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A l'attaque

excerpt
Adel Abdessemed by Julie Abdessemed:

1971 born in Constantine, Algeria, the third child, after Malek and Samira, of Nafissa and Essaïd; childhood in Batna, in Aurès

1976 witnesses the birth of his twin sister and brother, Sabrina and Issam

1980 meets Cherif Merzougui, starts of a close friendship

1986 attends Fine Art School in Batna; Adel paints his Trois passions; trips in Aurès and in the desert

1988 first show at Batna with his childhood friend, Allam Amar

5 October 1988 popular rising in Algiers, a deep shock for Adel

1989 At Oran, he buys a book on Rembrandt, a real shock... 1990 Fine Arts in Algiers; Allam, Hacene, Halim

1992 Cherif dies in his arms; President Boudiaf assassinated; fresh spate of massacres

1994 M. Hassela, head of Algiers Fine Art School, and his son Rabbah murdered on the school premises

9 September 1994 Adel arrives in Lyons as an emergency measure: Thanks to Henri Lemasne, Colette and Françoise, René and Jean-Pierre; Fine Art School to avoid going underground; Adel produces his first video Ombre et Lumière; catches up with Halim, who had arrived two years earlier; lives for two years at Vaulx-en-Velin

1995 brief stay in Algeria

September 1996 invited by Niek van de Steeg for a month at Villa Medicis; is unable to go back home for his sister Sabrina's wedding; Adel produces his neon piece Exil; meets the Joueur de flûte (Flautist) Bourdim Messouad, trance...

late 1996 Bar de l'Antidote, Adel and me... In our tiny apartment in the Rue du Port du Temple, on a green curtain, Adel writes with a cigarette: Nuit de noces and makes his first postcard

February 1997 leaves for Algeria to see his family, our nephews Najib and Ala, before deserting; clash with my family

July 1997 our wedding in the presence of René, Jean-Pierre and Halim

September 1997 trip to Greece: Oia, Santorini, sublime, Adel gives me my first taste of prickly pears; we move house to the Rue St-Jean

November 1997 Adel teaches me to work with him; video Passé simple in the Bar de la Détente

1998 party at Anissa Hassela's with Tarik and Myriam in Paris; Khemsa at Josselyne Naef's; Lyons over and done with

1999 we live at the Cité des Arts in Paris, Mme Brunau, fine view over the Seine; we tell my family we have got married; Allam is dead; Guy has left us a small caterpillar, we watch the butterfly hatch; thanks to Chourouk's kindness, Adel produces Chrysalide and I do the filming

2000 Death of Anissa; Manifesta 3 in Ljubljana: Adel shows his positive monster Mohammed-Karlpolpot; conversations with Georges Lapassade; after thinking up OUI, videos Double fond et Julie and ZEN; encounter with Larys and Jean-Luc, show at La Criée in Rennes; no visa for Adel's parents, we meet them in Tunisia, we see Hacene at Sidi Bou Saïd

September 2000 New-York Workshop at P.S.1, Adel's first residence, a fine view, lots of light, outrage; invited by Evelyne Jouanno and Hou Hanru at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, he shows his cannabis star, more outrage
2001 Adel's first publication: Question nary, we travel around a lot, Japan, California; interview with Sislej Xhafa and Massimiliano Gioni at Flash Art; after 4 and a half years, Adel goes home to Algeria, my first time; Adel sees Hacene again, “Hacene n'a pas de chance”; time in Europe, the Adel has resigned piece is produced at Watou and Yokohama, more outrage

After 9/11 we thought about our baby

2002 Berlin; Ksu is born... Jimmie Durham chooses to be Ksu's godfather... in Berlin, Adel borrowed the indigo public pond opposite our home which has become his studio, he wants to turn it into a vast Dionysiac fountain... a great deal of wine consumed with Jimmie and Maria-Thereza; and the video Pressoir, fais-le came... The Green Book and show at Vassivière with Guy Tortosa...

2003 Real Time produced in Milan, at the Laura Pecci Gallery, Lise Guéhenneux joins us; with Hanru at the Venice Biennale; video Happiness in Mitte, the seven cats lapping up milk; show at the Mori Museum, Tokyo, with Pier Luigi Tazzi; Adel invites Jean-Marc Ballée to work with him on his book Adel Abdessemed Global

2004 François Quintin's mother has passed away, the skeleton Habibi is shown at Frac Champagne-Ardenne with François and at Mamco in Geneva, where it ends up for good... but sparks another controversy

late 2004 Berlin is over with Tschüss, back to Paris, show in Shanghai; Elle dances in my tummy

2005 Adel borrows the pavement in the Rue Lemercier and does Mes amis, the first photo in the street series; his book Global is published; Elle born; another encounter with Kamel Mennour whose portrait Adel does in the street as a Pickpocket... Holidays – God Is Infinity show at the gallery with the works Spirit done in terracotta, Foot On, Ocean View, Travaux. Adel invites Silvia Ocougne to compose the music for his God Is Design video... Mircea Cantor writes a text about the show, turned down by a review; following a phone conversation with Nafissa: the folded and rolled aeroplane Bourek... Adel throws the camera over Berlin with Schnell

2006 photos: the snake of Zero Tolerance; Sept frères with wild boars... off for a few days to New York; then shows in Dakar, Sao Paulo, Càdiz, after Tarifa and Tangiers Adel does Salam Europe... Adel prepares his new book À l'attaque: conversation with Elisabeth Lebovici, Jean de Loisy suggests Philippe-Alain Michaud to him to write something, Adel is delighted... Séparation with the lion... Practice Zero Tolerance show at La Criée with Larys Frogier, and at Le Plateau with Caroline Bourgeois, Black House held up... Visit from his parents in November, he closes the studio with the photo of his mother Nafissa; Sikhah show in Tel-Aviv at the Dvir Gallery, with Dvir Intrator, whose video portait he makes, Shifra Shalit and Ami Barak; Jimmie and Maria-Thereza draw a book for Ksu

2007 interview with Daniel Buren published in Journal des Arts, Adel has repainted his Dazibao wall red but is unable to live with it so he paints it yellow with the first inscription: “mort ou vif”
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