Signboard signage

Here you'll find the texts and translations of the Art Explora Festival signs.

Art Explora Festival

The Art Explora Festival is a travelling cultural festival open to all. Traveling aboard the world's first museum boat, it unfolds at each port of call a programme of exhibitions and events that explore and celebrate the arts and cultures of the Mediterranean.

Created by the non-profit foundation Art Explora, whose mission is to share the arts and culture with as many people as possible, the Art Explora Festival is a veritable odyssey to meet the arts and audiences that will criss-cross the Mediterranean for 2 years.

Created by the non-profit arts organisation Art Explora , which has set itself the mission of sharing art and culture with as many people as possible, the Art Explora Festival is a real odyssey bringing together art and people. From Spring 2024 to Autumn 2026, the festival will set out on its first tour across 15 Mediterranean countries.

Art Explora : who are we?

Art Explora is an international charitable foundation dedicated to sharing culture with as many people as possible, by renewing the dialogue between the arts and audiences on a local, national and international scale.

Convinced that mobility and digital technology can push back the boundaries of imagination, Art Explora Foundation encourages new forms of public access and engagement.

Together with artists, cultural organizations and local players, we explore creativity and create unforgettable cultural experiences.

Program in Valletta

The Art Explora Festival presents a series of exhibitions and events on the museum boat, in the pavilions and Agora, and throughout the city of Marseille.

ON BOARD: Immersive Experiences
- Presents : An immersive exhibition focusing on female figures in Mediterranean civilizations through collections from the Louvre, as part of an exceptional collaboration with the museum.
- Voyage audio en Méditerranée: Explore the riches of the Mediterranean through an audio odyssey, and discover new soundscapes, both real and imaginary, created by Ircam x Ircam Amplify.

SUR LE QUAI
- Festival : Every day, a varied programme of performances, concerts, dance shows, film screenings, culinary experiences, readings and lectures is offered to all audiences.
- Workshops: Participatory workshops raise awareness of environmental and social challenges in the Mediterranean.

The museum boat

The world's first museum boat!

You’re stepping on board the world’s first museum boat! Measuring 47m long and 55m high, it can host up to 2,000 people on board each day! Designed by Axel de Beaufort and Guillaume Verdier, its construction on the Perini Navi site in Italy took 3 years of work, involving multiple trades: welders, joiners, electricians, painters and many more.

• Overall length: 47m
• Width: 18m
• Nautical draught: 3.50m
• Freeboard: 3.70m
• Air draught: 55m
• Displacement: 370 tonnes
• Sails: More than 1,800m2 in total• 9 crew members
•Flag: French
•Classification: Bureau Veritas

THE ART EXPLORA FESTIVAL ITINERARY

Your cultural odyssey continues!

Follow the journey of the festival and its museum boat across the Mediterranean!
@artexplorafestival

See our resources and post your experiences in the festival’s logbook!

LEARNING RESOURCES

PREPARE YOUR CULTURAL TRIP!

Art Explora is also an educational program to be discovered before, during and after the festival, online via our resource portal, and on site thanks to our creative workshops. The fruit of a collective effort with local, national and international associations and institutions, Art Explora's mediation offer highlights the diversity of viewpoints to create unique resources and enable everyone to discover art in a different way.

The fruit of a collective effort with local, national and international associations and institutions, Art Explora's mediation offer highlights the diversity of viewpoints to create unique resources and enable everyone to discover art in a different way.

To make the most of the festival and its artistic program, visit our website or scan the QR code opposite to discover our library of dedicated content. These will help you prepare your visit and workshops, or simply enrich your knowledge of art and the Mediterranean. Educational resources for teachers are also available to prepare and extend your visit with your class.

OUR AMBITION

AN EXPLORA ART INITIATIVE

Art Explora is an international charitable foundation that promotes the sharing of arts and culture with as many people as possible, and renews the dialogue between the arts and audiences on a local, national and international scale. Convinced that mobility and digital technology can push back the boundaries of the imagination, Art Explora Foundation encourages new forms of access and audience engagement. Together with artists, cultural organizations and local players, we explore contemporary creation in all its forms and create unforgettable cultural experiences.

ART EXPLORA ACADEMY

Extend your visit with a 100% free app to discover art history as you've never seen it before!

Explore our course on Women in Art in the Mediterranean and discover all our podcasts and videos to satisfy your thirst for culture.
Find out more at Art Explora Academy

A SOUND JOURNEY THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN

Travel with your ears, navigate by sound and immerse yourself in the wealth and diversity of the Mediterranean. From the museum boat’s flybridge, you’ll travel across this melting pot of languages, cultural customs and practices, covering urban and natural spaces alike, along with audio and living heritage. Enjoy your audio journey in the Mediterranean!

An audio experience designed and directed by Ircam and Ircam amplify for the Art Explora Festival.

SCENE 1 SEA

Le Pradet,France - Waves crashing against the rocks of a stone jetty;
Solliès-Toucas, France - Cicadas chirping in the August heat;
Hyères, France - Almanarre Beach - Children and adults playing on the beach;
Le Pradet, France - Ropes rattling in the wind, on sail boat masts;
Santorini, Greece - Distant waves on a beach

Audio collections: Romain Barthelemy (France), Libby Green and Marcel Gnauk (Greece)

SCENE 2 MEDITERRANEAN DIALOGUES, MARKETS

Lisbon,Portugal - Romany merchants shouting at the Feira do Relógio market;
Tunis, Tunisia - Voices from the Medina bazaar;
Tel Aviv, Israel - Merchants shouting at the Carmel market;
Istanbul, Turkey - Merchants shouting at the Tarihi Salı Pazarı market;
Palermo, Italy - Voices from the Vucciria;

Audio collections: Romain Barthelemy (Italy), Evan Buist (Morocco) Benjamin Gale (Tunisia), Libby Green and Marcel Gnauk (Portugal, Türkiye), Lukáš Tvrdoň (Israel)

SCENE 3 SINGING, SHOUTING, STRIKING; THE NOISE OF THE CROWDS

Lisbon, Portugal - Anti-climate change protest - Friday for change;
Tangier, Morocco - Gathering of Moroccan scouts in the Grand Socco;
Basque Country, Spain - Protest for the release of an ETA member;

Audio collections: Romain Barthelemy (Morocco), Libby Green and Marcel Gnauk (Portugal), Félix Blume (Spain)

SCENE 4 NIGHTTIME LULLABIES

Cyprus - steliosilchuk / x.ypno, 2021, Πέλαγος, ΕΞΩΣΤ [CD + Digital Album], Limassol: Moneda. ;
In the background - Tunis, Tunisia - crickets and waves on the seaside, a cockerel crowing;

Audio collections: Benjamin Gale (Tunisia)

SCENE 5 “SOMETHING YOU CAN TRUST IN”

In the open water, Mediterranean Sea - Improvised singing by refugee women rescued by the Ocean Viking + sea and hydrophone recordings;

Audio collections: Hippolytus, for the SOS Méditerranée association, Romain Barthelemy, Felix Blume & Tim Prebble (water and wind sounds)

SCENE 6 MUSIC FROM THE SEA

Zadar, Croatia - Sea organs, lament played by the waves flowing through the organs’ pipes;
Spain - Extract of a traditional Galician song by Carmen Amigo Mourelle;
Tangier, Morocco - The sound of restaurant terraces in Tanger Boulevard;
Tangier, Morocco - Gathering around a group of street musicians, in the Grand Socco;

Audio collections: Romain Barthelemy (Morocco), Libby Green and Marcel Gnauk (Croatia), Félix Blume (Spain)

SCENE 7 HORNS, STREET INSTRUMENTS

Beirut, Lebanon - Horns beeping, street ambiance;Morocco - Horns beeping;
Istanbul, Türkiye - Sirens and horns continuously sounding for commemorations in honour of Atatürk;
Venice, Italy - the organs of Sant’Elena Church, with high resonance and slow pace;
Background - Malaga, Spain - An electric drone in a tunnel, approaching the airport;

Audio collections: Romain Barthelemy (Italy, Spain), Evan Buist (Morocco), Libby Green and Marcel Gnauk (Türkiye), Robert Kubicki (Lebanon)

SCENE 8 THE SOUND OF RELIGIONS

Nicosia,Cyprus - Two Adhan from the Selimiye mosque;
Jerusalem, Israel - A prayer group in a synagogue in the Old City;
Ħaż-Żabbar, Malta - various bells from the Zabbar parish church;

Sound recordings: Libby Green andMarcel Gnauk (Cyprus, Malta), sen6 (Israel)

SCENE 9 SNAPSHOTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPES

Outskirts of Naples, Italy - The bleating of a herd of goats overlooking Naples; Audio collections: Félix Blume (Italy)

SCENE 10 COMMUNITY, REFOCUSING ON HUMAN PRESENCE

Marsala, Italy - Fleeting conversations of passers-by on the street;
Agros, Cyprus - Artist accompanied by an electric-acoustic guitar, conversations from the audience;
In the background - Agros, Cyprus, frogs in the night

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THE IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION PRESENT

Curated as part of an exceptional collaboration with the Louvre museum, the exhibition introduces visitors to faces and lives – from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Athens and Rome, to the sculptures of the 18th Century, paving the way to a unique discovery of the Louvre’s collections and the feminine powers that they reveal. Through these faces and lives, humanity is embodied: imposed violence, assumed and supported liberties, all along the Mediterranean coasts.

Mona Lisa, Portrait of Mona Lisa ;
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) ;
Date : 1503 / 1519 ;
Provenance : Italy ;
Technique : Oil on wood ;
Dimensions : Height : 77 cm ; Width : 53 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Michel Urtado ;

Cuiller à fard :servante portant des fleurs et des canards ;
Date : -1550 / -1425 ;
Egypt ancienne - Nouvel Empire ;
Technique : Wood carving ;
Provenance : Sheikh Abd-el-Gourna, Thebes region, Egypt ;
Dimensions : Height : 22 cm ; © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / ChristianDécamps ;

Fragment from the Pharsalian Stele: The Exaltation of Flower ;
Date: -470 /-460 ;
Provenance: Pharsal, Greece ;
Technique: Bas-relief on marble ;
Dimensions : ; Height : 56.5 cm ; Width : 67 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Daniel Lebée / Carine Déambrosis ;

Statuette from the Syros group ;
Date : -2600 / -2400 ;
Provenance : Cyclades, Greece ;
Technique : Sculpture on marble ;
Dimensions : Height : 27 cm ; Width : 14 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Daniel Lebée / Carine Déambrosis ;

Mirror from the Boscoreale Treasure: Leda and the Swan;
Date: -25 / 50;
Provenance: Boscoreale, Italy;
Dimensions: Height: 28.8 cm; Width: 16.6 cm;
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Hervé Lewandowski;

Statue of a mourning woman;
Date: -1550 / -1425 Ancient Egypt - 18th dynasty;
Provenance: Egypt;
Technique: Painted terracotta;
Dimensions: Height: 24.3 cm; Width: 21.5 cm;
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Georges Poncet

Statue of the divineadoratrice Karomama
Date: -865 / -809 Ancient Egypt
Provenance: Thebes region, Egypt;
Technique: Bronze statue
Dimensions: Height: 64 cm; Width: 15.5 cm;
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Christian Décamps

Daphne pursued by Apollo;
Date: 1713 / 1715;
Provenance: France
Technique: Sculpture on marble;
Dimensions: Height: 132 cm; Width: 135 cm;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) /Pierre Philibert

Statue ;
Date : 25 / 50 ;
Provenance : Italy ;
Technique : Sculpture on marble ;
Dimensions : Height : 149 cm ; Width : 67 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Stéphane Maréchalle ;

Fragment of a mural painting: Terpsichore, muse of dance;
Date: 62 / 79
Provenance: Pompeii, Italy
Technique: Mural painting;
Dimensions: Height: 51.6 cm; Width: 40.6 cm
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Hervé Lewandowski ;

The Abduction of the Sabine women ;
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) ;
Date : 1637 / 1638 ;
Provenance : France ;
Technique : Oil on canvas ;
Dimensions : Height : 159 cm ; Width : 206 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Tony Querrec

Mask ;
Date : -1200 / 324 ;
Provenance : Byblos, Lebanon ;
Technique : Gold ;
Dimensions : Height : 12,8 cm ; Width : 11,6 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Thierry Ollivier ;

Statue of the Lady Nésa ;
Date : -2700 / -2620 ;
Provenance : Egypt ;
Technique : Limestone sculpture ;
Dimensions : Height : 154 cm ; Width : 41 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Christian Décamps ;

Sarcophagus of spouses ;
Date : -520 / -510 ;
Provenance : Cerveteri, Italy ;
Technique : Painted red clay ;
Dimensions : Height : 114 cm ; Width : 194 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Philippe Fuzeau ;

Portrait of a mummy ;
Date : 150 /200 ;
Provenance : Thebes region, Egypt ;
Technique : Painted wood ;
Dimensions : Height : 33 cm ; Width : 20 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Georges Poncet ;

Statue of Sepa ;
Date : -2700 / -2620 ;
Provenance : Egypt ;
Technique : Limestone sculpture ;
Dimensions : Height : 169 cm ; Width : 44 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Christian Décamps ;

Sapho; James Pradier (1792-1852) ;
Date : 1848 ;
Provenance : France ;
Technique : Plaster statuette ;
Dimensions : Height : 41,6 cm ; Width : 21,5 cm ;
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) /

Adrian Paci

Di queste Luci si Servira La Notte, 2017

9 min 48 sec

Courtesy of the artist, kaufmann repetto and Galerie Peter Kilchmann.

