Huda Takriti
18th Biennale de Lyon, France
18 September - 31 December 2026
Founded in 1991, the Biennale de Lyon is the most important large-scale festival of contemporary art in France. The 18thedition in 2026 is curated by Catherine Nichols. Her curatorial concept emphasises storytelling, transformation and the role of art in addressing complex social, political and environmental issues.
Huda Takriti will create a new installation exploring the lingering impact of French colonialism on today’s political and economic systems. Building on previous work, she will examine how histories of extraction and control shape collective memory and public narratives. Using archival footage, sculptural forms and fragments of text, Takriti transforms the archive into a charged space of conflict – where forgotten stories and suppressed voices are unearthed and brought back into public consciousness. The installation invites viewers to reflect on how power operates not only through material wealth, but through the stories we inherit, erase or resist.
Huda Takriti (born 1990 in Damascus, Syria) lives and works in Vienna. Her practice spans video, installation, painting and performance, exploring intersections of memory, political history, and archival narratives through themes of displacement, identity, and power. Trained in painting at the University of Damascus and Transdisciplinary Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, she brings a painterly sensibility to time-based media. Her work has shown at MQ Freiraum, Kunsthalle Wien, and Camera Austria.
Her project at the 18th Biennale de Lyon and her exhibition at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Italy in 2026 are her first collaborations with Phileas.
This project was aided by a research trip to Vienna by the curator Catherine Nichols in March 2025.
