Hakim Abel Ben Youcef — [hakeem b]
Artist | Graphic Designer | Chalon/Saône, FR + Dietikon, CH
Galleries 2006-2017
Schirman-de Beaucé Gallery (Paris-FR)
La Fabrica Gallery (Santiago de Compostella-SP)
Gad Gallery (Oslo-NO)
About
Hakim Abel Ben Youcef - hakeem b - is a French/Algerian multimedia artist and graphic designer based in Lyon [FR], and in Dietikon Switzerland. After graduating from the National School of Fine Arts in Dijon, he joined the National Studio of Fresnoy in Tourcoing (FR) - promotion Sartre-Beauvoir. Student of the japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda, hakeem b won several international digital arts awards and joined renowned residencies.
Awards & Residences
La Casa de Vélazquez in Madrid Spain
La Cité Internationale des Arts of Paris France
The KünstHausSchloss Balmoral in Bad Ems Germany
Sea Symposium Award in Alexandria Egypt
Brooklyn Art Cluster in New York City USA
Selection Group & Solo Shows 2016-2005
File Festival 2016" Fiesp São-Paulo Brazil
"Path Field Art Project" Gallery 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"-Stand La Fabrica Madrid Spain
"Les trois vies de ma mère" Les Vieilles Charités Marseille France
"Les trois vies de ma mère" Hôpital de la Salpétrière 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 Montreal Montreal 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
Research
At the beginning of his career in the 2000's, hakeem b focused his artistic practice on political satire,
creating biting digital works that mocked the media landscape. His early pieces cleverly manipulated news broadcasts,
turning conventional media narratives into absurdist commentaries.
After 2010, the artist began to move away from video to develop work on paper and computer graphics.
Departing from his media criticism discourse, he made a complete 180-degree turn following the creation of his minimalitic motion-capture video
installation "Once Upon a Time" in 2007.
Since then, he has been exploring the concept of "pixel" as both political and artistic matter.
His visual language became minimalist, even extremely minimalist. Rarely using color, his work presents itself as a black and white interrogation.
The search for new audiovisual forms allows him to reconfigure his work as an infinite pattern that will only end with the artist's death.
Since of two decades Hakim Abel Ben Youcef - known professionally as hakeem b - centers his aesthetic research
on the concept of repetition and loops. For him, repetition serves as a form of experimentation,
manifesting as a perpetual reset of gesture, form, motif, and artistic intention.Through his work,
repetition emerges as a force that transcends, hypnotizes, paralyzes, or provokes discomfort.
It becomes, inherently, the fundamental rhythm of our life systems and our perception of the world - an infinite continuum without beginning or end.
This makes repetition the essential foundation of his aesthetic investigation. His practice offers a distinct method of mapping
a coherent theoretical and aesthetic whole within what philosopher Jean Baudrillard termed "integral reality." In this context,
repetition transforms into a simulacrum, simulating an infernal reality. For the past decade, his practice has focused on
the creation of the "objectless."This body of work represents a sophisticated investigation into the processes of dematerialization
through minimalist methodologies.
The artist's production framework encompasses multiple technical approaches, grounded
in a fundamental palette: black and white, combined with primary colors, which he views as essential elements in constructing
a pragmatic interpretation of contemporary reality.
The resultant visual language emerges from a synthesis of architectural principles,
minimalist and serialist musical theories, and design fundamentals. Digital binary code serves as both medium and metaphor, generating
forms and movement while crafting intricate pixel geometries—establishing a new materiality within the digital realm.
Each piece is conceived with inherent presentation parameters, deliberately transcending traditional exhibition conventions. By eliminating standard display
apparatus—plinths, directed lighting, and conventional staging elements—the work facilitates an unmediated intellectual and phenomenological
encounter with the viewer. This approach embodies the artist's central question:
Data Pixel ... Matter or Materials of Art ?
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.
Recent Artworks