L’exposition Sous L’Azur s’ouvre sur une vidéo de l’artiste Adrian Paci, qui évoque l’inconnu et la vulnérabilité. Ces éléments se retrouvent dans cette œuvre filmée de nuit alors qu’un homme cherche son chemin, manœuvrant sur sa fragile barque grace au peu de lumière dont il dispose pour éclairer sa route. Métaphore des incertitudes de l’existence mais aussi métaphore de la puissance et de l’immensité des éléments face à la vulnérabilité de l’être, cette œuvre met en perspective les échelles et les quêtes de l’humain. La barque, objet sacré essentiel des mythologies égyptiennes (qui transporte le dieu Re) ou grecques (pour traverser le fleuve du Styx) devient ici le vaisseau de l’homme en mouvement perpétuel, à la recherche d’un point d’arrivée. L’existence est interprétée comme une quête continue et l’eau est ici l’image du mouvement, de tout ce qui coule. L’obscurité de l’eau croise une lumière pénétrante, non pas pour éclairer sa surface mais pour explorer l’obscurité elle-même et invoquer ce qui gît sous l’azur.

Adrian Paci est né en 1969 à Schkoder, Albanie. Il vit et travaille à Milan, en Italie. Depuis qu’il a quitté l’Albanie en 1997, le travail d’Adrian Paci est autoréférentiel et construit comme un récit de déplacement et de perte, reflétant le traumatisme de la séparation et la nostalgie du migrant. Son travail mêle souvent l’imagination et la fantaisie à la cruauté de la réalité politique et à la brutalité de la vie quotidienne. Adrian Paci a participé trois fois à la Biennale d’art de Venise.

The exhibition Under the Azure opens with a video by Adrian Paci, evoking the unknown and vulnerability. These elements are echoed in this work, filmed at night as a man searches for his way, maneuvering his fragile boat with the little light he has to light his way. A metaphor for the uncertainties of existence, but also for the power and immensity of the elements in the face of human vulnerability, this work puts human scales and quests into perspective. The boat, an essential sacred object in Egyptian mythology (transporting the god Re) or Greek mythology (crossing the river Styx), becomes here the vessel of man in perpetual motion, in search of a point of arrival. Existence is interpreted as a continuous quest, and water here is the image of movement, of everything that flows. The darkness of water meets a penetrating light, not to illuminate its surface but to explore the darkness itself and invoke what lies beneath the blue.

Adrian Paci was born in 1969 in Schkoder, Albania. He lives and works in Milan, Italy. Since leaving Albania in 1997, Adrian Paci's work has been self-referential and constructed as a narrative of displacement and loss, reflecting the trauma of separation and the nostalgia of the migrant. His work often blends imagination and fantasy with the cruelty of political reality and the brutality of everyday life. Adrian Paci hastaken part in the Venice Biennale three times.

Adrián Villar Rojas

Untitled XIII (From the Series Rinascimento), 2024

Organic and non-organic materials, man-made and machine-made materials including: Household refrigerator, glass display case, NEON LED lights, salmon fillet, cantaloupe melon, celeriac, buna shimeji mushroom, enoki mushroom, green and red grapes, orange, turnip, peach, papaya, apricot, corn, pakshoi, broccoli, curly salad, dragon fruit, lychee, grapefruit, egg, bottled beer, collected in Marseille.

170 x 60 x 60 cm

Courtesy of the artist

L’œuvre Untitled XIII s’inscrit dans la continuité de la série Rinascimento, initiée par l’artiste en 2015. Ce réfrigérateur est garni d’objets et de vivres choisis par l’artiste. Les denrées changeront en fonction du lieu où cette œuvre sera montrée, composant ainsi un portrait des aliments, végétaux et animaux issus des cultures et écosystèmes méditerranéens. Ces petites scènes sont autant de natures mortes, motif de peinture qui s’est répandu à la Renaissance, au XVIIème siècle. Ici, les fruits congelés et les poissons côtoient des os d’animaux, des bouteilles de bière et d’autres produits, transformés par l’homme. La chambre de congélation éclaire d’une lumière froide son contenu, comme si l’ensemble était figé dans le temps. Adrián Villar Rojas témoigne de notre culture d’extraction, de consommation et de conservation en évoquant notre relation aux êtres vivants issus de la mer, alors qu’apparaît aussi la fragilité de ceux-ci lorsqu’ils sont arrachés à leur milieu naturel.

Adrián Villar Rojas est né en 1980 à Rosario, Argentine. Il vit et travaille dans sa ville natale. Connu pour ses œuvres fantastiques élaborées qui explorent les notions de l’anthropocène et de la fin du monde, les œuvres d’Adrián Villar Rojas prennent la forme d’installations à grande échelle et in situ. L’artiste y évoque la menace qui pèse sur l’humanité et l’environnement.

The work Untitled XIII is part of the series Rinascimento, initiated by the artist in 2015. A refrigerator is filled with objects and provisions chosen by the artist. The elements change depending on where this work is presented, thus composing a portrait of the foods, vegetation, and animals local to Mediterranean agriculture and ecosystems. These little scenes are like still lives, a genre of painting that was popular in the Renaissance and into the 17th century. Here, the frozen fruits and fish stand alongside animal bones, bottles of beer, and other products processed by humans. The freezer compartment illuminates its contents with a cold light, as if the ensemble was frozen in time. Adrián Villar Rojas highlight our culture of extraction, consumption, and preservation, evoking our relationship with living creatures from the sea and revealing their fragility when they are stripped from their natural habitat.

Adrián Villar Rojas was born in 1980 in Rosario, Argentina. He lives and works in his native city. Known for his elaborate fantastical works that explore anthropocene and the end of the world, works by Adrián Villar Rojas take the form of large-scale, site-specific installations. The artist evokes the threat hanging over humanity and environment.

Anri Sala

Untitled (La Marbrée, La Prycka, La Branchiale, Le Planer/Red Sea), 2022
Antique hand-colored etching, pastel and ink drawing
44.8 x 36.6 cm; 48.1 x 37.6 cm (framed)
Courtesy of the artist

Untitled (Adriatic Sea/Conger Sea Eel), 2022
Two works on paper: a hand-colored antique etching; a pastel and ink drawing.
54,6 x 43.2 cm; 42.9 x 36.6 cm (framed)
Courtesy of the artist

Untitled (Gymnotus Carapo,Hypopomidae, Eigenmannia Virescens, Sternopygus Macrurus, Rhamphichthyidae/NileRiver),2023
Two works on paper: an early hand-colored etching; a pastel and ink drawing
66.6 x 49.2 cm; 71.5 x 55.3 cm (framed)
Courtesy of the artist

Les trois œuvres mettent en dialogue d’anciennes gravures animalières avec des dessins cartographiques, réalisés à l’encre et au pastel. Les différents types de poissons (anguilles, congres...) et territoires paraissent à l’étroit dans le cadre de la feuille, et semblent appuyer sur ses bords, comme pour tenter d’en sortir. L’artiste indique ainsi que les idées de nature et de nation sont avant tout des constructions humaines, et que la réalité qu’elles désignent rentre difficilement dans un cadre fixe. En mettant en rapport la curiosité des explorateurs pour l’inconnu et leur attitude prédatrice envers les populations étrangères ainsi que les espèces animales exotiques, Anri Sala questionne l’idéologie colonialiste qui a poussé nombre d’occidentaux à prendre la mer entre le 17ème et le 19ème siècle.

Anri Sala est né en 1974 à Tirana, Albanie. Il vit et travaille à Berlin, en Allemagne. Au travers de vidéos, mais aussi de dessins et de sculptures, Anri Sala développe une recherche autour de la temporalité, à partir des relations entre l’image, l’architecture et le son. Il a représenté la France à la Biennale de Venise.

These three works create a dialogue between antique animal engravings and cartographic drawings made in pen and pastel. The different types of fish (eels, congers, etc.) and territories seem hemmed in by the frame, appearing to push against the edges as if they are trying to escape. The artist suggests that the notions of nature and nation are above all human constructs, and that the reality they represent is difficult to contain within a fixed framework. By creating a relationship between explorers' curiosity about the unknown and their predatory attitude towards foreign populations and exotic animal species, Anri Sala questions the colonialist ideology that compelled so many Europeans to take to the seas between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Anri Sala was born in 1974 in Tirana, Albania. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Through videos, drawings, and sculptures, Anri Sala explores the theme of temporality based on relationships between images, architecture, and sound. He represented France at the Venice Biennale.

Aslı Çavuşoğlu

1 Ada, 1 Salon, 2005
Photography
70 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist

Après avoir dessiné et décrit des îles fictives, comme autant de territoires de rêves et de désirs, Aslı Çavuşoğlu en a fabriqué des maquettes miniatures, les a lancées dans la mer et a photographié leur dérive. Dans cette série, Aslı Çavuşoğlu a concentré son attention sur le rôle des îles dans l’Histoire, et sur les légendes et les mythes qui leur sont associés. Elle remet ainsi en question les frontières géographiques tracées entre les pays, les langues et les individus.

Aslı Çavuşoğlu est née en 1982 à Istanbul, Turquie. Elle vit et travaille dans sa ville natale. Travaillant avec divers médias, Aslı Çavuşoğlu examine la manière dont les faits culturels et historiques sont transformés, représentés et interprétés par les individus. Elle met ainsi en évidence la nature précaire et subjective de nos histoires communes.

After having drawn and described fictitious islands - territories of dreams and desires - Aslı Çavuşoğlu made miniature maquettes of them, which she threw into the sea and photographed as they drifted away. In this series, Aslı Çavuşoğlu focuses on the historical role of islands, and on the legends and myths associated with them. Her work calls into question the geographical borders drawn between nations, languages, and individuals.

Aslı Çavuşoğlu was born in 1982 in Istanbul, Turkey. She lives and works in Istanbul. Working with various media, Aslı Çavuşoğlu examines how cultural and historic facts are transformed, represented, and interpreted by individuals, revealing the precarious and subjective nature of our shared histories.

Dominique White

The Obliteration of Nothing, 2023
Untreated iron
250 x 220 x 180 cm
Courtesy of the artist and VEDA

Dominique White prend pour point de départ de cette œuvre la figure de l’Hydre de Lerne, issue de la mythologie grecque. L’Hydre de Lerne est une créature marine à plusieurs têtes qu’Héraclès doit vaincre lors des Douze Travaux, épisode mythologique célèbre. Ici, les nombreux harpons sont comme autant de têtes de l’Hydre qui évoquent les dangers de la Méditerranée pour celles et ceux qui la traversent pour rejoindre l’Europe dans le cadre d’exils et de migrations forcées. À travers cette œuvre, l’artiste retourne le harpon contre le chasseur en le tordant, symbole de vengeance et de soulèvement face à la domination. Dominique White aborde la notion «d’hydrarchie», telle que définie par le poète britannique Richard Braithwaite au XVIIème siècle, qui désigne à la fois l’organisation d’un navire et de ses occupants, et la capacité des individus à prendre le pouvoir sur la terre par l’utilisation d’instruments maritimes.

Dominique White est née en 1993 à Essex, Angleterre. Elle vit et travaille entre Marseille et sa ville natale. À travers l’usage de motifs récurrents comme le naufrage, le navire, l’hameçon ou le filet, les sculptures de Dominique White explorent les mythes nautiques de la diaspora noire.

Dominique White's point of departure for this piece is the Lernaean Hydra from Greek mythology. It is a marine creature with multiple heads that Heracles must defeat as one of his famous Twelve Labours. Here, the harpoons are like the Hydra's many heads, evoking the dangers faced by those who attempt to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, due to exile or forced migration. Through this work, the artist turns the harpoon towards the hunter, twisting it in a symbol of vengeance and resistance in the face of domination. Dominique White's work deals with the notion of "hydrarchy" as defined by the British poet Richard Braithwaite in the 17th century, which refers to both the organisation of a ship and its occupants, as well as the capacity of individuals to take power over the earth through the use of maritime instruments.

Dominique White was born in 1993 in Essex, England. She lives and works between Marseille and her native city. Through recurrent motifs such as shipwrecks, boats, fishhooks, and nets, Dominique White's sculptures explore the nautical myths of the Black diaspora.

Etel Adnan

To the ocean,2017
Gravure
48 x 38 cm
Courtesy Lelong & Co, Paris

Le poids du monde III,2016
Gravure
48 x 38 cm
Courtesy Lelong & Co, Paris

Pink Whale,2017
Engraving
48 x 38 cm
Courtesy Lelong & Co, Paris

En attendant la lumière, 2020
Engraving
49,5 x 38 cm
Courtesy Lelong & Co, Paris

À l’image d’un mythe hittite (peuple ayant vécu à l’est du bassin méditerranéen au IIe millénaire avant notre ère.) selon lequel les dieux de la mer capturaient chaque soir le soleil tombé dans l’horizon, ces quatre gravures observent le cycle du soleil depuis le rivage de la Méditerranée. De son lever à son zénith, jusqu’à son coucher dans la mer. La composition de chaque gravure témoigne de la place centrale qui est accordée aux mouvements ascendants et descendants du soleil qui organisent notre monde. Le procédé utilisé, la gravure, a permis à Etel Adnan d’obtenir des couleurs vibrantes dont les variations donnent à voir les différents états de la lumière que l’on trouve aux abords de la Méditerranée, une lumière que l’artiste a elle- même beaucoup observé et peint au cours de sa vie.

Etel Adnan est née en 1925 à Beyrouth, Liban. Elle est décédée à Paris en 2021. Etel Adnan grandit entre plusieurs mondes et plusieurs langues. Figure majeure de l’art contemporain, son œuvre plastique se compose de peintures, gravures et dessins aux lignes abstraites et couleurs vives. À sa pratique plastique s’ajoute une pratique poétique et littéraire prolifique et reconnue mondialement.

According to the mythology of the Hittite people, who lived in the eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd millennium BCE, the sea gods capture the sun each evening as it falls into the horizon. Reflecting this myth, these four prints observe the cycle of the sun from the Mediterranean coast, tracing it from sunrise to the zenith and finally as it sets into the sea. The composition of each print testifies to the central role of the sun's ascent and descent in organising our world. The engraving process Etel Adnan uses allows her to obtain vibrant colours that capture the different states of light found in the Mediterranean - a light that the artist has observed and painted extensively throughout her life.

