Meriem Bennani: Life on the CAPS

7 May-4 Sep 2022

Overview

Nottingham Contemporary presents Life on the CAPS, the New York-based Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani’s largest solo exhibition in the UK. Bennani’s acclaimed eight-channel video installation Party on the CAPS (2018–19) will be shown for the first time in the UK, alongside its newly commissioned sequel, Bennani’s most ambitious film to date.

Bennani’s films follow the inhabitants of a fictional island in the middle of the Atlantic. Over three generations, what started as an internment camp on the island of the CAPS has developed into a bustling, geographically-isolated megalopolis where refugees and immigrants – who ‘illegally’ teleport across oceans and borders – are held by the state. The sequel – a collaboration with musician and producer Fatima Al Qadiri – continues Bennani’s exploration of displacement and biotechnology. Themes of privacy, protest and public gathering emerge through playful animation, with Bennani offering joy and humor as forms of resistance.

The sequel to Party on the CAPS (2018–19) is a co-commission with The Renaissance Society, Chicago where it will be presented 26 February – 17 April 2022.
 

Artists