Kader Attia Advocates for Attention Reappropriation in Berlin Biennale Interview

French-Algerian artist and curator Kader Attia, born in 1970, discussed his practice and the 2026 Berlin Biennale in a conversation at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art. A winner of the 2016 Marcel Duchamp Prize and the 2017 Yanghyun Art Prize, Attia centers his work on colonialism's impact on modernity and forms of cultural reparation. He described the biennial as a laboratory, not an art fair, emphasizing the inclusion of archives and projects like Ariella Aïsha Azoulay's "The Natural History of Rape." Attia warned against capitalism appropriating political messages like decolonization through art, risking institutionalization. He critiqued algorithmic governance and data extraction by companies like Facebook and Google, framing it as a new colonialism of attention. Citing Marshall McLuhan, he argued art operates by stealing attention and advocated for physical artworks that leave space for the observer. Attia invited exhibition-goers to be present rather than feed social media machines, stressing the need to reclaim attention in spaces of emotional encounter.