Etel Adnan was born in 1925 in Beirut, Lebanon. She died in Paris, France, in 2021. Etel Adnan was raised between multiple cultures and languages. A major figure of the contemporary art scene, her artistic oeuvre consists of paintings, prints, and drawings with abstract lines and bright colours. Her artistic practice is complemented by her prolific work in poetry and literature, which has earned her international recognition.

Jean Painlevé

Acéra ou le bal des sorcières, 1972
Video 35 mm
15 min
Courtesy Les Documents Cinématographiques - Archives Jean Painlevé

Dans le film Acéra ou le bal des sorcières (1972) Jean Painlevé propose un regard enchanteur sur les acéras, des mollusques qu’il filme comme s’il s’agissait de danseurs. L’aspect de ces mollusques tranche avec la musique de jazz composée par Pierre Jansen, tout en y répondant par des mouvements qui paraissent dansés. À travers cette vidéo, Jean Painlevé célèbre la beauté des vies étranges, inconnues et mystérieuses de la mer. La délicatesse de la lumière, la composition de chaque image et la beauté des fonds marins qui y sont dépeints nous incitent à être plus attentifs à la richesse des trésors vivants enfouis dans la mer et aux visions merveilleuses qu’ils produisent.

Jean Painlevé est né en 1902 à Paris, France. Il est décédé à Neuilly-sur-Seine en 1989.
Réalisateur et biologiste, Jean Painlevé réalise au cours de sa carrière une quarantaine de films ayant pour sujet principal la faune marine. Ses études se sont révélées aussi fécondes pour la recherche scientifique que pour leurs qualités artistiques intrinsèques.

In the 1972 film Acéra ou le bal des sorcières (Acera, or the Witches' Dance), Jean Painlevé offers an enchanting look at the acera, a type of mollusc that he films as if they were dancers. The molluscs' appearance is in sharp contrast to the jazz music composed by Pierre Jansen, yet they respond to it with movements that seem like a dance. Through this video, Jean Painlevé celebrates the beauty of the strange, unfamiliar, and mysterious life in the sea. The delicacy of the light, the composition of each image, and the beauty of the seabed depicted in the film encourage us to pay more attention to the richness of the living treasures beneath the sea, and the marvellous spectacles that they produce.

Born in 1902 in Paris, France. Died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, in 1989. Over the course of his career, film maker and biologist Jean Painlevé made about forty films on the subject of marine fauna. His studies were as valuable for scientific research as they were for their intrinsic artistic qualities.

Jean-Marie Appriou

Black Smoker (Muraena),2023
Patinated aluminium and blown glass
255 x 98 x 92 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin

Le pied en aluminium de l’œuvre Black Smoker (Muraena) est une « cheminée noire », c’est-à-dire un élément de la faune marine profonde qui parvient à vivre sans lumière, grâce à sa symbiose avec des bactéries. Ici, l’idée de symbiose est visible dans la manière dont les extrémités lumineuses, qui représentent des murènes, prolongent la cheminée tout en l’habitant. La murène à cou taché compte parmi les espèces capables de produire une lumière fluorescente pour s’éclairer dans l’obscurité. Par ce geste sculptural, Jean-Marie Appriou évoque les ressources dans lesquelles l’être vivant peut puiser pour éclairer les territoires et les temps les plus sombres.

Jean-Marie Appriou est né en 1986 à Brest, France. Il vit et travaille à Paris. À partir de matériaux qui font référence à l’histoire de la sculpture, le travail de Jean-Marie Appriou fait naître tout un bestiaire aux formes complexes, serpentines, entremêlées, dans une tonalité proche du fantasque, voire du fantastique ou du merveilleux.

The aluminium stand on the work Black Smoker (Muraena) depicts a hydrothermal chimney, around which certain deep-sea fauna manage to live in total darkness, thanks to their symbiosis with bacteria. Here, the idea of symbiosis is visible in the way the luminous extremities, which represent moray eels, extend the chimney as they inhabit it. The blotch-necked moray eel is among the species capable of producing a fluorescent light to illuminate the darkness. Through this sculptural gesture, Jean-Marie Appriou evokes the resources living beings can draw upon to help them through the darkest of spaces and times.

Born in 1986 in Brest, France. Lives and works in Paris, France. Using materials that refer to the history of sculpture, Jean-Marie Appriou's work gives birth to a bestiary of complex, serpentine, and intermingled forms, with a tone bordering on the fantastical and the wondrous.

Joan Miró

Gens de la mer, 1981-1990
Series of 7 prints
96 x 75 cm
Courtesy Lelong & Co. (Paris)

Achevées en 1981, les 12 estampes qui composent la série Gens de la mer sont l’une des dernières séries de Joan Miró. 7 de ces estampes sont exposées ici. Le thème de la mer, central dans son œuvre, est ici abordé sous le prisme des personnes qui la côtoient au quotidien. Selon les œuvres de l’artiste, il existerait une véritable communauté de la mer, par-delà les nations et appartenances géographiques. Réalisée en hommage aux peuples méditerranéens, ces portraits dégagent un humour lisible jusque dans leurs titres : « La môme crevette », « La mangeuse de crabes », ou encore « Maître à bord ». Dans cette série aux couleurs éclatantes et aux noirs profonds, Miró fait de la mer Méditerranée un décor de théâtre, peuplé par un ensemble de personnages hors du commun.

Joan Miró est né en 1893 à Barcelone, Espagne. Il est décédé à Palma de Majorque, Espagne, en 1983. Considéré comme l’un des plus grands artistes du XXème siècle, Joan Miró est peintre, sculpteur, graveur et céramiste. Tout au long de sa carrière, il a développé un langage pictural libre, reflétant son attrait pour le subconscient et l’onirique. Son œuvre a fait l’objet de nombreuses expositions et rétrospectives à travers le monde.

Completed in 1981, the 12-print series Gens de la mer (People of the Sea) is one Joan Miró's final series. 7 of them are presented here. The theme of the sea, central to his work, is approached here through the prism of people who live alongside it every day. According to the artist's works, a real community of the sea exists, transcending nations and geographical boundaries. Made in homage to the people of the Mediterranean, these portraits express a sense of humor apparent even in their titles, such as "La môme crevette" ("The Shrimp Kid"), "La mangeuse de crabes" ("The Crab Eater"), and "Maître à bord" ("Master and Commander"). In this series, with its bright colours and deep blacks, Miró presents the Mediterranean Sea as the stage set for an extraordinary cast of characters.

Born in 1893 in Barcelona, Spain. Died in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in 1983. Considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Joan Miró was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramicist. Throughout his career, he developed a free pictorial language, reflecting his attraction to the subconscious and the dream world. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and retrospectives throughout the world.

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige

Remember The Light, 2016
Diptych video installation
6 min 44 sec et 7 min 17sec
Coproduction Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah
Credits : Images Talal Khoury et Khalil Joreige / Montage : Guillaume Balandras
Postproduction : Noel Paul / Etalonnage : Belal Hibri, REZ Studio

Le diptyque vidéo « Remember the light » invite à expérimenter un phénomène singulier : Sous la surface de la mer, le spectre des couleurs se rétrécit avec la profondeur. Les couleurs se transforment et disparaissent les unes après les autres : d’abord le rouge, puis l’orange, le jaune, le vert et enfin le bleu, avant l’obscurité totale. Mais sous l’effet d’un éclairage, le plancton des fonds sous-marins se souvient de la lumière et révèle sa luminescence. Cette installation vidéo expérimente ce phénomène dans les mers. Ici, cinq plongeurs vêtus de couleurs différentes se laissent couler vers le fond, une écharpe aux couleurs vives tombe à l’eau. Ces hommes, cette femme, cette écharpe font écho à ceux qui traversent la mer sans connaître leur destin. D’un écran à l’autre, des images dialoguent, hantées par des véhicules militaires, une cité engloutie, des mondes imaginaires où les fonds marins apparaissent comme un paysage où d’autres temporalités, d’autres histoires se seraient échouées et habitent les abysses.

Ce diptyque fait partie d’une série de vidéos autour de la poésie face au chaos intitulée « J’ai regardé si fixement la beauté » - coproduction Sharjah Art Foundation, EAU.

Joana Hadjithomas, née en 1969 et Khalil Joreige, né en 1969 sont des cinéastes et artistes libanais. Leur pratique protéiforme adresse les thèmes de la production de savoirs, la réécriture de l’histoire et la construction d’imaginaires.

A strange thing seems to happen to colours in the sea. Once in the water, perceptions change. The deeper one goes, the narrower the light spectrum becomes. Colours vanish one after the other: red disappears first, then orange, yellow, green, blue, and finally it's darkness, all is black. But if the dark sea bed is illuminated, plankton remembers the light and reveals its luminescence. The artists experiment with underwater exploration, this sensorial trip. Five actors and divers, dressed in different colours, are asked to allow themselves to sink deeper and deeper into the sea. A vibrant scarf is thrown into the sea to see what would happen to its colours. These men, this woman, this scarf echo those who cross the sea without knowing their fate. From one screen to another, images dialogue, haunted by imaginary worlds, a sunken city, buried memories of war, military vehicles thrown into the water... other temporalities inhabit the abyss.  

This diptych is part of a series of videos work around poetry facing chaos entitled 'I stared at beauty so much'.  

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige were born in 1969, in Lebanon. They live and work between Beirut, Lebanon, and Paris, France. Their works include fiction films, documentaries, video and photographic installations, sculptures and performances.

Luigi Zuccheri

Untitled (Paesaggio con sole e seppie), 1965/70
Mixed media on paper
43 x 52 cm
Courtesy Private collection, Milan

Untitled (Pesce e pescatore), 1965/70
Mixed media on paper
40 x 55 cm
Courtesy Private collection, Milan

Untitled (Paesaggio concavalluccio marino e granchio), 1965/70
Mixed media on paper
42 x 57 cm
Courtesy Private collection, Milan

Les trois peintures de Luigi Zuccheri interpellent par leur palette sombre et leur jeu d’échelle, à l’image de Pesce et Pescatore (« poisson et pêcheur »), qui représente une silhouette humaine dont la petitesse contraste avec la taille du poisson peint au premier plan, ou de l’oiseau volant dans le ciel. Par ce biais, l’artiste évoque la présence dominante de la nature dans la vie rurale italienne. La nature est d’ailleurs un motif récurrent dans la pratique de l’artiste : rapaces, rongeurs, poissons et tortues composent un bestiaire où l’inversement des échelles est synonyme d’inversement du rapport de force. L’humain prédateur est rendu vulnérable, la nature reprend ses droits.

Luigi Zuccheri est né en 1904 à Gemona del Friuli, Italie. Il est décédé à Venise, Italie, en 1974. Proche de De Chirico, et adepte des traditions picturales des régions de la Vénétie et du Frioul en Italie, Luigi Zuccheri utilise pour ses peintures la technique de la tema, traditionnellement associée aux anciens maîtres italiens, qui consiste en la fabrication de pigments à partir de pierres recueillies sur les berges locales.

The three paintings by Luigi Zuccheri are captivating in their sombre palette and their play on scale, such as Pesce et Pescatore ("Fish and Fisherman"), which represents a human silhouette whose small size contrasts with the size of the fish painted in the foreground, or the bird flying in the sky. Through these techniques, the artist evokes the dominant presence of nature in rural Italian life. Nature is a recurrent motif in the artist's practice: birds of prey, rodents, fish, and turtles compose a bestiary in which the inverting of scale is synonymous with the inverting of power relationships. The human predator is made vulnerable, and nature reclaims control.

Born in 1904 in Gemona del Friuli, Italy. He died in Venice, Italy, in 1974. A close friend of De Chirico and a follower of the pictorial traditions from the Italian regions of Veneto and Friuli, Luigi Zuccheri painted using the technique of tempera, traditionally associated with the Italian Old Masters, creating pigments using stones collected from local riverbanks.

Lydia Ourahmane

Calypso, Marseille,Tangier, 2024

Magnets, rope, carabiners, rusty objects fished at sea

Variable dimensions

Courtesy of the artist

L’œuvre Calypso de Lydia Ourahmane prend la forme d’un aimant de grande envergure plongé dans le port de chaque escale de l’exposition, et qui attire à lui divers objets, matériaux ou déchets qui y sont enfouis. La composition finale forme un véritable paysage des vestiges et trésors immergés dans la mer Méditerranée. Le principe de hasard des objets récoltés est inhérent à l’œuvre et il importe peu que ceux-ci aient peu de valeur. Ainsi exposés, ces rebuts se transforment en archives vivantes et proposent une mémoire aléatoire de la traversée en train de s’effectuer, ainsi qu’un ensemble formant une forme de nature morte. Le titre de l’œuvre évolue ainsi au fil des escales (Marseille, Alger, Tunis, Valence, Rabat).

Lydia Ourahmane est née en 1992 à Saïda, Algérie. Elle vit et travaille entre Alger et Barcelone. En s’appuyant sur une approche conceptuelle et sur une grande variété de medium, le travail de Lydia Ourahmane interroge les cadres et frontières qui régissent les trajectoires individuelles et collectives.

The work Calypso by Lydia Ourahmane takes the form of a large magnet dropped into the port of each of the exhibition's locations, which attracts various objects, materials, and detritus that are buried there. The final composition creates an authentic landscape of vestiges and treasures submerged in the Mediterranean Sea. Inherent in this piece is the notion of chance, which determines the objects collected; it doesn't matter if they have little value. Exhibited in this way, the waste transforms into a living archive, offering a random memoir of the voyage in progress, as well as an ensemble that creates a sort of still life. The title of the work evolves with each of the exhibition's stops (Marseille, Alger, Tunis, Valence, Rabat).

