Through sculptures and videos, Tarik Kiswanson explores themes of memory, trauma, and regeneration. How do the dark moments of our collective history inform the present? What can they teach us about the human condition? How do we endure trauma, and how do we possibly rebuild? These questions are central to Tarik Kiswanson’s practice and his exhibition “The Relief” at the Institut suédois, in which most of the works are newly produced and all are being shown in France for the first time.
Tarik Kiswanson is one of the most acclaimed artists of his generation on the international stage. His multidimensional practice spans sculptural installations made of found and shaped objects, videos, and sound works. In his exhibitions, he blurs the lines between the architecture and the artwork itself, disrupting our spatial perception. Kiswanson’s works depict transitional states—through the interweaving of forms, materials, and expressions anchored in specific places, he creates transformative spaces.
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Tarik Kiswanson engages in a material archaeology of memory, recovering and translating the language of objects as a means of approaching what has happened, including the unspeakable. He does not aim to reconcile the contradictions of our history but to make them visible. We are united by the human condition, shaped by loss, migration, exile, and reconstruction. Kiswanson’s works do not merely reflect trauma—they offer a passage through it. They become sites through which it is navigated. In this way, his art operates as a space of transformation—where remembrance becomes an active process and where art may be viewed as a means to encourage understanding, resistance and healing.
Curator: Sara Arrhenius
Tarik Kiswanson. The Relief
Oct 23, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026
Institut Suédois
Paris, France
