Events

With “The Moment Before”, the visual artist Narimane Sadat Cherfaoui offers a visual immersion: textures, organic forms and natural symbols compose a contemplative atmosphere that the invitation describes as timeless. A storyteller is associated with the exhibition; her texts, poems and performances are announced as an accompaniment to the works throughout the exhibition. Two afternoons of book signing and storytelling extend the programme.

The exhibition “Revelation: A Return to the Light” gives a voice to Basset's paintings. The Foundation presents it as an opportunity to discover the artist's creative world, in a spirit of sharing and dialogue. A series of cultural gatherings accompanies the exhibition's opening period; the first, led by Mustapha Nedjai, explores art, creation and artistic thought.

“Earth and Ether” is an exhibition of paintings by Fatma Zohra Bourahla, presented in the gallery of the Fondation Asselah. The exhibition poster features figurative scenes: fishermen hauling their nets along a beach at sunset, an oasis beside clear water, women draped in white walking through a narrow old-town lane, and a blue door beneath a stone arch. The public is invited to the opening.

“Wanderings” invites visitors to discover what the Foundation describes as the sensitive and singular world of the painter Adlane Djeffal. During the exhibition, a talk and discussion with the artist is announced: he retraces his career, sources of inspiration, achievements and future projects, drawing on a screening of images and memories that bear witness to his approach. The invitation presents him as an artist in search of meaning and movement. Admission is free, subject to available seats.

The floral world inspires the entire collection that Hamida Chellali brings together for “Conversation with Flowers”. A painter and visual artist, she combines painting with installations and sculptures that the Foundation announces as new. The poster shows a bouquet of wildflowers in a vase against a light background: daisies, pink mallow, marigolds. The invitation is addressed to visual arts enthusiasts, welcomed to an artistic and convivial moment in the Fondation Asselah’s gallery.

A photographer and publisher, Samir Djama devoted an exhibition of more than seventy photographs to Algiers: documentary views, but also images reworked using artificial intelligence. The Foundation described two parts: the exhibition, which captures the city’s neighbourhoods, scenes of daily life and landscapes, and the presentation, with a book signing and sale, of his latest book on the same theme, published in 2025 by Colorset.

The original title “Alger, العاصمة” gives the city’s name in French followed by the Arabic words for “the capital”. Algiers itself is the subject of this exhibition by painter Walid Tighiouart. The Foundation announced it at its gallery, with an opening reception open to the public. The closing day includes a literary café with writer Samir Toumi about his novel “Amin, an Algerian Fiction”.

“Glimmers from Both Shores” brings together three visual artists: two painters, Narimane Sadat Cherfaoui and Annie Mohamed-Oussaid, and a sculptor, Merzak Hanou. The Foundation points in particular to the highly original works of the latter. The poster reproduces a portrait of a woman with green facets and abstract compositions combining flat areas of colour, copper leaf, threads and a feather. The public is invited to the opening reception, in the Fondation Asselah’s gallery, facing Sofia Park.

Each of the three painters of “The Three Brushes” brings her own technique: painting on canvas, acrylic, miniature, calligraphy, or mixed techniques. The Foundation describes the presentation as a very fine retrospective of their work. The images reproduced on the poster show a coastal landscape with a lighthouse, a composition of arabesques and illumination in violet, green and gold tones, and a garden scene in which a child offers a flower to a veiled woman. Malika Garmi, Djamila Khemmachou and Farida Bach-Saich are invited to the opening reception, in the Fondation Asselah’s gallery.

The face is the subject of “The Art of Faces”: under Abderrahmane Bekhti’s brush, its expressions and the female figure speak of emotions, of what appearances hint at or hide. Thirty-one canvases, in oil, India ink and gouache, were presented at the opening reception, according to the press. The Foundation hosted the painter in its gallery for a month.

“Surfacing… Little by Little” is the retrospective of Djahida Houadef, painter and ceramist: paintings that have never been exhibited sit alongside new art ceramic creations. According to the announcement, the exhibition is accompanied by a free colouring workshop led by the artist, with no age limit, open to children and adults alike. The closing is announced as a poetry recital, moderated by Nacéra Chekchak, with four guest poets.

