فير زملر غاليري Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Yto Barrada

Born in 1971 in Paris, Yto Barrada is an artist who lives and works between New York and Tangiers. She studied history and political science at the Sorbonne, then photography in New York. For the past 25 years, she has deployed a multidisciplinary practice - installation, film, photography, sculpture, textiles and publishing - through long-term projects that tackle issues as diverse as the place of play in alternative pedagogies, the instrumentalization of botany in urban politics, the international trafficking of dinosaur fossils, colonial anthropology, pan-Africanism or cultural policies during the Cold War. Exploring cultural facts, natural processes and historical narratives simultaneously, Yto Barrada's work pays particular attention to the transmission of local know-how, the circulation of aesthetic forms and strategies of social disobedience. Highlighting the idea of community, artistic kinship and collaboration with friends and family, they often involve a re-reading of the modernist artistic avant-gardes. Read more

Yto Barrada co-founded the Cinémathèque de Tanger in 2006. She also created The Mothership, a research and residency center based around a garden of dye plants that she has been cultivating for ten years. The Mothership is a gathering place for artists, gardeners and thinkers who claim a feminist, ecological and playful approach to creation and the transmission of knowledge.

Yto Barrada's work has been the subject of monographic exhibitions at Jeu de Paume, Paris (2006); Renaissance Society, Chicago (2011); Tate Modern, London (2011); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, (2013); Carré d'Art, Nîmes (2015); Barbican Centre, London (2018) ; MASS MoCA North Adams, Massachusetts (2021); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2021); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2022); Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2023); Césure - Plateau urbain as part of the Festival d'Automne (2023); MoMA PS1, New York (2024), among others. She has also participated in numerous biennales, including Venice (2007, 2011), Sharjah (2011), Istanbul (2013), Marrakech (2016), Gwangju (2018) and Whitney (2022).Yto Barrada's works are included in public collections worldwide, including those of Centre Pompidou (Paris), MoMA (New-York), Tate Modern (London), Kunsthalle Basel, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) Reina Sofia (Madrid), Mathaf (Doha) and Mumok (Vienna), among others.

Twin Palm Island, 2012, Steel structure, galvanized sheet metal, coloured electrical bulbs, 319x160x35cm
1/5Yto Barrada, Twin Palm Island, 2012, Steel structure, galvanized sheet metal, coloured electrical bulbs, 319 × 160 × 35 cm
Rainbow, 2018, wood, paint, dimensions variable
2/5Yto Barrada, Rainbow, 2018, wood, paint, dimensions variable
3/5Yto Barrada, Plan for a Dye Garden (Fig. #2, #3 & #5), 2019, silk, natural dyes, various sizes
4/5Yto Barrada, Continental Drift, 2021, super 8mm transferred to digital video, color, sound, 24 min. Installation view, DEADHEAD, Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy, 2025. Photo: Renato Ghiazza @ Fondazione Mario Merz
Le Grand Soir, installation view, MoMAPS1, New York, 2024
5/5 Le Grand Soir, MoMAPS1, New York, 2024

Selected Press

Gallery Exhibitions

Exhibitions Beyond

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2026

  • Comme Saturne, French Pavilion, La Biennale Di Venezia, Venice, Italy (forthcoming)

2025

  • Thrill, Fill and Spill, South London Gallery, London, UK

  • DEADHEAD, Mario Merz Prize, Fondazione Merz in collaboration with the MAO: Museo d’Arte Orientale, Turin, Italy

2024

  • Le Grand Soir, MoMA PS1, New York, USA

  • Part-Time Abstractionist, International Center of Photography, New York, USA

2023

  • Solidité lumière, Césure – Plateau urbain, Festival d'Automne, Paris, France

  • Bad Color Combos, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

2022

  • Bad Color Combos, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

  • She could talk a flood tide down, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021

  • Yto Barrada: Ways to Baffle the Wind, MASS MoCA: Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 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, Doha, 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, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada

  • 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

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

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 Tingitana, la botanique du pouvoir, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France

  • Iris Tingitana, la 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

2026

  • Directionless, Hauser & Wirth, Menorca, Spain (forthcoming)

  • Past Through Here, Maraya Art Centre, co-organised by the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

2025

  • Ce qui se trame. Histoires tissées entre l’Inde et la France, Mobilier National / Les Gobelins, Paris, France

  • View Finding: Selections from The Walther Collection, The Met: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

  • Estranged Geographies, Durbar Hall Art Centre, Kochi, Kerala, India

  • A Gap in the Clouds, Downing College, Cambridge, UK

  • The Shade, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • True Colours: Textiles, Movement, Colours and Identity, MAXXI L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

  • HOMESICK FOR NEW THINGS, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany

  • For Children. Art Stories since 1968, Haus der Kunst München, Munich, Germany

  • Plein Soleil, De Renava OFF x Centre Pompidou, Bonifacio, France

  • You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry, The Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, USA

  • Après la fin. Cartes pour un autre avenir, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France

2024

  • Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Barbican Center, London, UK

  • Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • The Strength of Sleep — Cohabitations of the Living, Quebec City Biennial, Quebec, Canada

  • Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA

  • BRINGING THE CONDITIONS TO DANCE. 50 years of Kemnade International, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany

  • Mineral ecologies, MUSE Agora, Trento, Italy

2023

  • Trad u/i zioni d’Eurasia, MAO: Museo d’Arte Orientale, Turin, Italy

  • Avant-Garde and Liberation. Contemporary Art and Decolonial Modernism, mumok: Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, 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, UK

  • Bettina: The Fifth Point of the Compass, CSS Bard, New York, USA

  • The weather is uncertain tonight, as is my soul, Universitätsgalerie der Angewandten, Vienna, Austria

  • My Oma, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, Netherlands

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

  • The Distance from Here, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

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 

  • Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

Awards

2022

  • Mario Merz Prize IV Edition

  • Queen Sonja Print Award

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