Yto Barrada

"Solidité lumière" installation view at Festival d'Automne à Paris | Césure, Paris, 2023Festival d'Automne à Paris | Césure, Paris, 2023


Yto Barrada was born in 1971 in Paris but grew up in Tangier, Morocco. She studied history and political science at the Sorbonne and photography in New York.

The Moroccan artist works over a wide range of media including photography, sculpture, installations, textile, and video. Her extensive series and project-based practice is rooted in the culture, landscape, economy and politics of her hometown of Tangiers, Morocco. She is the founder of Cinémathèque de Tanger, a cultural center that has become a landmark institution bringing the Moroccan community together to celebrate local and international cinema.

Barrada’s work has won numerous awards including the 2022 Mario Merz Prize, 2019 Roy R. Neuberger Prize, 2016 Tiger Award for short film and a nomination for the 2016 Prix Marcel Duchamp in Paris, the 2015 Abraaj Group Art Prize and the 2011 Deutsche Guggenheim Artist of the Year award.

Barrada’s work has been shown in, and held in the collections of, major museums around the world including the Metropolitan Museum (New York), Tate Modern (London), MoMA (New York), Guggenheim (Berlin), Renaissance Society (Chicago), Wiels Art Center (Brussels), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museo de Sao Paolo, and the 2007 & 2011 Venice Biennales. She held solo exhibitions at the Barbican Center (London), The Power Plant (Toronto), the Secession (Vienna), M Museum (Leuven), the Serralves Museum (Porto) and Carré d’Art (Nimes).
 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024 Fondazione Merz Prize, Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy (forthcoming)
2023

Bad Color Combos, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany
Solidité lumière, Césure – Plateau urbain, Festival d'Automne, Paris, France
Balcon Bettina, Immanence – Centre d'art, Festival d'Automne, Paris, France

2022 Bad Color Combos, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands 
2021 Artist's Choice: Yto Barrada–A Raft, Museum of Modern Art MoMA, New York, USA
Yto Barrada: Ways to Baffle the Wind, MASS MoCA, North Adams, USA
2020 Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nougat, MATHAF: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar
2019 Paste Papers, Pace Library, New York, USA
Yto Barrada with guest artist Bettina: The Power of Two Suns, LMCC’s Arts Center at Governor’s Island, New York, USA
The Dye Garden, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, USA
Double Skin, Casa Luis Barragan, Mexico City, Mexico
Moi je suis la langue et vous êtes les dents, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal
2018 Agadir, The Curve, Barbican, London, United Kingdom
The Dye Garden, American Academy in Rome, Italy
Yto Barrada: Klaatu Barrada Nikto, Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, USA
2016 Faux Guide, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
YTO BARRADA, Tabakalera, Donostia / San Sebastián, France
The Sample Book, Secession Vienna, Austria
YTO BARRADA, M Leuven, Belgium
Faux Guide, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
2015 Carré d'Art, Nîmes, France
The Abraaj Group Art Prize, Art Dubai, UEA
Salon Marocain, The Serralves Foundation, Porto, Portugal
Faux Guide, Pace Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2014 Before Our Eyes: Other Cartographies of the Rif, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
PARLE POUR TOI, Marian Goodman, Paris, France
2013 La courte echelle, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg, Germany
An Album: Cinématheque Tangier, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
  Yto Barrada, Studio Cinema, Marseille, France
2012 Riffs, MACRO Museum, Rome, Italy
Riffs, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Riffs, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, USA
Riffs, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
2011 Riffs, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
Riffs, Wiels, Brussels, Belgium
2010 Play, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Yto Barrada, Centre de la Photographie Genève, Switzerland
A Modest Proposal, L’Appartement 22, Rabat, Morocco
2009 Yto Barrada and Hala Elkoussy, Göteborgs Konsthall, Goteborg, Sweden
2007 Iris Tingitanala botanique du pouvoir, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
Iris Tingitanala botanique du pouvoir, Galerie of Marseille, Marseille, France
2006 A Life Full of Holes - The Strait Project, The Kitchen, New York, USA
Jeu de Paume - Site Sully, Paris, France
A Life Full of Holes - The Strait Project, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom
2005 A Life Full of Holes - The Strait Project, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Center, USA
2004 A Life Full of Holes - The Strait Project, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands  
2003 A Life Full of Holes - The Strait Project, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
2001 A Life Full of Holes - The Strait Project, Galerie Delacroix, Tangier, Morocco