Born in 1992 in Saïda, Algeria. She lives and works between Alger, Algeria and Barcelona, Spain. Drawing upon a conceptual approach and a wide variety of media, the work of Lydia Ourahmane questions the structures and borders that determine individual and collective trajectories.

Marguerite Humeau

The Dead (a drifting, dying, marine mammal) 2019
Polystyrene, polyurethane resin, fiberglass, steel skeleton.
110 x 550 x 497 cm
Courtesy of the artist and CLEARING

L’œuvre est une créature marine aux nageoires largement déployées. Reposant sur le dos, l’animal est à mi-chemin entre la créature préhistorique et la figure de science-fiction. Elle semble vouloir fuir une menace et s’extirper des eaux. À travers cette sculpture d’une créature à l’agonie, l’artiste aborde les difficiles sujets de l’urgence climatique et de l’extinction des espèces. Elle s’interroge également sur l’existence d’une conscience chez les animaux quant à leur destin funeste et la volonté de s’en échapper.

Marguerite Humeau est née en 1986 à Cholet, France. Elle vit et travaille à Londres. Le travail de Marguerite Humeau prend de manière privilégiée la forme d’installations où elle met en scène le croisement de grandes distances dans le temps et l’espace, les transitions entre animal et minéral, et les rencontres entre les désirs personnels et les forces naturelles.

This work represents a marine creature with its flippers fully extended. Resting on its back, the animal is part prehistoric creature, part science-fiction figure. It seems to want to escape from some kind of threat and haul itself out of the water. Through this sculpture of a creature in agony, the artist tackles the difficult subjects of the climate crisis and species extinction. She also questions whether animals are conscious of their cruel fate, and their will to try and escape it.

Born in 1986 in Cholet, France. She lives and works in London, England. Marguerite Humeau's work focuses on installations featuring the crossing of great distances in time and space, transitions between the animal and the mineral, and encounters between personal desires and natural forces.

Marisa Merz

Scarpette, 1968
Nylon wire, copper and iron wire, nails
6 x 20 x 22 cm (unframed)
Collection Merz, Turin

Les Scarpette (petites chaussures en français) est une œuvre majeure de l‘artiste Marisa Merz. Faites de fils de nylon, de cuivre et de fer, ces Scarpette à la forme souple et aérienne rappellent également le nid de l’oiseau ou la structure des éponges de mer qui vivent dans les eaux profondes de la Méditerranée. En 1970, l’artiste décide d’abandonner cesScarpette sur la plage d’Amalfi en Italie pour qu’elles y soient englouties par la mer, épousant ainsi le paysage auquel elles sont rattachées. Tant dans son aspect que dans sa légèreté et sa couleur, l’objet semble avoir été façonné par la mer, par le flux et le reflux des vagues.

Marisa Merz est née en 1926 à Turin, Italie. Elle est décédée dans sa ville natale en 2019. Figure majeure de l’arte povera, courant artistique qui voit le jour en Italie dans les années 1960, elle utilise pour ses œuvres des matériaux dits pauvres, souvent tirés de la vie quotidienne. La matière métallique occupe une place essentielle dans la pratique de Marisa Merz, qu’elle marie à une besogne minutieuse de couture, traditionnellement attribuée aux femmes.

Scarpette (small shoes in French) is a major work by the artist Marisa Merz. Made from nylon thread and copper and iron wire, these Scarpettes, with their supple, ethereal form, recall both birds' nests and the structures of sea sponges that live in the depths of the Mediterranean. In 1970, the artist decided to abandon these Scarpettes on the beach of Italy's Amalfi coast so that they could be swallowed up by the sea, thus becoming one with the landscape to which they are attached. In its appearance as well as its lightness and its colour, the object seems to have been fashioned by the sea, through the ebb and flow of the waves.

Born in 1926 in Turin, Italy. She died in Turin in 2019. A major figure of the Arte Povera movement, which emerged in Italy in the 1960s, Marisa Merz used so-called "poor", everyday materials for her works. Metallic materials occupy an essential place in her work; she combines them with meticulous, labor-intensive sewing, work traditionally associated with women.

Simone Fattal

Fix Your Gaze on Saturn's rings, 2012-2022

Bronze

63 x 46.5 x 36 cm

Courtesy of the artist et kaufmann repetto Milan / New York

Cette sculpture en bronze est placée sous le signe du Dieu Saturne et des Saturnales, des fêtes qui, durant l’Antiquité romaine, célébraient en hiver le retour à la vie des forces de la nature en sommeil. Cette figures aux longues jambes, de couleur brun et sable, est caractéristique de la pratique de Simone Fattal, fortement influencée par les découvertes archéologiques qui ont jalonné les siècles. Cette sculpture puise sa référence dans les mythologies hittites et notamment la Déesse-soleil d’Arinna. L’aspect terreux de la sculpture évoque la richesse des paysages et matières propres au bassin méditerranéen et les civilisations qui s’y sont succédées. Elle emprunte à l’archéologie, à l’histoire de l’art, au politique et au spirituel.

Simone Fattal est née en 1942 à Damas, Syrie. Elle vit et travaille à Paris. Figure incontournable de l’art contemporain, Simone Fattal convoque fréquemment les motifs du soleil et de la terre dans sa pratique artistique qui allie peinture, sculpture et littérature. Les œuvres de Simone Fattal sont à regarder à l’aune des grands récits épiques, mythologiques et religieux dont elles se nourrissent.

This bronze sculpture is related to the god Saturn and Saturnalia, the ancient Roman winter festival that celebrated the reawakening of nature's slumbering forces. This figure with long, brown- and sand-coloured legs, is characteristic of the work of Simone Fattal, who is strongly influenced by the archaeological discoveries that have marked the centuries. This sculpture draw upon references from Hittite mythology, especially the sun goddess Arinna. The earthy appearance of the sculpture evokes the richness of the landscapes and materials found in the Mediterranean Basin, and the succession of civilizations that have occupied it. They borrow from archaeology, art history, politics, and the spiritual.

Simone Fattal was born in 1942 in Damascus, Syria. She lives and works in Paris, France. A major figure of the contemporary art scene, Simone Fattal frequently uses the motifs of the sun and the earth in her artistic practice that combines painting, sculpture, and literature. Fattal's works should be considered in relation to the great epic, mythological, and religious narratives that inspire her.

‍

Soundwalk Collective

‍UlyssesSyndrome,2023
Sound installation
20-30 min
Courtesy of the artists

Le projet Ulysses Syndrome puise son origine dans une série de voyages réalisés par le collectif d’artistes Soundwalk le long des côtes de la mer Méditerranée. Pendant deux mois, ils ont suivi en voilier l’itinéraire qu’Ulysse, personnage central de l’œuvre littéraire antique l’Odyssée, a emprunté entre Troie et Ithaque. Au cours de ces 52 jours de voyage, traversant les eaux du Moyen-Orient, de l’Italie, de l’Afrique du Nord et de l’Europe du Sud, ils en ont capturé les sons. Cette composition est une carte sonore des zones géographiques traversées par le bateau. Ulysses Syndrome est le reflet audible d’un monde polyphonique, celui de la Méditerranée d’aujourd’hui.

Collectif d’artistes sonores fondé en 2001 par Stephan Crasneanscki, rejoint en 2008 par Simone Merli. Le collectif est basé entre Berlin, Allemagne, et New York, États-Unis. Le travail de Soundwalk Collective s’articule autour d’enregistrements captés in situ et de leur synthèse en studio. L’ethnographie et l’anthropologie s’y combinent à l’observation de la nature et à des fragments de narration.

The project Ulysses Syndrome has its origin in a series of journeys made by the artists' collective Soundwalk along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They set sail for two months, charting the course followed by Ulysses, the main character of the ancient literary work The Odyssey, on his journey from Troy to Ithaca. Over their 52-day voyage crossing the waters of the Middle East, Italy, North Africa, and Southern Europe, they recorded the sounds they encountered. This composition is a sound map of the geographical zones through which the boat travelled. Ulysses Syndrome is an audible reflection of the polyphonic world of the Mediterranean today.

A collective of sound artists founded in 2001 by Stephan Crasneanscki, joined by Simone Merli in 2008. The collective is based between Berlin, Germany, and New York, USA. The work of Soundwalk Collective is based on sound recordings captured in situ and their synthesis in the studio. Ethnography and anthropology combine with observations of nature and fragments of narration.

Yannis Maniatakos ‍

Underwater Painting, 2012
Super 8 transferred to digital video
21 min 15 sec
Courtesy Estate of Yannis Maniatakos and Rodeo Gallery

Yannis Maniatakos a peint chacune de ses toiles sous l’eau, à plusieurs mètres de profondeur. L’artiste a ainsi réalisé de nombreuses œuvres qui sont autant de paysages de fonds marins de diverses régions de la Grèce. La vidéo projetée ici présente Yannis Maniatakos pendant son processus de création. Pour parvenir à peindre sous l’eau, l’artiste a mis au point différentes techniques picturales qu’il n’a cessé d’améliorer tout au long de sa carrière. Ses toiles témoignent de sa fascination pour les fonds marins et pour le calme qui y règne, ainsi que pour le sentiment de sublime que ces lieux hors du commun confèrent.

Yannis Maniatakos est né en 1935 à Flomochóri, Grèce. Il est décédé à Athènes en 2017. Les peintures de Yannis Maniatakos capturent à la fois les sentiments de liberté et de peur que suscitent la mer et les océans. L’artiste pouvait passer des heures à peindre sous l’eau afin de reproduire fidèlement son environnement.

Yannis Maniatakos painted each of his canvases under water, at several metres' depth. The artist has made several works in this way, creating seascapes of the marine floor in various regions of Greece. The video projected shows Yannis Maniatakos during the creative process. Throughout his career, the artist has been developing different techniques that allow him to paint under water. These canvases demonstrate his fascination for the marine world, the calm that reigns there, and the feeling of the sublime experienced in these extraordinary places.

Born in 1935, in Flomochóri, Greece. He died in Athens, Greece, in 2017. Yannis Maniatakos paintings capture both the feeling of freedom and the fear that the seas and oceans elicit. Yannis Maniatakos could spend hours painting under water in order to faithfully reproduce its environment.

Aly Cisse

In Tunisian waters, 2023
Watercolour on paper
14.8 x 10.5 cm

‍5days and 5 nights, 2023
Watercolor on paper
14.8 x 10.5 cm

"I crossed the sea in 2022 with my brother. Before leaving Tunisia, my mother asked me to go back because she was too scared for us, but my brother refused. He said we had to go all the way. We were in the boat with cans of petrol, and the journey lasted 5 days and 5 nights. There was a storm and a lot of people were crying. We had nothing to eat, and the drinking water ran out after the 2nd day. A gentleman died on the 4th day from gasoline fumes. People wanted to throw him into the water, but my brother said that if we were to die, it would be together. We kept the body all the way to Italy. I never want to hear about the sea again."

- Aly CISSE, 17 ans.

Cette série d’aquarelles a été réalisée dans le cadre d’ateliers organisés à Paris par l’association TIMMY - Soutien aux Mineurs Exilés.

"'I crossed the sea in 2022 with my brother. Before leaving Tunisia, my mother asked me to go back home because she was too scared for us, but my brother refused. He said we had to go all the way. We were in the boat with cans of petrol and the journey lasted 5 days and 5 nights. There was a storm and a lot of people were crying. We had nothing to eat, and the drinking water ran out after the 2nd day. One man died on the 4th day from petrol fumes.

People wanted to throw him into the water, but my brother said that if we were to die, we were all going to die together. We kept the body all the way to Italy. I never want to hear about the sea again".

- Aly Cisse, 17 years old.

This series of watercolors was created as part of workshops organized in Paris by the NGO TIMMY - Soutien aux Mineurs Exilés.

Edi Hila 

The Escape of Mary, 1992 

Acrylic on canvas 

114.5 x 170 cm 

Courtesy of the artist

La mer Méditerranée a toujours été une mer d’exil et le théâtre d’une certaine violence. Cette toile d’Edi Hila en est l’un des symboles. Son titre, The Escape of Mary (La Fuite de Marie), fait référence à un évènement survenu au XVème siècle, lors des invasions turques menées par le sultan Mehmed II en Albanie. Le 25 avril 1467, une fresque représentant la Vierge Marie est apparue dans l’église de Genazzano, en Italie. Cette fresque est identique à celle de l’église Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil de Shkodër en Albanie, détruite par les Turcs à la même période. Certains racontent que l’évènement relève du miracle religieux : la fresque aurait été transportée par les anges depuis Shkodër jusqu’à Genazzano. D’autres soutiennent que les habitants de Shkodër, contraints à l’exil par les raids turcs, sauvent la fresque de la destruction et traversent la mer avec elle jusqu’en Italie, où ils trouvent refuge. Cette « fuite de Marie » est à l’image des déplacements forcés des peuples de Méditerranée au cours de l’Histoire et dans nos sociétés contemporaines.

Edi Hila est né en 1944 à Shköder, Albanie. Il vit et travaille à Tirana, Albanie.

Figure majeure de la scène artistique des Balkans, le peintre Edi Hila développe un travail où le temps – historique et personnel – rencontre l’espace intime, géographique et politique. Il a notamment exposé à la Documenta de Cassel (Allemagne) et Athènes (Grèce) en 2017.

Edi Hila 

The Escape of Mary, 1992 

Acrylic on canvas 

114.5 x 170 cm 

Courtesy of the artist

The Mediterranean Sea has always been a sea of exile and the scene of a certain violence. This painting by Edi Hila is one such symbol. Its title, The Escape of Mary, refers to an event that occurred in the 15th century, during the Turkish invasions of Albania led by Sultan Mehmed II. On April 25, 1467, a fresco depicting the Virgin Mary appeared in the church of Genazzano, Italy. This fresco is identical to the one in the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Shkodër, Albania, destroyed by the Turks at the same time. Some say the event is a religious miracle: the fresco was transported by angels from Shkodër to Genazzano. Others maintain that the inhabitants of Shkodër, forced into exile by Turkish raids, saved the fresco from destruction and took it with them to Italy, where they found refuge. This Escape of Mary mirrors the forced displacement of Mediterranean peoples throughout history and in our contemporary societies.

