Hicham Berrada creates a permanent dialogue between science and poetry in his works. Through artful choreographies of chemical and physical processes, he uses scientific reactions and parameters to reveal the magic of everyday life. He is not concerned with depicting nature; it is nature itself that is present in his work, which ranges from video and sculpture to installation and performance – which he calls “chemical activation” – as well as photography.
Berrada became known for his series of works, Présage, which he began in 2007. He realized them either through video and performance or in the form of sculptures. The series consists of water landscapes created in glass basins through chemical processes. They seem like hermetic little worlds, cut off from the surrounding world of the viewer. This is partly because humans cannot perceive the mineral’s movement because the time in which these processes occur is extremely slow and impossible for the human eye to comprehend ‘live.’ Berrada manages to make comprehensible the metamorphoses of substances that we usually consider unchanging. He gives minerals a ‘gestural dimension’ usually found only in living systems. The worlds that emerge from chemically activated matter are reminiscent of forms of animal life, buildings, and surreal landscapes.
Hicham Berrada was born in 1986 in Morocco. He lives and works in Paris and Roubaix.
Notable solo exhibition include: Hayward Gallery, London, UK (2019) | Louvre Lens, FR (2019) | Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, US (2019) | le CENTQUATRE, Paris, FR (2016).
Hicham Berrada participated in the following biennials: Thailand Biennale in Korat, TH (2022) | Taipei Biennale, TW (2020) | Lyon Biennale, FR (2017) | BIM Biennale of Moving Image, Geneva, CH (2016) | Yinchuan Biennale, CN (2016).
Performances by Berrada have been presented at Villa Medici, Rome, IT | Maxxi Museum, Rome, IT | Musée Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, FR | MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, FR and during the “Nuits Blanches” in Paris, FR | Brussels, BE | Melbourne, AU
His works have been shown in numerous group exhibitions including: Bourse de Commerce, Paris, FR (2023) | Sammlung Philtre, Düsseldorf, DE (2022/23) | MACRO Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, IT (2021) | Kunsthalle Tübingen, DE (2020) | Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR (2020) | KAI 10 | Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf, DE (2020) | Punta della Dogana, Museum of the Pinault Collection, Venice, IT (2019) | Gropius Bau, Berlin, DE (2019) | ZKM, Karlsruhe, DE (2019) | Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, DE (2018) | Frankfurter Kunstverein, DE (2018) | Mac Lyon, Lyon, FR (2018) | Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR (2017) | Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE (2016) | ICAS-Institute of Contemporary Art, Singapore, SG (2015) | MoMA PS1, New York, US (2011).
Works by the artist are represented in the collections of Futurium, Berlin, DE | Pinault Collection, Paris, FR / Venice, IT | Philara Collection, Düsseldorf, DE.
