Zineb Sedira has been selected for the Tate Britain commission, creating her largest UK installation to date, titled *When Words Fall Silent, Cinema Speaks…*, on view until January 2027. The site-specific work in the museum's Duveen Galleries pays tribute to radical African cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, highlighting Algeria's role as a revolutionary hub. Sedira recreates the Parisian cafes of her childhood, featuring Scopitone machines that play short music films, and draws on the legacy of the Cinémathèque Algérienne and the 1969 Pan-African Festival.
The commission matters because it brings attention to a largely uncanonised history in Anglophone narratives, which often exclude North Africa from the broader tradition of African cinema. Sedira, who represented France at the 2022 Venice Biennale as the first artist of Algerian descent, uses her work to challenge colonial-era divisions and celebrate the spirit of decolonisation. Her installation underscores the ongoing relevance of anti-fascist and anti-imperialist struggles, connecting past revolutionary movements to contemporary political discourse.