Edi Hila was born in 1944 in Shköder, Albania. He lives and works in Tirana, Albania.

A major figure on the Balkan art scene, Edi Hila develops a body of work where time - historical and personal - meets intimate, geographical and political space. He exhibited at Documenta in Cassel (Germany) and Athens (Greece) in 2017.

Sidy Wague

The big fish, 2023
Watercolour on paper
40.2 x 29.7 cm

« Le zodiac est parti le 9 avril 2020 à 22h pour traverser la mer, et il y avait 92 personnes à bord. En partant je croyais qu’on allait mourir dans la mer. Je restais toujours à côté de mon ami Abdallah, qui était plus grand. À notre arrivée aux abords des côtes de Lampedusa, je n’étais pas bien, j’avais mal partout, j’avais chaud. Quand j’ai levé la tête j’ai vu un grand poisson et j’ai cru que c’était un requin. J’ai eu très peur, j’ai beaucoup crié et pleuré. Abdallah m’a rassuré. À 13h la croix rouge italienne est venue et nous a sauvés. On est entré dans un grand bateau et tout le monde rigolait et dansait, mais moi je pleurais parce que je pensais à ma mère et mon père qui étaient au pays. »

- Sidy Wague, 19 ans.

Cette série d’aquarelles a été réalisée dans le cadre d’ateliers organisés à Paris par l’association TIMMY - Soutien aux Mineurs Exilés.

"The zodiac left at 10pm on April 9th 2020 to cross the sea. There were 92 people on board. When we left, I thought we were going to die in the sea. I always stayed near my friend Abdallah, who was taller. When we arrived off the coast of Lampedusa, I didn't feel well, I was aching all over,

I was hot. When I looked up I saw a big fish and I thought it was a shark. I was so scared, I screamed and cried a lot. Abdallah reassured me. At 1pm the Italian Red Cross arrived and rescued us. We got into a big boat and everyone was laughing and dancing, but I was crying because I was thinking about my mother and father back home."

- Sidy Wague, 19 years old.

This series of watercolors was created as part of workshops organized in Paris by the NGO TIMMY - Soutien aux Mineurs Exilés.

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AMPHORE KODI - BELTRÁN IIA (Beltrán)

Amphore romaine, Début de la période impériale (vers 10-15 après J.-C. - milieu du IIe siècle après J.-C.)
Terre cuite
90 cm x 38 cm
Courtesy Musée archéologique de Durrës, Albanie

AMPHORE KODI - (Keay)

Amphore romaine, Début de la période impériale (vers 10-15 après J.-C. - milieu du IIe siècle après J.-C.)
Terre cuite
114 cm x 27 cm
Courtesy Musée archéologique de Durrës, Albanie

La large diffusion des amphores romaines témoigne de l’ancienneté des échanges et des flux commerciaux en mer Méditerranée. Les amphores Beltrán, principalement produites dans les provinces méridionales de l’Espagne, ont en effet été retrouvées dans plusieurs provinces romaines, en Afrique du Nord et en Méditerranée orientale. Quant aux amphores Keay, dont la production est principalement attestée en Tunisie, elles ont été repérées dans des régions aussi éloignées que la Catalogne et le sud de la France.

Les amphores Beltrán possèdent une silhouette sinueuse, avec un corps ovale et des anses allongées qui assurent leur robustesse. Elles étaient utilisées pour transporter des produits à base de poisson, notamment le garum, une sauce typique de la cuisine romaine. Les amphores Keay se distinguent par une forme allongée et un col étroit avec un bord en forme de bec. Elles servaient probablement à transporter du vin ou du garum. Les deux modèles se terminent par une longue pointe, permettant un positionnement stable lors du transport et du stockage.

Ces objets sont les vestiges des saveurs, des parfums et des produits qui unissaient les peuples au travers de la Méditerranée. Ils montrent comment la cuisine et les goûts de l'époque concouraient à créer une expérience commune et des dialogues culturels d'un bord à l'autre de la mer Méditerranée, dont l'histoire est aussi et depuis toujours celle des échanges et des partages.

AMPHORA KODI - BELTRÁN IIA (Beltrán)

Roman amphora, early Imperial period (c. 10-15 AD - mid II century AD)
Baked clay
90 cm x 38 cm
Courtesy Aarcheological Museum of Durres, Albania

AMPHORA KODI - (Keay)

Roman amphora, late imperial period (IV century AD)
Baked clay
114 cm x 27 cm
Courtesy Aarcheological Museum of Durres, Albania

The widespread distribution of Roman amphorae bears witness to the long history of trade and commercial flows in the Mediterranean. In fact, Beltrán amphorae, produced mainly in the southern provinces of Spain, have been found in several Roman provinces in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. While Keay amphorae, mainly produced in Tunisia, have been found in regions as far as Catalonia and south of France.

Beltrán amphorae have a sinuous shape, with an oval body and elongated handles that ensure their solidity. They were used to transport fish-based products, including garum, a sauce typical of Roman cuisine. Keay amphorae are characterized by their elongated shape and narrow necks with beak-shaped rims. They were probably used to transport wine or garum. Both models end in a long spike, providing a stable position for transport and storage.

These objects are reminders of the flavours, aromas and products that united people across the Mediterranean. They show how cuisine and tastes of the time helped creating a shared experience and cultural dialogues from one side of the Mediterranean Sea to the other, whose history has always been one of exchange and sharing.

Aboubacar Kante

Le naufrage, 2023
Watercolour on paper
32.2 x 50 cm

Full of blood, 2023
Watercolour on paper
23.7 x 30 cm

Grâce à Dieu (triptique)
13.8 x 10.5 cm (each)
Watercolor on paper

« S’il y a un naufrage, ceux qui ne peuvent pas nager tombent tout en bas, et ceux qui peuvent nager restent en haut. Il y a aussi un peu de gens qui s’accrochent au bateau. Je n’ai pas vécu ce moment, mais mes amis l’ont vécu. S’il y a un naufrage, personne ne sauve personne, même les bébés ne peuvent pas être sauvés. La Méditerranée est devenue une route, pour d’autres une tombe, un cimetière, ou encore un champ de bataille... Si on la regarde bien, la mer est pleine de sang. Ces dessins sont pour la mémoire de tous les amis et les frères qui y sont restés, et je souhaite bonne chance à ceux qui vont prendre la Méditerranée. À certains moments sur l’eau je pensais que je ne pourrai pas m’en sortir. On ne voyait rien, rien du tout. »

- Aboubacar KANTE, 17 ans.

Cette série d’aquarelles a été réalisée dans le cadre d’ateliers organisés à Paris par l’association TIMMY - Soutien aux Mineurs Exilés.

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"If there's a shipwreck, those who can't swim fall to the bottom, and those who can swim stay on top of the water. Some people also hang on to the boat. I didn't experience that but my friends did. If there's a shipwreck, no one saves anyone, even babies can't be saved. The Mediterranean has become a road, for others a grave, a cemetery, or a battlefield... If we take a close look at the sea, it is full of blood. These drawings are in memory of all the friends and brothers who died there, and I wish good luck to those who will be taking the Mediterranean. There were times underwater I thought I wouldn't make it. I couldn't see anything, nothing at all."

- Aboubacar Kante, 17 years old.

This series of watercolors was created as part of workshops organized in Paris by the NGO TIMMY - Soutien aux Mineurs Exilés.

Forensic Oceanography

Liquid Traces - The Left-to-Die Boat Case, 2014
Video
17 min

Project team: Charles Heller, Lorenzo Pezzani, Richard Limeburnen, Samaneh Moafi; Rossana Padeletti.

Documentary produced as part of Forensic Architecture with the support of the Maison des cultures du monde (HKW).

Forensic Oceanography a cherché à localiser les incidents particuliers dans l’architecture légale de la frontière maritime de l’UE, afin d’en déterminer la responsabilité. L’un de ces incidents est relaté dans cette vidéo, qui offre une synthèse de l’affaire du « Left-to-die boat ». En mars 2011, 72 passagers ont quitté les côtes libyennes en direction de l’Italie à bord d’un petit bateau en caoutchouc au moment de l’intervention militaire de l’OTAN en Libye. Malgré plusieurs signaux de détresse indiquant leur position, ainsi que des interactions répétées avec au moins un hélicoptère et un navire militaires, les passagers de l’embarcation ont été laissés à la dérive pendant 14 jours. En raison de l’inaction de tous les acteurs étatiques impliqués, seuls neuf des passagers ont survécu. En combinant leurs témoignages avec des données sur les vents et les courants marins ainsi qu’avec des images satellite, Forensic Oceanography a reconstitué les traces liquides de cet événement, produisant un rapport qui a servi de base à plusieurs plaintes en justice.

Forensic Oceanography est un projet initié au sein de l'agence Forensic Architecture par Charles Heller et Lorenzo Pezzani, dans le sillage des soulèvements arabes de 2011. Il vise à étudier de manière critique le régime frontalier militarisé imposé par les États européens à travers la frontière maritime de l'UE, en analysant les conditions politiques, spatiales et esthétiques qui ont transformé les eaux de la mer Méditerranée en un liquide mortel pour les migrants clandestins qui cherchent à la traverser.

Forensic Oceanography has sought to locate particular incidents within the legal architecture of the EU’s maritime frontier, so as to determine responsibility for them. One of such incidents is reported in this video, which offers a synthesis of the “Left-to-die boat” case. In March 2011, 72 passengers left the Libyan coast heading in the direction of Italy on board a small rubber boat at the time of NATO’s military intervention in Libya. Despite several distress signals relaying their location, as well as repeated interactions with at least one military helicopter and a military ship, they were left to drift for 14 days. As a result of the inaction of all state actors involved, only nine of the passengers survived. By combining their testimonies with wind and sea-current data as well as satellite imagery, Forensic Oceanography reconstructed the liquid traces of this event, producing a report that served as the basis of several legal complaints.

Forensic Oceanography is a project initiated within the Forensic Architecture agency by Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani, in the wake of the Arab uprisings of 2011. It seeks to critically investigate the militarized border regime imposed by European states across the EU's maritime frontier, analyzing the political, spatial and aesthetic conditions that have turned the waters of the Mediterranean Sea into a deadly liquid for the illegalized migrants seeking to cross it.

Sirine Fattouh ‍

The Welcome Song, 2023
Video installation
3 min 25 sec
Courtesy of the artist

Sons de bienvenue, sons de retour ; un père et sa fille reproduisant un rituel. Enfant, Sirine Fattouh avait l’habitude de chanter cette chanson de Ragheb Alame – signifiant littéralement « Merci Seigneur pour ta sécurité » – à son père lorsqu’il lui rendait visite de l’étranger. Des années plus tard, lorsqu’elle est partie à son tour, les rôles se sont inversés et son père a repris le refrain pour l’accueillir quand elle venait le voir. De telles anecdotes résident au cœur du travail de Sirine et de ses films. Brouillant la frontière entre passé et présent, ils sont évocateurs de ce que la mémoire préserve des contextes de guerre et de traumatisme.

Sirine Fattouh est née en 1980 à Beyrouth, au Liban. Elle vit et travaille entre sa ville natale et Paris, en France. Grâce à une grande variété de médiums, elle s’inspire de son histoire personnelle pour explorer la relation complexe qu’elle entretient avec son pays d’origine et les répercussions du conflit, de la guerre et de l’exil sur le quotidien des gens.

Sounds of welcome, sounds of return; a father and daughter reenact a ritual. As a child, Sirine Fattouh used to sing this song by Ragheb Alame - literally translating to 'thank God for your safety'- to her father when he would visit from abroad. Years later, when she in turn left, roles were reversed as her father took over the refrain to welcome her when she visited. Anecdotal stories as such, are core to Sirine Fattouh's work and films. Blurring the lines between past and present, they speak to what memory holds onto in contexts of war and trauma.

Sirine Fattouh was born in 1980 in Beirut, Lebanon. She lives and works between her native city and Paris, France. Using a wide variety of media, she draws on her personal history to explore her complex relationship with her homeland, and the impact of conflict, war and exile on people's daily lives.

Sara Kontar

Therefore I Cut, 2023

Slides, carousel slide projector

Courtesy of the artist / Supported by AFAC, MAGNUM FONDATION and PRINCE CLAUSE FUND as part of ADPP (Arabic Documentary Photography Program)

Le choix de cette œuvre a été fait en collaboration avec l’Arab Documentary Photography Program (ADPP), une initiative qui apporte soutien et mentorat aux photographes du monde arabe. L’Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, en partenariat avec la Magnum Foundation et le Prince Claus Fund a créé l’ADPP afin de stimuler la production d’œuvres convaincantes par les photographes arabes en travaillant à travers un éventail de styles narratifs expérimentaux.

Des doigts effleurent des boucles de cheveux dans des scènes de la vie domestique qui dévoilent des histoires non pas d’exil, mais d’intimité, de confiance et de solidarité. À travers ce journal photographique, Sara Kontar suit des femmes qui se réunissent dans des lieux sûrs, trouvant du soutien au sein des micro-communautés, pour affronter le traumatisme causé par l’exil. Si le projet est né d’une tentative de l’artiste pour accepter son propre déplacement – étant arrivée en France en 2016 –, il transcende cette volonté initiale pour capturer l’essence de la résilience. Therefore I Cut est une immersion au cœur des émotions contradictoires suscitées par la condition même de la migration. Se couper les cheveux, quel que soit le lieu ou le contexte, comprend la même dualité qui enveloppe chaque photographie : la violence et la douceur simultanées d’un geste.

