Adel Abdessemed
Coup de tête

Adel Abdessemed’s sculpture Coup de Tête depicts the iconic moment when Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi at the 2006 World Cup. While the work captures a movement that ignited a global media explosion, Abdessemed spoke to Shifting Vision about Coup de Tête’s multiple layers, and his view on the role of football in his native Algeria.

Abdessemed said that the Zidane heabutt spurred a visceral reaction in him. ‘I felt it through the screen, this gesture of violence.’

The work which is currently on display at the Pinault Collection in Rennes, France until the 29th of August 2021 explores a multitude of social and political nuances, many of them close to the artist’s own experiences. He said that many Algerians are massive football fans, often filling stadiums to the brim. ‘They love football because it is the only environment where there are objective rules, where there are laws. There is a referee, there is a whistle, if a player commits a foul he is sent off.’ Outside of the pitch, the reality can be quite different. Abdessemed explained that Algeria’s dictatorship creates a dissonance in the rule of fair law and justice within society and as such, ‘the only rules exist in the stadium.’

‘I think that a work of art never claims to change the world, because it will never be able to overthrow a government. But it might be able to change a vision, and if we are able to shift a vision we have made it.’

Related links

Adel Abdessmed, Coup de tête
Au-delà de la couleur, le noir et le blanc dans la Collection Pinault, Destination Rennes, Office De Tourisme, 2021
Adel Abdessemed Exposes his Coup de tête at the Geneva Biennale, Crash, 2020
Zinedine Zidane headbutt statue unveiled in Paris, France 24, 2012
Zinedine Zidane Immortalized with Headbutt Statue by Adel Abdessemed, Hypebeast, 2012
Adel Abdessemed, L’Antidote, Musée d’art contemporain, Lyon, 2018
Julia Kristeva, Le corps d’Adel, 2016

This article and all quotations have been translated to English from the original interview conducted in French