Kader Attia: The Valley of Dreams

On view at Regen Projects is “The Valley of Dreams,’’ an exhibition showcasing ceramics, sculptures, a large-scale installation and a lightbox photograph by Kader Attia. Informed by his experience of living within two cultures, Attia’s practice is a material and philosophical investigation of the notion of repair, as a global and cultural phenomenon, in relation to historic and collective trauma. His research-based works explore the lasting and multiple impacts of Western colonial hegemony on non-Western cultures. Attia considers injury as important as repair, and finds meaning in the ways non-Western cultures highlight the trace of injury, in contrast with the Western tendency to erase the injury that often leads to more trauma. Overall, “The Valley of Dreams’’ examines ideologies that proffer Western modernity and progress, while also taking a devastating human toll.