Sara Kontar est une artiste syrienne née en 1996 à Mosrata, en Lybie. Elle vit et travaille à Paris, France. A travers une pratique artistique riche qui utilise la photo et la vidéo, Sara Kontar illustre les expériences de l’exil, se concentrant sur les émotions humaines, l’identité, le langage corporel, les mouvements, les pensées et les témoignages.

Fingers brush through curls in domestic scenes that do not transpire stories of exile, but of intimacy, trust, and solidarity. Through this photographic diary, Sarah Kontar follows women who reunite in safe spaces, finding support in micro-communities, to face the trauma of exile. If the project stemmed from an attempt for the Syrian artist to come to terms with her own displacement - having arrived in France in 2016 - it has transcended this original desire to capture the essence of resilience. Therefore I Cut is an immersion into the contradicting emotions that the condition of migration stirs. Cutting hair, whatever the place or context, holds the same duality which seems to frame each photograph: the simultaneous violence and softness of a gesture.

Sara Kontar is a Syrian artist born in 1996 in Mosrata, Libya. She lives and works in Paris, France. Through a rich artistic practice using photography and video, Sara Kontar illustrates the experiences of exile, focusing on human emotions, identity, body language, movements, thoughts and testimonies.

Randa Maroufi

Bab Sebta, 2019
Film
19min
Courtesy of the artist / Production: Barney Production & Mont Fleuri Production with the support of the following organizations: Fondation des Artistes (FR), Doha Film Institute (QAT), CNC (FR), Kamel Lazaar Foundation (TUN), AFAC (LBN), La Casa de Velázquez (FR), Le Fresnoy (FR), Collection FRAC Paca (1/5) / Collection Kadist Foundation (2/5).

Liberation from the Nabila & Keltoum & Khadija series, 2015

Color print 146 x 217 cm

Courtesy of the artist Le Fresnoy (FR), la Collection FRAC Paca (1/5) / la Collection Kadist Foundation (2/5).

Bab Sebta reconstruit une série de processus semi-légaux ayant lieu quotidiennement entre contrebandiers et douaniers à la frontière de Ceuta, enclave espagnole sur le sol marocain. Le film est empreint d’une certaine théâtralité, laissant une déroutante sensation d’incertitude quand on imagine la réalité répressive de ce terrain trouble où des milliers de personnes trafiquent, échangent et travaillent chaque jour.

Accompagnant Bab Sebta, le tirage Liberation transforme deux de ces contrebandières en stars du rap. Le tissu imprimé évoque un drapeau qui, plutôt que de représenter une nation ou un groupe, symbolise ici la résistance individuelle dépassant les frontières de l’enclave de Ceuta.

Randa Maroufi est née en 1987 à Casablanca, au Maroc. Elle vit et travaille à Paris, en France. Utilisant la photographie, la vidéo, l’installation, la performance et le son, sa pratique artistique couvre à la fois l’occupation de l’espace public et les questions de genre.

Bab Sebta reconstructs a series of semi-legal processes which take place daily between smugglers and border control officers across the border of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco. The film is filled with a certain theatricality, leaving a perplexing feeling of uncertainty in imagining the repressive reality of this murky terrain where thousands traffic, exchange and work every day.

Accompanying print Liberation turns three of these women smugglers into rap stars. The printed fabric alludes to a flag which, rather than representing a nation or group, here acts as a symbol of individual resistance going beyond the limits of the Ceuta enclave. As in most of her work, the artist and filmmaker attempts to liberate the actors of precarious borderline economies from the limits of representation.

Randa Maroufi was born in 1987 in Casablanca, Morocco. She lives and works in Paris, France. Working with photography, video, installation, performance and sound, Randa Maroufi's artistic practice covers both the occupation of public space and questions of gender.

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Badr El Hammami

Thabrate, 2010-2018

Sound installation, photographic transfers on cassette, headphones, MP3 player

Variable dimensions

Courtesy of the artist and Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration

Comment protéger l’essence de l’oralité malgré la distance ? Comment rester en contact avec quelqu’un qui ne peut pas écrire ? Comment ne pas oublier la sensation de sa langue maternelle sur ses lèvres ? Commencé en 2010, Thabrate, signifiant littéralement « la lettre » en berbère, est un projet inspiré d’une correspondance entretenue dans les années 1970 et 1980 entre des travailleurs immigrants marocains et leurs familles restées au Maroc. L’analphabétisme étant alors répandu et le téléphone pas encore démocratisé, la cassette audio est devenue l’outil essentiel pour envoyer des messages au-delà des frontières, accompagnée parfois de photographies et de petits documents. L’œuvre reproduit cette correspondance magnétique, échangée trente ans plus tard entre Badr El Hammami et son amie Fadma Kadourri.

Badr El Hammami est né en 1979 à Al Hoceima, au Maroc. Il vit et travaille à Marseille, France. Souvent collaboratif, son travail aborde les questions de l’altérité, de la négociation, de la co-construction et de l’échange en lien avec les souvenirs personnels et l’hospitalité.

How to safeguard the essence of orality at a distance? How to keep in touch when one cannot write? How not to forget the feel of one's mother tongue on their lips? Started in 2010, Thabrate, translating to "letter" in Berber, is a project inspired by a correspondence practice which took place between the 1970s and 1980s among Moroccan immigrant workers and their families left behind in Morocco. With illiteracy then widespread and the telephone not yet democratized, the audio cassette became the tool to deliver messages across borders, accompanied at times by photographs and small documents. The work reproduces such a magnetic correspondence, exchanged thirty years later between Badr El Hammami and his friend Fadma Kadourri.

Badr El Hammami was born in 1979 in Al Hoceima, Morocco. He lives and works in Marseille, France. Often collaborative, Badr El Hammami's work often addresses questions of otherness, negotiation, co-construction and exchange, linked with personal memories and hospitality.

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Catherine Cattaruzza ‍

I Can't Recall the Edges, 2016-2019

3 photographic prints 26.5 x 40 cm each

Courtesy of the artist

À l’instar des villes, les frontières sont des lieux de transition, instables et en mouvement. Paysages urbains en constante évolution, terrains vagues, sites de construction et parcelles vides sont autant de témoins du passage du temps, qui semble néanmoins s’être arrêté. Catherine Cattaruzza immortalise les espaces abandonnés à Beyrouth, ville où elle se considère chez elle depuis longtemps. Photographiée avec des rouleaux de pellicule périmés, la série manifeste la fascination de l’artiste pour les zones liminales, souvent en périphérie, jamais immuables – à l’image des frontières qui séparent et unissent simultanément. La fragilité de ces territoires poreux transparaît à travers la pratique de Cattaruzza.

Catherine Cattaruzza est née en 1968 à Toulouse, en France. Elle vit et travaille entre la France et le Liban où elle a vécu l’essentiel de sa vie. En 2022, l’effondrement du Liban la pousse à l’exil. Depuis le début des années 1990, elle photographie Beyrouth. Son intérêt réside dans la collision entre géographie et intimité, et comme l’écrit le philosophe Édouard Glissant, là où nous ressentons les tremblements du monde autour de nous, tout autant qu’à l’intérieur de nous.

Frontiers, like cities, are transitional sites, moving and unstable. Urban landscapes in constant flux, wastelands, construction sites and empty plots testify to the passage of time - that nonetheless seems stopped. Catherine Cattaruzza captures neglected spaces in Beirut, a city the artist has long called home. Photographed with expired film rolls, the series manifests her fascination with liminal zones, often on the outskirts, never fixed - like borderlines that simultaneously separate and unite. The fragility of these porous territories transpires through Cattaruzza's practice. Her interest lies where geography collides with intimacy and where, as the philosopher Edouard Glissant writes, the trembling of the world is experienced around us as much as within ourselves.

Catherine Cattaruzza was born in 1968 in Toulouse, France. She lives and works between France and Lebanon, where she lived most of her life. In 2022, the collapse of Lebanon forced her into exile. Since the early 1990s, she has been photographing Beirut. Her interest lies in the collision between geography and intimacy, and, as the philosopher Édouard Glissant wrote, where we feel the tremors of the world around us, as much as within us.

Akram Zaatari

Mass Struggle, 2024

EPDM rubber, resin, aluminium and water-based metallic paint

615.9 x 292.4 cm

An in-situ commission for the Undertow exhibition

Présentée comme un vide sur la plupart des cartographies, la Méditerranée s’étend sous nos pieds. Les îles se sont transformées en espace négatif. Cette installation au sol conçue par Akram Zaatari déploie un commentaire sur l’exploitation excessive de cette mer dans les voies de navigation – du transport de cargos aux traversées migratoires en passant par les bateaux de croisière pour touristes. Elle s’impose également comme une dénonciation des abus subis par la Méditerranée en tant que décharge d’eaux usées et de déchets polluants. Mass Struggle remplit l’espace de sa masse gommeuse qui défie la perception sensorielle de ces eaux et témoigne des traces d’usure laissées par les visiteurs invités à marcher dessus. De ce fait, l’impact individuel et collectif sur cet écosystème menacé est concrétisé.

Akram Zaatari est né en 1966 à Sidon, au Liban. Il vit et travaille à Beyrouth, au Liban. Dans un mouvement de va-et-vient entre réalité et fiction, ses films et installations vidéo présentent des images d’archive, des témoignages et des situations qui illustrent les conditions de vie au Liban.

Mapped as a void in most cartographies, the Mediterranean stretches out beneath our feet. Islands turned into negative space. This floor piece conceived by Akram Zaatari emerges as a comment on the excessive use of this sea in navigation routes, from cargo commutes and tourist cruises to migratory crossings, and as a denunciation to its abuse as a dump of sewage and polluting wastes. Mass Struggle fills the space with a gummy mass that challenges the sensorial perception of these waters, and records traces of wear as people are invited to step on it. As such, individual and collective impact on this challenged ecosystem is given a form.

Akram Zaatari was born in 1966 in Sidon, Lebanon. He lives and works in Beirut, Lebanon. Moving back and forth between reality and fiction, his films and video installations feature archive images, testimonies and situations representative of living conditions in Lebanon.

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Nabila Halim ‍

How deep is your love, 2020

10 digital prints on awagami paper 30 x 40 cm

Courtesy of the artist

Nichées dans des coffrets emballés, les senteurs de chez soi voyagent quotidiennement à travers le monde, prêtes à être libérées avec un plaisir doux-amer qui fend le cœur, ouvrant des zones de contact tangibles malgré la distance. Dans How deep is your love, les photographies de Nabila Halim transmettent l’attention et le soin portés à ces paquets chargés d’émotion lors de leur préparation. Une série de colis couleur bonbon pose en silence, titillant notre imagination tout en dévoilant très discrètement certaines pages de journaux, indices de leur provenance. L’artiste a réalisé cette œuvre lors d’une résidence destinée à encourager la mobilité à travers la Méditerranée, en accueillant à Marseille des artistes venus du Maroc et d’Algérie (FRAEME). Fruit de son expérience singulière, cet inventaire photographique aborde l’universalité de cette pratique postale : « le colis du bled » entretient les liens familiaux et la mémoire culturelle en exil, indépendamment de l’âge ou de la géographie.

Nabila Halim est née en 1989 à Sla Rabat-Sale, au Maroc. Elle vit et travaille à Nancy, en France. À travers un large éventail de médias, elle explore le sujet du corps, sa mécanique, sa transformation, sa place dans le(s) domaine(s) du mental ou du physique, ainsi que la place des femmes dans la société et la sphère publique.

Boxed and wrapped smells of home travel the world every day, to be unsealed with a bittersweet heart-wrenching delight, opening tangible contact zones despite the distance. In How deep is your love, Nabila Halim's photographs carry the attention and care with which these loaded packages are prepared. A series of candy-coloured parcels poses quietly; teasing our imagination while ever so slightly disclosing certain pages of newspapers which hint at their provenance. The artist realized this work during a residency aimed at encouraging mobility across the Mediterranean, by welcoming artists from Morocco and Algeria in Marseille (FRAEME). Stemming from her particular experience, this photographic inventory addresses the universality of this postal practice: "le colis du bled", or "parcel from my hometown", maintains family ties and cultural memory in exile, regardless of age or geography.

Nabila Halim was born in 1989 in Sla Rabat-Sale, Morocco. She lives and works in Nancy, France. Through a wide range of media, Nabila Halim explores the subject of the body, its mechanics, its alteration, its place in physical or mental territory(ies) and the place of women in public space and society.

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Bouchra Khalili

Anya (Straight Stories - Part 2), 2008
Video
12 minutes
Courtesy of the artist

La ville se dévoile, tableau panoramique en perpétuel mouvement, se balançant au gré du bateau devenu pont d’observation. Les eaux suivies par la caméra traduisent l’état de transit, d’incertitude, inhérent à l’exil. Une voix de femme raconte les étapes de son voyage : la fuite d’Irak, l’arrivée en Turquie, la résistance face au labyrinthe bureaucratique, l’envie de partir, l’attente, les frais à payer pour partir. Le projet Straight Stories de Bouchra Khalili, dont ce film est le deuxième chapitre, explore l’ambiguïté des zones frontalières, où nombreux sont ceux à n’être ni entrés ni sortis, simplement en transit. Documentaire et images se chevauchent dans l’œuvre multimédia de l’artiste afin d’explorer des thèmes tels que la migration clandestine et d’ouvrir de nouvelles formes narratives pour les populations marginalisées. Le sous-titre « When will I be able to have a calm life » (en français « Quand pourrais-je avoir une vie calme ») apparaît quelques secondes avant la fin de la boucle. Des lumières nocturnes scintillent sur les vagues du Bosphore tandis que le ferry accomplit sa traversée du littoral asiatique au littoral européen – métaphore du défiant optimisme de la narratrice pour rejoindre l’Australie ?

