about
hakeem b — Hakim Abel Ben Youcef — is a French/Algerian multimedia artist and Art Director based in Burgundy [FR]. After graduating from the Superior National Fine Art School in Dijon, he joined the National Studio of Fresnoy in Tourcoing (FR) — promotion Sartre-Beauvoir. Student of Ryoji Ikeda & François Rouant, hakeem b won several international digital arts awards and joined renowned residencies.
researches
At the beginning of his career in the 2000s, hakeem b focused his artistic practice on political satire, creating biting digital works that deconstructed the media landscape. His early pieces manipulated news broadcasts and appropriated communication codes, turning conventional narratives into absurdist commentaries.
After 2010, the artist began to move away from video satire to develop work on paper and computer graphics. This shift crystallized with his minimalist motion-capture installation “Once upon a time” (2007), marking a complete aesthetic rupture.
Since then, hakeem b has been exploring the concept of “pixel” as both political and artistic matter. His visual language became radically minimalist, working almost exclusively in black and white since 2011. The search for new visual forms allows him to reconfigure his work as a new path to construct a matter of universal aesthetic.
Present — [the new path, ongoing] → New World Order (2026) → [tekton] (2026) → Displacement (2026) → Matrix (2025) → Mu (2021)
A perpetual cycle of digital transformation and renewal.
“For the past 20 years, hakeem b's artistic researches have involved different aspects of digital creation. The tools used reveal the large spectrum of his technical and theoretical expertise, and his involvement in the art world at an international level. As a former student of the Studio National des Arts Contemporains du Fresnoy and in particular of the artist Ryoji Ikeda (Japan), his research is built around the notion of the data-pixel, using several media. The artworks of Hakim Abel Ben Youcef — hakeem b — is a symphony of forms and sounds. Despite numerous international exhibitions in prestigious museums and art centers, Hakim Abel Ben Youcef shows his work sparingly, prioritizing quality over quantity in exhibitions.”
→ Michel Enrici, Director of The Foundation Maeght, 2014.
Data Pixel… Matter or Material of Art?
chronology
Period 1 (2002–2006) — Political Satire → Just Do It (2002) → Negotiations (2003) → Steps (2004) → Thank You For All (2006)
Period 2 (2007) — Minimalist Rupture → Once Upon a Time
Period 3 (2013–2017) — Video Patterns → Pattern #3 (2015) → Pattern #4 (2016)
Period 4 (2019–2025) — Computational Art → AI → Generative drawings → Algorithmic patterns → Musical graphic scores
news 2026
[tekton] — Rrose Éditions Offprint London — may 2026 Biblioteka London — june 2026 Miss Read, HKW, Berlin — coming soon — [tekton] acquisition: Archivorum, Torino, Italia
selected exhibitions 2005–2016
File Festival 2016 — Fiesp, São Paulo, Brazil Path Field Art Project — Armory Show Off, New York City, USA La ville devenue corps — Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France Arte Video — Petit Palais, Paris, France 50 ans d'art vidéo — La Bibliotheca, Alexandria, Egypt Une nuit des images — Nef du Grand Palais, Paris, France Estampa Artfair — La Fabrica, Madrid, Spain Les trois vies de ma mère — Les Vieilles Charités, Marseille, France Les trois vies de ma mère — Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France Sea Symposium — Qaytbey Citadel, Alexandria, Egypt Cyberfest 012 — CAC Winzavod, St-Petersburg, Russia Bien à vous — Redbrick Art Center, Yokohama, Japan File Festival 2009 — Fiesp, São-Paulo, Brazil Promised Land — Chelsea Art Museum, New York City, USA Télémétrie — Cinémathèque de Montréal, Canada F.I.A.C — Stand Shirman De Beaucé, Paris, France Loop Barcelona — CCCB, Barcelona, Spain Art Basel Miami — Galerie Shirman De Beaucé, Miami, USA Tomorrow Again — ArtSpace Gallery, Melbourne, Australia Cage — Galerie Shirman De Beaucé, Paris, France Slick Art Fair — Galerie Shirman De Beaucé, Paris, France Temps d'images — Centre Art Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel, France Instants Vidéo — Fundation MALBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina Un autre monde — National Museum of Bamako, Bamako, Mali …
galleries 2006–2017
Gad Gallery — Oslo, NO La Fabrica Gallery — Santiago de Compostella, SP Schirman-de Beaucé Gallery — Paris, FR
awards & residences
La Casa de Vélazquez — Madrid, Spain La Cité Internationale des Arts — Paris, France KünstHausSchloss Balmoral — Bad Ems, Germany Brooklyn Art Cluster — New York City, USA Reina Sofia Museum (Tentaciones Award) — Madrid, Spain Sea Symposium Award — Alexandria, Egypt