Artist Lecture: Valentin Noujaïm – “What Caïn saw, and other variations on the desire to destroy”

The Des Moines Art Center invites you to join us for a free artist lecture with Valentin Noujaïm – “What Caïn saw, and other variations on the desire to destroy.” This lecture is presented alongside the Art Center’s exhibition, “Valentin Noujaïm: La Défense,” on view in the Pamela Bass-Bookey and Harry Bookey Gallery September 10 – December 6, 2026. Noujaïm is a French-Lebanese artist and filmmaker based between Paris, France and Athens, Greece. His work explores how individuals and territories navigate forms of collapse, treating contemporary architecture as spaces charged with narratives, tensions, and latent imaginaries. Through film and video, he examines how power, memory, and collective imaginaries are inscribed in built environments and what survives when they unravel. Moving between documentary and fiction, he weaves together personal histories, political landscapes, and the silent weight of spaces to construct layered works. REGISTER Free; registration required. Image: Valentin Noujaïm; photo by Boris Camaca