Bouchra Khalili est née en 1975 à Casablanca, au Maroc. Elle vit et travaille à Berlin, en Allemagne. Utilisant le film, la vidéo, l’installation, la photographie et la sérigraphie, sa pratique structure le langage, la subjectivité, l’oralité et les explorations géographiques pour examiner des stratégies et des discours de résistance tels qu’élaborés, développés et narrés par des individus appartenant souvent à des minorités politiques.

The city unveils itself; a panoramic image in continuous movement, rocking with the boat turned observation deck. The waters followed by the camera translate the state of transit, of limbo, that is exile. A woman's voice narrates the steps of her journey, escaping Iraq, arriving in Turkey, withstanding the labyrinth of bureaucracy, longing to depart, having to wait, having to pay to leave. Bouchra Khalili's Straight Stories project, of which this film is the second chapter, explores the ambiguity of border zones, where most are neither in, nor out; simply transient. Documentary overlaps with imaginary in the artist's multimedia work to investigate themes such as illegal migration and open up new forms of storytelling for the marginalized. "When will I be able to have a calm life" reads the subtitle, seconds from the end of the loop. Nocturnal lights glisten on the waves of the Bosphorus while the ferry achieves its crossing from the Asian to the European shore - a metaphor to the narrator's defying optimism to reach Australia?

Bouchra Khalili was born in 1975 in Casablanca, Morocco. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Working with film, video, installation, photography and prints, Bouchra Khalili's practice articulates language, subjectivity, orality and geographical explorations to investigate strategies and discourses of resistance as elaborated, developed and narrated by individuals-often members of political minorities.

Lara Tabet

Marseille Overflow, Les Catalans, 2022
Incubated bacteria on medium-format color film, scanned and printed on photocolor paper
80 x 100 cm
Courtesy of the artist

Nitrate, 2023 / Nitrate001, 2023 / Nitrate 002, 2023
Nitrate films discarded by the Musée Nicéphore Niépce, scanned and printed on photo paper
30 x 42 cm each
Courtesy of the artist

Passant souvent inaperçues sous la surface de l’eau, la toxicité et la violence aquatique sont rendues visibles. Dans le cadre de sa pratique artistique et scientifique, oscillant entre échelles microscopique et macroscopique, les travaux de Lara Tabet dérivent de ses recherches qui remettent en cause les lectures anthropocentriques des écologies aquatiques. Dans Marseille Overflow, les eaux contaminées de la Méditerranée à Marseille sont échantillonnées suite à un déversement d’eaux usées pour être à nouveau incubées sur une pellicule photographique gélatinée, tandis que Nitrate met en avant des négatifs de nitrates abîmés, numérisés par l’artiste en raison de leur nature chimiquement toxique et hautement instable. Dans les deux cas, l’action de la matière biochimique dévoile les images, soulignant la performativité autonome des micro-organismes – en particulier lorsqu’ils subissent un déplacement.

Lara Tabet est née en 1983 à Achkout, au Liban. Elle vit et travaille à Marseille, en France. Médecin biologiste et artiste, sa pratique artistique allie méthodes photographiques anciennes et biologie pour créer des interactions entre elles. Travaillant aussi bien à Beyrouth qu’à Marseille – les deux villes entre lesquelles elle se déplace – l’artiste continue de réinventer des cartographies personnelles en explorant l’influence des flux migratoires de la bactérie sur ceux des êtres humains.

Toxicity and aquatic violence usually unseen beneath the water's surface are rendered visible. As part of Lara Tabet's artistic-scientific practice oscillating between microscopic and macroscopic scales, these works stem from her research questioning the anthropocentric readings of aquatic ecologies. In Marseille Overflow, contaminated Mediterranean waters in Marseille are sampled following an urban sewage spill to be reincubated onto gelatin photographic film, and Nitrate spotlights damaged nitrate negatives digitized by the artist due to their chemically toxic and highly unstable nature. In both instances, the agency of biochemical matter reveals the images, highlighting the autonomous performativity of micro-organisms - notably when experiencing displacement.

Lara Tabet was born in 1983 in Achkout, Lebanon. She lives and works in Marseille, France. As a biologist, doctor and artist, Lara Tabet's artistic practice combines ancient photography methods and biology to create interactions between them. As she works in both Beirut and Marseille - the two locations she travels to- the artist continues to reinvent personal cartographies by exploring the effect of bacteria's migratory fluxes onto those of human beings.

Majd Abdel Hamid ‍

Polaroids, MuscleMemory (set D), 2022
Set of 7 Polaroids
8.5 x 7.2 cm each
Courtesy of gb agency

Muscle Memory Motif,2023
Cotton thread on fabric
175 x 9 cm
Courtesy of gb agency

Muscle Memory Motif,2023
Cotton thread on fabric
28 x 17 cm
Courtesy of gb agency

Muscle Memory Composition, 2023
Cotton thread on fabric
33 x 40 cm
Courtesy of gb agency

Sketch, 2023
Cotton thread on cotton
13 x 15 cm
Courtesy of gb agency

Dans sa pratique aux multiples médias, Majd Abdel Hamid se réapproprie la broderie, un art traditionnel reçu de son héritage palestinien, comme moyen d’expression radical. Muscle Memory est un hommage à sa ville d’adoption : Beyrouth. Épuisant ses doigts dans une gestuelle compulsive, une habitude réconfortante, il essaie de trouver un motif susceptible de représenter Beyrouth, de la même manière que chaque motif palestinien brodé correspond à une région là-bas. Composée de photographies prises sur iPhone, puis transposées sur papier Polaroïd, la série se concrétise telle une promenade subjective à travers un paysage urbain traumatisé et néanmoins devenu un refuge pour l’artiste palestinien.

Majd Abdel Hamid est né en 1988 à Damas, en Syrie. Il vit et travaille entre Paris, en France et Beryrouth, au Liban. Il manipule une grande variété de médias. Originaire de Syrie et contraint deux fois à l’exil depuis, Abdel Hamid invente son propre territoire du souvenir, sa propre forme de deuil. La répétition de gestes méthodiques s’impose d’elle-même comme technique de survie, permettant une guérison physique et émotionnelle.

In his multimedia practice, Majd Abdel Hamid reclaims embroidery, a traditional craft inherited from his Palestinian heritage, as a radical means of expression, and Muscle Memory is a tribute to the city that has adopted him: Beirut. Exhausting his restless fingers into a comforting habit, he tries to find a pattern that could represent Beirut just as each Palestinian embroidered pattern corresponds to a region there. The series, including iPhone photographs transferred onto Polaroid paper, materializes as a subjective wandering through a scarred urban landscape that has nonetheless become a refuge for the Palestinian artist.

Majd Abdel Hamid was born 1988 in Damas, Syria. He lives and works between Paris, France and Beirut, Lebanon. Majd Abdel Hamid works with a variety of media. Originally from Syria and since forced into exile twice, Abdel Hamid invents his own territory of memory, his own form of mourning. The repetition of methodical gestures serves as a survival technique, enabling physical and emotional healing.

Imane Djamil

80 Miles to Atlantis, 2020
2 photographic prints
35 x 52 cm, 40 x 60 cm
Courtesy of the artist

Slow Days in the Fortunate Isle, 2021-2024
Wall vinyl and 7 photographic prints
417 x 290 cm, 20 x 30 cm, 30 x 40 cm, 40 x 60 cm, 50 x 75 cm
Courtesy of the artist

Une carte dessinée à la main évoquant une chasse au trésor plutôt qu’une route migratoire accompagne des photographies inquiétantes et révélatrices de l’atmosphère d’un endroit coincé entre deux lignes d’horizon : le désert et l’océan. 80 Miles to Atlantis et Slow Days in the Fortunate Isle racontent l’histoire de la relation migratoire entre Tarfaya, au Maroc, et Fuerteventura, dans les îles Canaries. La série a lieu à Tarfaya, un petit royaume personnel divisé entre l’Est, tombé historiquement, et l’Ouest, chimérique et illusoire. Formant à la fois un triangle et un cœur brisé, fissurés au milieu par les célèbres vents et vagues de l’Atlantique, mais aussi et surtout par des politiques d’exclusion bien plus puissantes que n’importe quel océan. Imane Djamil assoit son « docu-fiction » dans la mythologie grecque des îles Fortunées pour faire référence à l’illusion séduisante qu’incarnent les îles Canaries voisines. Bien que Fuertenventura ne soit éloignée que d’environ 100 km, cette route est connue pour être l’une des voies migratoires les plus meurtrières au monde : l’année 2021 compte 124 naufrages différents et 4 016 victimes civiles (Caminando Fronteras).

Imane Djamil est née en 1996 à Casablanca, au Maroc. Elle vit et travaille dans sa ville natale.
À travers sa pratique photographique, elle documente le temps et l’espace. Son intérêt pour les lieux en transition post-traumatiques l’oriente vers une vision à mi-chemin entre le storytelling intime et visuel.

A hand-drawn map evoking a treasure hunt rather than a migratory route accompanies eerie photographs unveiling the atmosphere of a place stuck between two horizon lines: the desert and the ocean. 80 Miles to Atlantis and Slow Days in the Fortunate Isle tell the story of the migratory relationship between Tarfaya, Morocco and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. The series take place in Tarfaya, a small, personal kingdom split into a historically fallen east and a chimerical, illusory west. It has both the shape of a triangle and a broken heart, cracked in the middle by the notorious winds and waves of the Atlantic, but also and mostly by exclusionary policies much stronger than any ocean. Imane Djamil grounds her "docu-fiction" in the Greek myth of the Fortunate Isles to refer to the attractive illusion that the nearby Canary Islands incarnate. Despite Fuerteventura being merely 100 km away, this route is known to be one of the deadliest migratory passages in the world: in 2021, 124 different shipwrecks, 4,016 casualties (Caminando Fronteras).

Imane Djamil was born in 1996 in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1996. She lives and works in her native city. Through her photography practice, Imane Djamil documents time and spaces. Her interest in places in post-traumatic transition leads her towards a vision halfway between intimate and visual storytelling.

Nida Sinnokrot‍

Caravans, 2013
28 photographic prints
20.3 x 30.3 cm (each)
Courtesy of the artist and carlier / gebauer (Berlin, Madrid)

Les chameaux, comme les moutons, étaient autrefois vénérés et considérés comme une richesse, un don divin. Posséder une caravane de chameaux rendait même les climats les plus inhospitaliers supportables, en offrant abri et sécurité. En Palestine, ces caravanes appartiennent au passé. Les Bédouins nomades du Néguev ont pratiquement disparu, contraints de s’installer dans des habitations urbaines préfabriquées. Aujourd’hui, les caravanes ne sont guère plus que le nom donné aux conteneurs d’expédition, vendus aux Palestiniens pour servir de bureaux sur les chantiers de construction. En documentant ces structures, Caravans pose un regard critique sur l’endettement en tant que forme d’appauvrissement, utilisé par l’Autorité palestinienne en Cisjordanie. Chargées d’histoire et de patine, les véhicules portent les traces de leurs voyages, du conteneur à la caravane, puis au bureau de chantier. Un symbole transnational du commerce mondial qui fonctionne comme un palimpseste complexe du pouvoir et du commerce dans un contexte régional. La figure des caravanes évoque à la fois le foyer, les revendications territoriales, la démarcation des frontières, la situation de sans-abris et l’exclusion.

Nida Sinnokrot est né en 1971 en Pennsylvanie, aux États-Unis. Il vit et travaille entre la Palestine et les États-Unis. Il vit et travaille entre la Palestine et les États-Unis. Son travail explore la manière dont diverses formes de pouvoir et de partialité sont intégrées dans les structures narratives dominantes et les articulations du temps et de l’espace qui les accompagnent.

Camels, like sheep, were once revered as a store of wealth, a divine gift. A caravan of camels made even the most inhospitable of climates negotiable by offering shelter and security. In Palestine, such caravans are a thing of the past. The nomadic Negev Bedouin are all but extinct, forced into prefabricated urban dwellings. Caravans today are little more than the name we give to shipping containers that have been sold to Palestinians for use as construction site offices. By documenting these structures, Caravans takes a critical look at indebtedness as a form of impoverishment and the mechanisms of its promotion used by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Layered with history and patina, the structures are inscribed with traces of their journeys from container to caravan to construction site office. A trans-national symbol of global trade functions as a complex palimpsest of power and commerce within a regional context, thematising home, territorial claims, border demarcation and thus also homelessness and exclusion.

Nida Sinnokrot was born in 1971 in Pennsylvania, USA. He lives and works between Palestine and the United States. His work explores how various forms of power and bias are embedded in dominant narrative structures and attendant articulations of time and space.

Younes Ben Slimane
We Knew How BeautifulThey Were, These Islands, 2022
21 min
Courtesy of the artist and Le Fresnoy

Une silhouette isolée creuse une tombe au beau milieu de la nuit, dans un cimetière désert sur la côte tunisienne. Sans dialogue – et sans autre bruit que le vent, le crépitement d’un feu et le raclement d’une pelle sur la terre sèche – nous sommes confrontés à un univers sombre et mystérieux où chaque objet donne l’impression d’être hanté par une signification que nous décelons difficilement, mais qui semble confirmer nos angoisses. La tête d’une vieille poupée, un peigne, un rouge à lèvres. Des vestiges dont le langage silencieux évoque la fin de leurs anciens propriétaires. En mer. Dans le désert.

Younes Ben Slimane est né en 1992 en Tunisie. Il vit et travaille entre la France et son pays natal. Sa formation d’architecte exerce une influence considérable sur son approche en tant qu’artiste. Se servant de films, de vidéos, de dessins et d’installations, il instaure un dialogue permanent entre l’architecture et les arts visuels.

A lone figure digs a grave in the dead of night, in a desert burial ground on the Tunisian coast. With no dialogue - and no sound other than the wind, the crackling of a fire and the scrape of a shovel against dry earth - we are confronted with a dark and mysterious universe where every object seems haunted by a meaning we barely sense, but which seems to confirm our anxieties. The head of an old doll, a comb, a lipstick. Relics whose silent language speaks of the end of their former owners. At sea, in the desert.

