Nicène Kossentini Tunisian, b. 1976

Born. 1976, Sfax, Tunisia  

Lives and works between Tunis, Tunisia and Paris, France  

The work of Nicène Kossentini is an invitation to experience a symbiosis with a space of life that is both close and uncertain. Playing with black and white contrasts and zones of semi-visibility, Kossentini creates singular and minimalist environments. Her photographs and videos track the traces of sites and surfaces on the verge of disappearance, hypnotizing the spectator to look ahead to an imminent event. Her videos, photographs, sculptures, works on paper and paintings question current events in the world. In this perspective, she always shifts towards the search for aesthetics, beauty, and poetry in order to confront cold violence. Kossentini's research area draws its resources from her family history, intimate and intergenerational tradition of storytelling, as well as Arabic poetry, literature and philosophy.  

Kossentini graduated with a degree in Applied Arts from the Fine Art Institute of Tunis, Tunisia and pursued Advanced Studies in Art from Marc Bloch University, Strasburg, France. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Experimental Cinema at the University of Tunis, Tunisia. 

Her work has been shown in several international institutions and biennials, such as MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Germany; The Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE; The Louvre Museum, Paris, France; Gwangju Museum of Art, South Korea; Les Abbatoirs, Musée - Frac Occitanie, France; The 7th and 12th Editions of the Bamako Encounters African Biennale of Photography, Mali; Musée d'art moderne de Collioure, France; Musée Paul Dupuy, Toulouse, France; Pori Art Museum, Finland; National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Russia; Institut du Monde Arabe, France; Circulo de Bellas Artes, Spain; Institut des Cultures d’Islam, France; Photoquai: Biennial of World Images, Quai Branly Museum, France; and The 2nd Thessaloniki Biennal of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece. 

Kossentini’s works can be found in prestigious collections, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE; the British Museum, United Kingdom; Musée Frac Occitanie, Les Abattoirs, France; Fondation Blachère. France; La Boîte: Centre d'art contemporain. Tunisia: Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunisia; and Sindika Dokolo Foundation, Angola. 

In 2024, Nicène Kossentini was the winner of the Richard Mille Art Prize.