Selected Group Exhibitions

2024 Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Barbican, London, United Kingdom
Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (forthcoming)
2023 Avant-Garde and Liberation. Contemporary Art and Decolonial Modernism, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria
Choreographies of the Impossible, 35th Bienal De São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Permanent Collection on display, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Permanent Collection on display, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
Bettina: The Fifth Point of the Compass, CSS Bard, New York, USA
Universitätsgalerie der Angewandten, Vienna, Austria
2022 Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It's Kept, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Mario Merz Prize 4.Ed_The finalists exhibition, fondazione merz, Turino, Italy
LOVE, Palácio Duques de Cadaval, Evora, Portugal
Based on a True Story. . ., Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, United States
A Drawing Made with Stones, Studio Fotokino, Marseille, France
L'Art d'apprendre. Une école des créateurs, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France
Sculpting Reality. Per Amor a l’Art Collection, Círculo de Bellas Artes and Casa de América, Madrid, Spain
Shifting Dialogues: Photography from The Walther Collection, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, K21, Düsseldorf, Germany
Bettina. A poem of perpetual renewal, Salle Henri-Comte, Arles, France
2021 Moroccan Trilogy, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
Enjoy - die mumok Sammlung im Wandel, mumok, Wien, Austria
2020 Global(e) Resistance, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Faces: a Look at the Other, Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France
Mappa mundi, Fondation Boghossian, Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium
Among the Trees, Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Fragmenter le monde / Our world is burning, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Botanicals, Bombas Gens Centre D'Art, Valencia, Spain
between the sun and the moon, Lahore Biennale 02, Pakistan
2019 When Home Won’t Let You Stay, ICA Boston, USA
Narcisse ou la floraison des mondes, FRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine Méca, Bordeaux
Collection 1970s - Present: Surface Tensions, MoMA, New York, USA
Words Are Very Unnecessary, Arter, Istanbul, Turkey
The Warmth of Other Suns, The Phillips Collection in partnership with the New Museum, New York, USA
2018 Platforms: Collection and Commissions, Walker Art Center, Minnesota, USA; 12th Gwangju Biennale: Imagined Borders, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea
The Geological Show, Villa Sauber, New National Museum of Monaco
2017 I am you, you are too, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2017-2019), USA
NOW, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Performa 17 Biennial, New York, USA
La Vie simple - Simplement la vie/Songs of Alienation, Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, France
The Thickness of Time, Locus Athens, Greece
The Restless Earth, La Triennale di Milano, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milano
A thousand beasts that roar. Display devicesfor a critical modernity, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain
2016 What People Do for Money: Some Joint Ventures, Manifesta 11, Zürich, Switzerland
Not New Now, Marrakech Biennale 6, Marrakech, Morocco
Playgrounds, MASP São Paulo, Brazil
Between Myth and Fright. The Mediterranean as conflict, Institut Valencia d'art Modern, Valencia, Spain
Prix Marcel Duchamp, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2015 Gallery 3010, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Liberated Subjects: Present Tense,Lijnen, Brussels
Patrimone, Tangier, Morocco
Silvia Geddes Studio, Rome, Italy
Salon Marocain, Serravles, Porto, Portugal
19th Conetmporary Art Festival, SESC, VideoBrasil, S&atildeo Paolo Highline, New York, USA
La Vie Moderne, Biennale, Lyon, France
When there is hope, Phototriennale 2015, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Poetics of Relation, Pérez Art Museum, Miami, USA
Atoplois - WIELS @ MONS2015, WIELS, Brussels, Belgium
Liberated Subjects: Present Tense, Foundation De 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg, Belgium
playing future, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany
Crossovers - A Filmic Exploration Of History, Stories And Human Remains, Art Hub, Shanghai, China
2014 Here and Elsewhere, New Museum, New York, USA
El Teatro del Mundo, Museo Tamayo, Oaxaca, Mexico
Colonia apocrifa, MUSAC - Museo Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain
Before Our Eyes: Other Cartographies of the Rif, David Roberts Art Foundation, Paris, France
Inventer le possible, Vidéothèque éphémère 2, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
A History - Art, Architecture, Design from 1980s Until Today, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2013 PRIVATE, Progetto di otto mostre, Studio Geddes, Rome, Italy
L’Œil Photographique , FRAC - Fonds régional d'art contemporary Auvergne, Clemont-Ferrand, France
Ici ailleurs, La Belle de Mai, Marseille, France
Casablanca  - Chandigarh, Centre Canadien D’Architecture, Montreal, Canada
Provincetown International Film Festival, Cape Code, USA
13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Tukey
The Spirit of Utopia, Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom
If You Were Here To Live Here, Auckland Triennial, Auckland, Australia
Das Kind, die Stadt und die Kunst, Schmela Haus, Düsseldorf, Germany
Cross-border - Contemporary Female Artists from the Arabian Mediterranean Region, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
2012 Fiac Hors les Murs - Jardin des Plantes, Musée d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
Conditions of a Moment, Hordaland Art Center, Bergen, Norway
Light from the Middle East, Victora & Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Fruits de la Passion, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA
Six Lines of Flight: Geographies in Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Survival Techniques: Narratives of Resistance, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
Mind of System - Find the Gap, House for Contemporary Art, Hasselt, Belgium
Level 2 Gallery. I decided not to save the world, Tate Modern, London, England
