Untitled 14km - Youness Atbane

Youness Atbane
Born in 1982 in Safi, Morocco, Youness Atbane is an artist working across a variety of media. By examining ambiguity and origins through experience and variation, Atbane seeks to enhance the dynamic between audience and author, objectifying emotions and investigating the duality that develops through different interpretations.

In 2002, he studied graphic art and design in Casablanca. He has been involved in various artistic programs and performances in France, Morocco, Belgium, and Spain. In 2008, he earned an MA in choreography from the "EX E.R.CE08" program at the National Choreographic Centre of Montpellier. In 2010, he obtained a Master’s degree in Art and Museology from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France.

His work bears strong political references, responds directly to his surrounding environment, and uses his own everyday experiences as a starting point. With a subtle, minimalist approach, he seeks to seduce the viewer into a world of ongoing equilibrium and the interval that articulates the stream of daily events in order to find poetic meaning in everyday life. His artistic interests focus on the limitations of communication used to visualize reality, the attempt at dialogue, the dissonance between form and content, and the dysfunctions of language. In short, the lack of clear references is a key element in his work.

Atbane currently lives and works in Casablanca and Berlin. He has exhibited his installations and performances at La Casa Encendida in Madrid, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, the Parallel Project at the 2011 Venice Biennale, the Talmart Gallery in Paris, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Mohammed VI Museum of Contemporary Art in Rabat, and, most recently, the Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco.