Yto Barrada

Yto Barrada (French-Moroccan, b. 1971) transforms the courtyard with a colorful arrangement of towering sculptures built from stacked concrete blocks, which visitors can sit on and explore. Barrada often mines the hidden histories embedded within architectural and geometric forms, revealing the intersections of material, political, and personal narratives. For Le Grand Soir, Barrada looks to the tradition of constructing human pyramids in Morocco, where their distinctive applications have ranged from martial arts and acrobatics to spiritual practices. Each of Barrada’s structures takes inspiration from an acrobatic formation used by Moroccan acrobats: tqal (weight), bourj tarbaite (tower of four), and bourj benayma ou chebaken (tower lift with net). They also draw on subjects as wide-ranging as Moroccan Brutalism and Barrada’s family lore, weaving together distinct historical moments of shapeshifting, surmounting barricades, and retooling architectures.

Yto Barrada (b. 1971, Paris) is an artist recognized for her multidisciplinary investigations of cultural phenomena and historical narratives. Engaging with the performativity of archival practices and public interventions, Barradaʼs installations reinterpret social relationships and uncover subaltern histories. In 2006, Barrada founded the non-profit Cinémathèque de Tanger, one of North Africa’s first art house cinemas and archives, and in 2021 founded The Mothership, an eco-feminist research center and residency in Tangier, Morocco. Her work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Renaissance Society, Chicago; Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Whitechapel Gallery, London; and the 2007 and 2011 Venice Biennale. As part of The Artist’s Choice series at MoMA, she organized the exhibition A Raft (2021–22). Barrada’s works are held in public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and Tate Modern, London. Recent awards include the Mario Merz Prize (2022), the Queen Sonja Print Award (2022), and the Soros Arts Fellowship (2023).