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...
Press release courtesy MoMA PS1.
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