This dramatic artwork showcases a striking contrast of light and shadow. The predominant warm, fiery hues create a sense of intensity and urgency, while the silhouetted figures suggest a mysterious narrative. The angular, abstract composition, punctuated by geometric shapes and patterns, evokes a sense of tension and unease. The artwork appears to comment on the fleeting nature of ideal conditions, perhaps alluding to the precarious circumstances faced by those seeking illegal relocation, as indicated by the text overlay. The artist's intention seems to be to provoke contemplation on the human experience of displacement and the ephemeral nature of hope. ...
Meriem Bennani’s work occupies the abstracted, speculative dimension of science fiction. Bennani became interested in the concept and feasibility of teleportation, as well as its relationship with issues of migration, during 2016. She considers how teleportation looks within the lens of geopolitics and, if bodies were able to teleport for one day, where would they go? How would this process be policed, and if teleporters were intercepted by law enforcement, where would they be held captive? In her films, Bennani mythologises and digitally renders an island in the Atlantic that would act as a ‘temporary’ holding area for captives. She fictionalises and weaves together a picture of the island’s ecology, visually realising the birth of a new culture that has emerged from the melting pot of diasporas held on the island. Bennani critically engages with the trauma and dystopia of border-crossing by creating and developing an elaborate and prescient analogy.
Written by Goldsmiths CCA ...
C L E A R I N G is a contemporary art gallery based in New York, Los Angeles and Brussels. The gallery was founded in 2011, with the focus of showing emerging art. It now represents over 20 living artists, providing many of them - such as Harold Ancart, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Chase Hall, Calvin Marcus and Marina Pinsky - with their first gallery exhibition. The gallery also represents the estates of Eduardo Paolozzi, Bruno Gironcoli and René Heyvaert. C L E A R I N G supports its artists by producing works, exhibitions and books, as well as working closely with public and private institutions. ...
