Solo exhibition by Zineb Sedira at Bildmuseet

Zineb Sedira will represent France at the Venice Biennale next year. However, those who want to experience her art already this Summer should go to Bildmuseet, Sweden. Sedira’s solo exhibition Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go opens on Saturday, June 19.

Welcome to join the digital press preview on Thursday, June 17 at 10am and to experience the exhibition on-site from 11am on the same day (RSVP).

Zineb Sedira’s exhibition Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go is about culture and resistance, about time, place and identity. Focusing on Algeria’s capital Algiers which, during the 1960s, was a hub for freedom-fighting organisations, Sedira presents the Pan African Festival 1969 as an example of how culture contributed to a unique spirit of solidarity and international involvement.

The exhibition at Bildmuseet features a replica of the artist’s living room; a diorama adorned with furniture, books and interior details. Photomontages, album covers, books and films all evoke this time and movement. A large portion of Sedira’s work is autobiographical. It is based on her view of herself and her family’s history in Algeria, France and Great Britain, not least from postcolonial perspectives. The transmission of memories between generations and the fragility of memories are recurring themes.

Sedira examines the relationship between collective and subjective memories. She is interested in how events and phenomena are experienced in different ways by different people and how source material is interpreted differently depending on the context in which it is presented. The exhibition title, Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go, is borrowed from a gospel song by the American singer Marion Williams (1927–1994). It expresses a sense of uncertainty that is eminently relevant here and now, just as it was in the period embodied by this work of art.

Zineb Sedira (b. 1963, France, based in the UK) will represent France at the 2022 Venice Biennale. She has exhibited around the world, including in solo exhibitions at the Jeu de Paume, Paris; Beirut Art Center, Beirut; the Photographer’s Gallery, London, and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, as well as in group exhibitions at the Tate Britain, London; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Mori Museum, Tokyo and several art biennials, including the Venice Biennale and the Sharjah Biennale. In 2010, her art was presented in a large solo exhibition at Bildmuseet.

Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go was commissioned by Bildmuseet in collaboration with the Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Jeu de Paume in Paris, and IVAM in Valencia. The exhibition has been produced with support from the Institut Français de Suède. It runs until October 24, 2021.

Press images: www.bildmuseet.umu.se/en/press/press-images

Thursday, June 17, 10am–11am
Digital press preview and presentation of two new exhibitions: Zineb Sedira's solo exhibition and the group show Architectures of Transition. Zineb Sedira and curator/architect Pedro Gadanho will connect via link. Participating at Bildmuseet are director Katarina Pierre and the museum curators Brita Täljedal and Anders Jansson. RSVP to press.bildmuseet@umu.se to receive the link.

Thursday, June 17, 11am–2pm
Slots for pre-booked interviews and the opportunity for previews on-site at Bildmuseet. RSVP to press.bildmuseet@umu.se.

Saturday, June 19, 2pm–3pm
The two exhibitions will open to the public on Saturday, June 19. It is inaugurated with an online conversation between artist Zineb Sedira and museum curator Brita Täljedal, followed by curator Pedro Gadanho and museum curator Anders Jansson presenting Architectures of Transition. The event is broadcast on Bildmuseet’s website.

For further information
Brita Täljedal, museum curator
Helena Vejbrink, press contact