture, then at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris. From 2009 to 2012 she lived in Berlin where she participated in the exhibition Based in Berlin (2011). In 2012, she joined the Palais de Tokyo as an exhibition curator. In 2017, she was appointed co-curator of the exhibition Voyage d'Hiver au Château de Versailles. In 2019, she was appointed Commissioner of the next Riga Biennale in 2020.

Morad Montazami is an art historian, publisher and curator. He runs the Zaman Books & Curating platform dedicated to the study of Arab, African and Asian modernity. He has notably exhibited Bagdad Mon Amour, Institut des cultures d'Islam, Paris, 2018; New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School, The Mosaic Rooms, London/MACCAL, Marrakech, 2019.  

Yves Robert: After founding, the Contemporary Research Unit of Villa Gillet in Lyon in 1998, Yves Robert was appointed administrator of the Centre national d'art contemporain de Grenoble in 1989, then took over as Secretary General of the Nouveau Musée/ Institut d'art contemporain de Villeurbanne. From 1994 to 2014, he successively directed the Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts de Valence, the Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon, the Villa Arson in Nice and the Institut supérieur des arts de Toulouse.  In addition to its activities, it provides various curatorial exhibitions in France and abroad. From 2014 to 2019, Yves Robert ran the Centre national des arts plastiques. Since January 2020, he has been Deputy Director of the Biennales de Lyon.

Institutional members of the committee:

Laurence Auer, Director of Culture, Education, Research and Network, Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs

 Marianne Berger, Acting Head of the Art Department, Ministry of Culture

 Pierre Buhler, President of the French Institute.