Amal Dekar, fine-art photographer, and Sam Sambcrea, wood sculptor, together compose “Mixed Expressions: Djanet”. The poster places them in the Tassili and reproduces a black-and-white portrait of a veiled face, landscapes of sand and rock, and three photographs of carved wooden objects. The Foundation promises two creations that stand side by side and intertwine, for a journey into the Algerian Tassili. The exhibition was later announced as extended by one week, with activities planned for the closing day.

Three painters share “Memories and Heritage”: Waheb Khaled Khodja, Samir Khalfallah and Yacine Nouar. The latter is also a novelist, and the Foundation, which organises the exhibition, scheduled a discussion about his books at the end of the opening reception, with a book signing and sale. The poster reproduces an old-town alley dominated by a minaret, musicians in traditional dress playing flute and drum before the crowd, and poppies.

“Confidences” brings together three visual artists around representations of women. Painting and casts respond to one another, each artist with her own way of treating colours, symbols and cultural heritage. The exhibition touches on identity, origins and femininity, through techniques and sensibilities that vary from one artist to the next.

“Art Close to the Skin: Renewal Through Leather” makes leather a material for artistic creation. The Foundation’s invitation announces dazzling colours, artistic installations and an original, inspiring work by conceptual and visual artist Tahar Bellal, also known as H’Art Bell. An opening reception launches the exhibition at the Fondation Asselah’s gallery.

The Amazigh sign brings together ten visual artists in this fifth edition of “Painters of the Sign”, a group exhibition and sale. The Foundation announces painting on different supports, mural compositions, artistic installations, pottery and ceramics: each artist’s creativity can be read individually. A tribute is planned to the painter Mehiedine Saidanni, who has passed away, represented by his son.

The Casbah of Algiers is the subject of this photography exhibition by Fatima-Zohra Hadj Ahmed. Entitled “Banou Mezghenna”, it is the first in a series of exhibitions, “Fatima-Zohra Reveals & Zooms In”, that the photographer inaugurates at the Foundation. Her gaze holds together the heritage of the old city and the daily life of those who live in it. Presented at the headquarters of the Fondation Asselah, boulevard Zighout Youcef, the exhibition was announced as open to the public until 25 February.

Two visual artists, Maria Eltsova and Kamel Bellatreche, present the “Retrospective: The Art of the Sublime” together. The invitation’s visuals show paintings with thick brushstrokes and vivid colours: a woman’s face veiled in blue, a luminous silhouette against an orange background. The Foundation announces this two-artist exhibition at its headquarters, with an opening reception followed by a month open to the public.

“The Walls of Silence” is an exhibition by painter Meziane Boussaid at the Fondation Asselah’s gallery. Its poster reproduces a relief artwork with dark, striated surfaces and touches of gold. The Foundation invited the public to the opening reception. Later, the artist shared a video looking back on the exhibition, thanking those who attended the opening and visited while the works were on display.

The title “Oslo–Azazga–Algiers” traces an itinerary: that of a group exhibition which brings together, in the Fondation Asselah’s gallery, a painter from Norway, Hanne Haukom, and four teachers from the École régionale des beaux-arts d’Azazga. The poster reproduces four abstractions in vertical strips — striped blue flat areas, crumpled metallic foil, a red and yellow collage, silhouettes on a light background — under the colours of Norway and Algeria.

“Emergence” brings to Algiers five artists from Tlemcen, painters and sculptors, presented jointly by the Foundation and their city’s house of culture. Ahmed Mebarki, Abdelkrim Belherazem, Noureddine Benazouz, Naïm Riche and Moulay Abdellah Talbi set their approaches to visual creation side by side. On the poster, a large letter is composed of fragments of canvases: autumn trees, staircases, a potted plant, a still life.

The prizes of this national visual arts competition bear the names of Ahmed and Rabah Asselah: the first prize that of Ahmed, the second prizes that of Rabah. The Foundation, which organises this painting and sculpture exhibition, announced forty exhibitors in its gallery, with an awards ceremony for the winners at the opening reception. According to the press, the prize was awarded to Noreddine Benazzouz on that occasion. The poster superimposes two portraits of men over the Algerian flag.

The Fondation Asselah organised TAFSUT, “Spring”, in collaboration with the École régionale des beaux-arts d’Azazga. This group visual arts exhibition highlights the work of the school's teachers: the poster shows painted portraits, textured surfaces in relief, a reading scene and a bronze sculpture. Beyond their teaching, it is their own practice as artists that takes centre stage in this exhibition.