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HICHAM BERRADA
40 under 40 Africa
Apollo Magazine

28.09.2020

The installations, sculptures and videos of Hicham Berrada are a meeting of art and science. The Casablanca-born artist with an interest in scientific processes and natural phenomena has likened his practice to a kind of living painting: ‘My brushes and pigments would be temperature, magnetism, light.’ Once he has created the right environment for an artwork – be it an aquarium, terrarium, or computer programme – Berrada lets physical or algorithmic processes unfold over time and allows viewers to make what they will of the results. And, as much as he is guided by science, Berrada is also interested in divination and mystical rituals and has spoken of the influence of Max Ernst’s techniques to free the subconscious mind. Berrada has had solo exhibitions at the Louvre-Lens and the Hayward Gallery and his work has been included in group exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. He is one of the nominees for this year’s Marcel Duchamp Prize.