Younes Ben Slimane was born in 1992 in Tunisia. He lives and works between France and Tunisia. Younes Ben Slimane's training as an architect has had a major influence on his work as an artist. Working with film, video, drawing and installation, he establishes an ongoing dialogue between architecture and the visual arts.

Valentin Noujaïm
Pacific Club, 2023
16 min 35 sec
Courtesy of the artist

En 1979, le Pacific Club ouvre dans un sous-sol à La Défense, le quartier d’affaires de Paris. C’est le premier nightclub pour les Arabes des banlieues – un monde parallèle de danse, de sueur, d’amours adolescents et d’utopies sans lendemain. Azedine, dix- sept ans à l’époque, nous raconte l’histoire oubliée de ce club et d’une génération qui rêvait de s’intégrer dans la société française, mais qui a rapidement été confrontée au racisme, au fléau du SIDA et à l’héroïne.

Valentin Noujaïm est né en 1991 en France. Il vit et travaille à Frankfort, en Allemagne. En tant que réalisateur, il dépeint souvent des personnages marginaux dans un univers surréaliste. Son travail aborde les problèmes sociaux et postcoloniaux, et remet en question les rapports de domination au sein de la société française contemporaine à travers le prisme de l’amour et de la révolution.

In 1979, the Pacific Club was opened in a basement in La Défense, the business district of Paris. It was the first nightclub for Arabs from the suburbs-a parallel world of dance, sweat, young loves, and one-night utopias. Azedine, seventeen years old at the time, tells us the forgotten story of this club and of a generation who dreamed of integrating into French society but who soon came face-to-face with racism, the AIDS epidemic, and heroin.

Valentin Noujaïm was born in 1991 in France. He lives and works in Frankfurt, Germany. As a film director, Valentin Noujaïm often portrays marginal characters in surreal universes. His work addresses social and post-colonial issues and questions the domination and power relationships in contemporary French society through the prism of love and revolution.

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Hiwa K.
Pre-Image (Blind as the Mother Tongue), 2017
18 min
Courtesy of the artist, KOW and Prometeo Gallery di Ida Pisani.

Pre-Image (Blind as the Mother Tongue) retrace le voyage entrepris à pied par Hiwa lorsqu’il a fui le Kurdistan iraquien dans les années 1990. Long et souvent dangereux, ce voyage dure cinq mois et deux jours, et comprend la traversée de l’Iran, de la Turquie, de la Grèce, de la France et de l’Italie. Dans son œuvre, l’artiste utilise un appareil muni de rétroviseurs de moto qu’il doit équilibrer pour avancer, recréer l’expérience spatiale et temporelle déroutante vécue par tant de personnes effectuant des voyages similaires.

Hiwa K. est né en 1975 à Sulaymaniyah, en Irak. Il vit et travaille à Berlin, en Allemagne. En tant qu’immigrant kurde iraquien en Allemagne, il puise dans ses souvenirs personnels pour raconter les histoires de nos crises internationales actuelles : la guerre, la migration et les effets du colonialisme. Documentant à l’aide de vidéos, il s’intègre lui-même dans ses œuvres, ce qui implique souvent des dimensions participatives.

Pre-Image (Blind as the Mother Tongue) re-traces a journey undertaken on foot by Hiwa when he fled Iraqi Kurdistan in the mid-1990s. This long and often dangerous journey lasts five months and two days and passes through Iran, Turkey, Greece, France and Italy. In this work, the artist uses a device equipped with motorcycle mirrors that he must balance in order to move forward, to re-create the disorienting experience of space and time experienced by so many making similar journeys.

Hiwa K. was born in 1975 in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. As a Kurdish and Iraqi immigrant to Germany, Hiwa K. draws from personal memories to tell stories of our ongoing global crises: war, migration and the effects of colonialism. Documenting with video, he inserts himself into his works, which often involve participatory dimensions.

Rania Stephan
DAMAGEfor Gaza, theLand of Sad Oranges, 2010
2 min
Courtesy of the artist

Un film très court À PROPOS DE la violence, AVEC du flamenco, SANS danseur et POUR Gaza. The Land of Sad Oranges fait référence à une histoire de l’écrivain palestinien Ghassan Kanafani – assassiné par le Mossad à Beyrouth, en 1972 – sur l’expropriation des Palestiniens de leurs terres par les Israéliens en 1948. Les oranges sont également associées à la ville de Jaffa (les oranges de Jaffa) où elles étaient cultivées par les agriculteurs palestiniens depuis le milieu du XIXe siècle.

Rania Stephan est née en 1960 à Beyrouth, au Liban. Elle vit et travaille dans sa ville natale. Navigant entre l’art vidéo et le documentaire créatif, ses films conjuguent archéologie de l’image, identité et mémoire. Ancrés dans la réalité trouble du Liban, ses films les plus récents offrent un regard personnel sur les événements politiques complexes et violents.

A very short film ABOUT violence, WITH flamenco, WITHOUT a dancer and FOR Gaza. The Land of Sad Oranges is a reference to a story by Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani - assassinated by the Mossad in 1972 in Beirut - on the expropriation of Palestinians from their lands by Israelis in 1948. Oranges are also associated with the city of Jaffa (Jaffa Oranges) where they were cultivated by Palestinian farmers since the mid-19th century.

Rania Stephan was born in 1960 in Beirut, Lebanon. She lives and works in her native city. Navigating between video and creative documentary, Rania Stephan's films combine archaeology of the image, identity and memory. Her most recent films, anchored in the turbulent reality of Lebanon, offer a personal sight on complex and violent political events.

Firas Shehade

Like An Event In A Dream Dreamt By Another - Rehearsal, 2023
14 min 20 sec
Commissioned by the Singapore Art Museum

Les RPG (jeux vidéo de rôle) utilisent les régions en développement comme source de « worldbuilding », en tant que décors pour le fonctionnement de jeux. Ces jeux ne sont pas isolés de l’environnement politique et socioculturel dans lequel ils sont développés. Au contraire, des joueurs, développeurs, streameurs, hackeurs du tiers monde réussissent à les modifier et à appliquer leur propre hyperréalité afin de reproduire leur monde. Ce projet explore la façon dont les serveurs, les mods GTA et les joueurs palestiniens simulent la vie réelle sous la domination coloniale. Like An Event In A Dream Dreamt By Another - Rehearsal étudie Los Santos comme corollaire de la Palestine. Ces jeux semblent employer de nouvelles formes d’expérimentation de l’exil – au sein d’un univers virtuel – dans son propre pays.

Firas Shehadeh est né en 1988 en Jordanie. Il vit et travaille à Vienne, en Autriche. Artiste et chercheur palestinien, son travail explore les thématiques du « worldbuilding », de la signification, de l’esthétique et de l’identité à l’ère du numérique. Il s’intéresse aux effets postcoloniaux, aux technologies et à l’histoire.

RPGs (role-playing games) use the developing world as a source for worldbuilding; as sets for game operation. These games are not isolated from the socio-cultural and political environment that they are developed in. On the contrary, third-world gamers, developers, streamers, and hackers manage to modify the games and apply their own hyperreality in order to rehearse their world. This project explores how Palestinian players, GTA mods, and servers are simulating real life under colonial rule. Like An Event In A Dream Dreamt By Another - Rehearsal examines Los Santos as a corollary to Palestine. These games seem to play around new forms of experiencing exile - virtually - in one's own country.

Firas Shehadeh was born in 1988 in Jordan. He lives and works in Vienna, Austria. Firas Shehadeh is a Palestinian artist and researcher whose work engages with worldbuilding, meaning, aesthetics and identity in the digital age. He is interested in post-colonial effects, technology and history.

Mounira Al Solh
Freedom is a Habit Iam Trying to Learn, 2019
24 min 39 sec
Commissioned by If I Can't Dance I Don't Want to be Part of your Revolution - Amsterdam and co-produced by Sharjah Art Foundation.

Mounira Al Solh a passé vingt-quatre heures en compagnie de quatre femmes – Rogine, Waad, Hanin et Zeina – dans les villes où elles habitent désormais, respectivement à Zutphen, Washington DC, Oslo et Sharjah. Toutes les quatre ne peuvent plus vivre dans leur pays natal, la Syrie et le Liban. Le film est une expérience intime et commune de l’exil où ces femmes, parmi lesquelles l’artiste elle-même exilée, cuisinent et ont des conversations anodines et existentielles sur la vie. L’œuvre offre un point de vue extrêmement sensible sur la sororité et l’exil.

Mounira Al Solh est née en 1978 à Beyrouth, au Liban. Elle vit et travaille entre Amsterdam et sa ville natale. À travers une multitude de médias, son travail aborde les difficultés rencontrées par celles et ceux qui voyagent en Europe et en Méditerranée, en particulier la crise des réfugiés syriens. Son œuvre est un recueil d’histoires, mêlant récits collectifs et personnels.

Mounira Al Solh spent twenty-four hours with four women - Rogin, Waad, Hanin and Zeina - in the cities where they now live, Zutphen, Washington DC, Oslo and Sharjah respectively. All four of them can no longer live in their countries of origin, Syria and Lebanon. The film is an intimate shared experience of exile where the women, including the artist herself - also exiled - cook and share trivial and existential conversations about life. The work is an immensely sensitive take on sisterhood and exile.

Mounira Al Solh was born in 1978 in Beirut, Lebanon. She lives and works between Beirut and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Through a variety of media, Mounira Al Solh's work addresses the challenges of travel in Europe and in the Mediterranean, and particularly the Syrian refugee crisis. Her work is a collection of stories, both collective and personal.

Sara Sadik
Crystal Zastruga, 2023
12 min 19 sec
Courtesy of the artist

Crystal Zastruga fait partie de la série Xenon Palace sur la solitude de l’exil. D’après Sara Sadik, toutes ses histoires sont imprégnées du sentiment de solitude que les immigrants éprouvent, et en particulier les Arabes musulmans issus de la diaspora. Elle crée un monde parallèle où vivent les Xénons, des créatures fantastiques émergeant de volutes de fumée de narguilés. Elle nous emmène dans un endroit à mille lieues du monde réel, à travers la magie de l’enfance. Interprété par Émile-Samory Fofana, Zetrei est un homme solitaire qui a perdu sa famille et ses amis, et qui est forcé de vivre dans un monde dystopique, aliéné et étranger.

Sara Sadik est née en 1994 à Bordeaux, en France. Elle vit et travaille à Marseille, en France.
Elle puise son inspiration dans ce qu’elle appelle le « beurcore » : la culture de la jeunesse des quartiers populaires issus de la diaspora maghrébine. Elle s’attache à la documenter à travers des fictions et des mises en scène dans lesquelles elle est souvent l’une des interprètes.

Crystal Zastruga forms part of the Xenon Palace series, on the loneliness of exile. Sara Sadik's stories are all imbued with the sense of loneliness experienced by immigrants and particularly Muslim Arab men from the diaspora, she says. She creates a parallel world inhabited by fantastic smoky creatures, the Xenons, which appear from the fumes of hookahs (shishas). She takes us to a place far from the real world through the magic of childhood. Played by Émile- Samory Fofana, Zetrei is a lonely man who has lost his family and friends, forced to live in a foreign, dystopian and alienated world.

Sara Sadik was born in 1994 in Bordeaux, France. She lives and works in Marseille, France. Sara Sadik draws her inspiration from what she calls "beurcore": the youth culture of working-class neighborhoods of the North African diaspora, which she documents through fiction and stage productions and in which she often takes part as one of the performers.

Michelangelo Pistoletto

Love Difference - Mar Mediterraneo, 2003-2005
Mirror, wood, seats from various Mediterranean countries
495 x 218 cm
Courtesy Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella

A mirrored table in the shape of the Mediterranean basin, surrounded by chairs from the countries bordering this sea, is the symbol of Love Difference, an artistic movement for an inter-Mediterranean politics, first presented at the Venice Biennale in 2003. The movement," says the artist, "combines the universality of art with the idea of political transnationality, and concentrates its activity in the Mediterranean area because the problems of global society are reflected there. Uniformity and difference are the two antagonistic terms that represent the highest conflictual tension in today's geopolitical reality. A policy that leads to "loving differences" is vital for the development of new perspectives in society as a whole.

Born in Biella, Italy, in 1933. Lives and works in Turin, Italy. A leading figure in Italy's "Arte Povera" movement of the 1960s, Michelangelo Pistoletto is today one of the most influential artists on the world contemporary art scene. His work encompasses a wide range of media: self-portraits, photographs, sculptures, installations and plays, all reflecting the artist's conviction that art is intrinsically linked to society as a whole, and within everyone's reach.

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Michelangelo Pistoletto

Love Difference - Mar Mediterraneo, 2003-2005
Mirror, wood, seats from different mediterranean countries
495 x 218 cm
Courtesy Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella

A mirrored table in the shape of the Mediterranean basin, surrounded by chairs from the countries bordering this sea, is the symbol of Love Difference, an artistic movement for an intermediterranean politics, first presented at the 2003 Venice Biennale. "The movement" as the artist stated, "combines the universality of art with the idea of political transnationality and focuses its activity in the Mediterranean area because the problems of global society are reflected in it. Uniformity and difference are the two antagonistic terms that represent the highest conflicting tension in the current planetary reality. A policy that leads to 'loving differences' is vital for the development of new perspectives in the entire social structure."

Signboard signage

Art Explora Festival

Art Explora : who are we?

Program in Valletta

The museum boat

THE ART EXPLORA FESTIVAL ITINERARY

LEARNING RESOURCES

OUR AMBITION

ART EXPLORA ACADEMY

A SOUND JOURNEY THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN

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THE IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION PRESENT

See the exhibition booklet "Under the azure".

View the "Contre;Courant" exhibition booklet

Consult the educational booklet