Screening of *Genealogy of Violence* by Mohamed Bourouissa

*Genealogy of Violence* is a multimedia project consisting of a film and a series of aluminum sculptures that explore police violence as a systemic phenomenon. This violence manifests itself not only through physical force, but also through behavior, language, bureaucratic mechanisms, and existing legal frameworks.

This experimental short film opens with a scene familiar to many people of color: a young man is stopped by the police for an identity check while he is in a car with his girlfriend. What at first appears to be a harmless interaction quickly turns into a situation of humiliation, violation, and alienation. Through this opening sequence, Mohamed Bourouissa sets the stage for a reflection on the structural violence that shapes the lives of marginalized communities in the West, revealing the latent brutality of standardized screening procedures, supposedly based solely on the principles of justice and equality. Mohamed Bourouissa weaves the narrative using an ambiguous language rich in contrasts. The film constantly alternates between live-action scenes and computer-generated sequences, which spread across the screen like a virus (the setting itself draws on the aesthetics of science-fiction cinema, somewhere between the perpetual night of Alex Proyas’s *Dark City* and Mega-City One, the megalopolis of *Dredd*, where the law is enforced by police officers called “judges”), visually interpreting the protagonist’s psychological dissociation throughout the search. Reality collapses under psychological pressure; subjectivity then becomes the sole space of resistance. In this surreal, liminal territory, the mind seeks to escape the oppression of the present by fabricating alternative realities, in which the body escapes the indignities of contact and manipulation.

Original Screenplay: Mohamed Bourouissa, Jean-René Étienne, Abdoulaziz Touré
Featuring David Pickering
Director of Photography: Paul Guilhaume
Editor: Rafael Torres-Calderón
Sound Engineer: Alix Clément
Sound Editing: Capitaine Plouf
Mixing: Sébastien Cannas, Maxime Vanderbeck
Original Music: Lyla
Production Design: Benoist Buttin
Costume Design: Marion Brillouet
Post-Production Coordinator: Cécilia Déchaud
Production Manager: Fabrice Godin
Casting: Judith Chalier

Mohamed Bourouissa

Born in 1978 in Blida, Algeria, Mohamed Bourouissa lives and works in Paris. Preceded by a lengthy period of immersion, each of Mohamed Bourouissa’s projects constructs a new context for expression. With a critical eye toward media representations that are often stereotypical, the artist reintroduces complexity into the portrayal of contemporary society. The subjects of his photographs, sculptures, and videos are often people left “on the margins,” caught between integration and exclusion. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, notably at MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany (2025); at Fondazione MAST, Bologna, Italy (2025); at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2024); LaM—Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary, and Art Brut Art, Lille, France (2023); Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, London, United Kingdom (2021); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021); ar/ge kunst, Bolzano, Italy (2020); Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany (2020); Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France (2019); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (2018); Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2018); Musée National Eugène Delacroix, Paris, France (2017); Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, United States (2017); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2016); Savannah College of Arts and Design, Atlanta, United States (2011); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, United States (2011), among others.

His work is represented in major public collections around the world, including the MoMA—Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States; the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland; the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France; the Fonds National d’art contemporain, Paris, France; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France; FRAC Franche-Comté, Besançon, France; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, United States; the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, United States; the Pinault Collection, Paris, France; the Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, Germany; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and the Weng Collection, Krefeld, Germany, among others.

Mohamed Bourouissa has received numerous Award , including the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation “ Award ” for his book *Périphérique*, published by Loose Joints (2022); the Deutsche Börse Foundation for Photography (2020); and the Award Blachère Foundation (2010); Award Studio Collector, Antoine de Galbert Foundation (2007); Les Rencontres d’Arles (2007). He was also nominated for the Mario Merz Award (2025); the Marcel Duchamp Award (2018); and selected for the Pictet Award , an international photography Award (2017).