Attia’s work is informed by his upbringing in the Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis where he was born in 1970.  His Algerian roots, and his later travels and sojourns in Venezuela and Kinshasa, DRC, have been reflected in work that addresses issues of geography, gender, history and politics.  He works in a wide range of media including photography, video, sculpture, drawing and installation.

He has exhibited widely with solo and group exhibitions including the Sydney Biennale (2010), the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010), the Havana Biennale (2009), Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Huarte, Spain (2008), the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2008), the ICA, Boston (2007), BALTIC Centre, UK (2007) and the Lyon Biennale (2005). In 2009 he was commissioned to create the production designs for Rambert Dance Company's The Comedy of Change. In 2005 he was nominated for the Marcel Duchamp Prize, and in 2009 he received the Cairo Biennale Prize and the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. Attia is a fellow of the Smithsonian Institution’s Artist Research Program. His work is in the collection of Tate, London and the Sharjah Art Foundation.

Currently living and working in Berlin, Attia studied at the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués, Paris (1991-93), at the Massana School of Applied Arts, Barcelona (1993-94) and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (1996-98).

October 2010