Bleibender Wert? Haltbarkeit und Verfall kritischer Publizistik. Kooperation "springerin", Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
Abstract Possible: The Stockholm Synergies, Tensta Konsthall, ga, Sweden
Marrakech Biennial, Morocco
Intense Proximité, Photo Triennial, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2011 The Future of a Promise - 54th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
The World belongs to you, Palazzo Grassi - Francoise Pinault Foundation, Venice, Italy
10. Sharjah Biennial, UAE
Illuminations, - 54th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
Until it makes sense, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France
Mapping Subjectivitiy, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Hauntings - Ghost Box Media, Kunstverein Medienturm Graz, Austria
You have been there - departs, bifurcations, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, USA
The Global Contemporary. Kunstwelten nach 1989, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany 
2010 Uneven Geographies, Art and Globalisation, Notthingham Contemporary, United Kingdom
Studio Harlem New York, USA
Marrakesh à Palerme, Une proposition pour l'articulation d'oeuvres et de lieux, Riso museo d'arte contemporanea della Sicilia, Palermo, Italy
The Future of Tradition - the Tradition of Future, Zukunft der Tradition, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany 
2009 Disorientation II, Abu Dhabi, UAE
MAC/VAL Musée d’Art Contemporain Val-de-Marne, France
Dress Codes : The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, International Center of Photography, New York, USA
Une proposition pour l’Articulation d’oeuvres et de lieux, 3e édition, Biennale Internationale, AIM Festival Marrakesh, Morocco
Project Europa : Imagining the (Im)Possible, Harn Museum of Art Florida Project Europa, USA
elles@centrepompidou, Musée national d’art moderne/Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Face of our Time, SFMoMA, San Francisco, USA
Continental Rifts : Contemporary Time-Based Works of Africa, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
Transmission Interrupted, Modern Art Oxford, United Kingdom
Art Dubai, BIDOUN, Dubai, UAE
2008 Passageworks, curated by Tara Mc Dowell, MOMA San Francisco, USA
Éclats de frontières, Frac P.A.C.A Marseille, France
All-Inclusive, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Face of our Time, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Réflechir le Monde, Centrale Electrique, Bruxelles
Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Snap judgements, Memphis Brooks Art Museum, Memphis, USA
University of California Art Gallery, San Diego, USA
Snap Judgments, New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Mediterraneo 2008, Perna Foundation, Ravello, Italy 
2007 Less Roses, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Galerie of Marseille, Marseille, France
Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
The Maghreb Connection Movements of Life Across North Africa, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Africa Remix, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Brave New Worlds, Walker Art Museum, Minneapolis, USA 
2006 The Unhomely, BIACS Seville Biennial, Seville, Spain
Cinémathèque de Tanger, Photographers’ Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Maghreb Connection, TownHouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Juicios instantáneos. Nuevas posiciones en la fotografía contemporánea, Museo Tamayo, Oaxaca, Mexico
Africa Remix, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Africa Remix, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden 
2005 Meeting Point, Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway
Premieres, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Africa Remix, Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Snap Judgements, International Center of Photography, New York, USA
Africa Remix, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France 
2004 Africa Remix, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
Climats, cyclothymie des paysage, Centre National d’Art, Vassivières, France
Fabriques de l’Image, Villa Médicis, Rome, Italy
Tour-ismos, Fundacio Antoni Tapiès, Barcelona, Spain 
2003 Travelling, commissaire Brigitte Ollier, C.P.I.F, Pontault-Combault, France
Strangers : First Triennial Exhibition of Photography and Video, ICP, New York, USA
Global Detail, Noorderlicht Foto Festival, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Centre Culturel Français, Torino, Italy
Le Maroc Contemporain, H+M Hedendaags Marokko, Antwerp, The Netherlands
Un Quintet pour Demain, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris, France 
2002 Biennale de Turin BIG 2002, Fondation Pistoletto, Torino, Italy
Akademie Schloss Solitude (sur invitation de Catherine David), Stuttgart, Germany
in capital letters, Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland
Observatorio # 1, Casa Camouflage, (Curator Simon Njami), Brussels
L’Imaginaire National, Centre Régional de la Photographie, Cherbourg-Octeville, France 
2001 Des territoires, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France 
1999 Afriques, Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, France
Palestine in Progress, Galerie Nikki Diana Marquardt, Paris, France
Temps du Maroc, Le Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France 
1999 Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France


Awards

2022 Mario Merz Prize IV Edition
2019 Recipient Roy R. Neuberger Prize
2016 Best Short Film Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival for FAUX DEPART/FALSE START
2014 Abraaj Group Art Prize, UAE
2013 Robert Gardner, Harvard University Peabody Fellowship in Photography
2011 Künstler des Jahres 2011 / Artist of the Year 2011, Deutsche Bank
2006 Recipient Ellen Auerbach Scholarship, Academy of Arts, Berlin
Finalist for Deutsche Börse Prize
Nominee Rolex Award


Public Collections

  MoMA, U.S.A.; Guggenheim, U S.A.; Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland;Tate Modern, U.K.; Centre Georges Pompidou, France; FoundationWalther, U.S.A.; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung LudwigWien,Austria; Caisse des dépôts et consignations, France; International Center of Photography, U.S.A.; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, France; Musée de la Photographie Charleroi, France; Cinémathèque deTanger, Morocco, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.