Christophe Kihm critiques Adel Abdessemed's Centre Pompidou exhibition

Christophe Kihm offers a detailed critique of Adel Abdessemed's exhibition 'Je suis innocent' (3 October 2012 – 7 January 2013) at the Centre Pompidou, responding to Bernard Marcadé's earlier coverage in art press. Kihm argues that the show relies on an avalanche of references—from Cicero to Nietzsche, Masaccio to Géricault—to legitimize the artist's self-proclaimed prophetic status. He notes Abdessemed's statement that he did not choose art but was chosen, born in Constantine to a Muslim mother in a Jewish house with Christian midwives, gathering the monotheistic gods. Kihm dismisses the critical apparatus as mere apology, citing Alfred Pacquement's boxing metaphor in the catalogue preface. He recalls Robert Storr's 2007 critique of Abdessemed's work at PS1 as simplistic and mannered, and applies it to the Centre Pompidou pieces, especially 'Coup de tête,' a five-meter bronze of Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup final. Kihm calls it a pompier allegory reminiscent of totalitarian realism, exemplifying the artist's reliance on symbolization, allegorization, and edification. He concludes that Abdessemed's practice is poor, producing univocal signs and interpretative delirium, serving moral lessons rather than artistic truth.