Cocktail
2007
Black chalk on 22 notebooks, 17 Swarovski crystals, 22 music stands
Variable dimensions
Adel Abdessemed's installation Cocktail, which is in the Pinault Collection, features 22 music stands with charcoal drawings of hooded figures throwing stones or Molotov cocktails, hence the title. The stands, symbols of music and culture, clash with the theme of rebellion, which echoes the riots in the French suburbs in 2005. The viewer is asked to play the scores, to act and to revolt.
Abdessemed's provocative, resolutely contemporary work questions the spectacle of violence in the contemporary world. Based on personal experience, he uses video, photography, performance and sculpture to address the darkest aspects of human nature and globalized culture. "There is no beauty without shock and convulsion," he says.
Cocktail was first presented by the Pinault Collection during the "Qui a peur des artistes ?" (“Who’s Afraid of Artists?”) show at the Dinard Palais des Arts in 2009.
Abdessemed's provocative, resolutely contemporary work questions the spectacle of violence in the contemporary world. Based on personal experience, he uses video, photography, performance and sculpture to address the darkest aspects of human nature and globalized culture. "There is no beauty without shock and convulsion," he says.
Cocktail was first presented by the Pinault Collection during the "Qui a peur des artistes ?" (“Who’s Afraid of Artists?”) show at the Dinard Palais des Arts in 2009.
Exhibitions
© Adel Abdessemed / Adagp, Paris.
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York
Detail
© Adel Abdessemed / Adagp, Paris.
Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York
