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Rayane Mcirdi

by Dominique Fontaine

Rayane Mcirdi

par Dominique Fontaine

Last October and November, I did curatorial research on contemporary art, in Paris and in Montpellier, with a focus on decolonization and postcoloniality in the context of the Transatlantic Residencies. During my time in France, I had the opportunity to participate in the Visual Arts Focus of Institut français as well as visiting many exhibitions and artists studios.

Luckily, the Palais Tokyo’s fall exhibition Future, Former, Fugitive, devoted to “a French scene” coincides with the Focus activities. It was revealing to visit another very interesting and fascinating, small exhibition in the suburb of Gennevilliers that offers a different take on the French scene. Curated by the artist Mohamed Bourouissa and titled DĂ©solĂ©, the exhibition brought together ten artists working in a variety of mediums. Their practices explire questions of hybridity, diaspora migration, heritage and peripheries (suburb). It was very refreshing to have seen another perspective on the French artistic scene. The works of Sara Sadik and Rayane Mcirdi exemplify the complexity and the energy of the exhibition.

[…]

The Roof (2018) by Rayane Mcirdi is one of the pivotal works in “DĂ©solĂ©â€. One of the first work to be seen when entering the exhibition, it presents four young adults on the roof of an apartment building. They seat around, killing time, playing video games, smoking, looking down the aisles. At the same time, one of them – an off-voice narrator - tells a story of police and young people in the neighbourhood. The infamous 2015 riot is evoke. Epic proportions are interspersed with jokes and digressions. The video thus plays on our expectation, by subverting it its own codes. Brilliant!

Rayane Mcirdi is an emerging artist, who lives and works in Paris. Inspired by his suburban hometown of Gennevilliers, and popular media ranging from football to American blockbusters, Mcirdi investigates the ways in which media penetrates the collective unconscious in various social and cultural environments.

Dominique Fontaine, 2020

En octobre et novembre derniers, j’ai effectuĂ© une recherche curatoriale sur l’art contemporain, Ă  Paris et Ă  Montpellier, en mettant l’accent sur la dĂ©colonisation et le postcolonialisme, dans le contexte des RĂ©sidences transatlantiques. Pendant mon sĂ©jour en France, j’ai eu l’occasion de participer au Focus arts visuels de l’Institut français et de visiter de nombreuses expositions et ateliers d’artistes.

Par chance, l’exposition d’automne du Palais de Tokyo Future, Former, Fugitive, consacrĂ©e Ă  « une scĂšne française Â» coĂŻncide avec les activitĂ©s du Focus. La visite dans la banlieue, Ă  Gennevilliers, d’une autre petite exposition trĂšs intĂ©ressante offrant un regard diffĂ©rent sur la scĂšne française s’est avĂ©rĂ©e rĂ©vĂ©latrice. OrganisĂ©e par l’artiste Mohamed Bourouissa et intitulĂ©e DĂ©solĂ©, elle a rassemblĂ© dix artistes qui s’expriment Ă  travers diffĂ©rents mĂ©diums. Leurs pratiques explorent les questions d’hybriditĂ©, de diaspora, de migration, d’hĂ©ritage et de pĂ©riphĂ©rie (banlieue). Il Ă©tait trĂšs rafraĂźchissant de dĂ©couvrir une autre perspective de la scĂšne artistique française. Les Ɠuvres de Sara Sadik et Rayane Mcirdi illustrent la complexitĂ© de l’exposition et l’énergie qui s’en dĂ©gage.

[…]

The Roof (2018) de Rayane Mcirdi est l’une des Ɠuvres centrales de DĂ©solĂ© et une des premiĂšres que l’on voit en entrant dans l’exposition. Elle prĂ©sente quatre jeunes adultes sur le toit d’un immeuble d’habitation. Ils sont assis, Ă  tuer le temps, jouer Ă  des jeux vidĂ©o, fumer, observer les allĂ©es. L’un d’eux—un narrateur en voix off – fait le rĂ©cit d’une altercation entre la police et les jeunes du quartier. La tristement cĂ©lĂšbre Ă©meute de 2015 est Ă©voquĂ©e. Le caractĂšre Ă©pique de la narration est contrebalancĂ© par des blagues et des digressions. La vidĂ©o se joue ainsi de notre attente, en subvertissant ses propres codes. Brillant !

Rayane Mcirdi est un artiste Ă©mergent, qui vit et travaille Ă  Paris. InspirĂ© par sa ville natale de Gennevilliers, en banlieue parisienne, et par les mĂ©dias populaires, du football aux superproductions amĂ©ricaines, Rayane Mcirdi s’intĂ©resse Ă  la maniĂšre dont les mĂ©dias imprĂšgnent l’inconscient collectif dans divers environnements sociaux et culturels.

Dominique Fontaine, 2020

Traduit de l’anglais par Elsa Maggion

Rayane Mcirdi, Le Croissant de feu, filmstill of a video, 34:56, 2021 © Rayane Mcirdi

Rayane Mcirdi, Le Croissant de feu, filmstill of a video, 34:56, 2021 © Rayane Mcirdi

Rayane Mcirdi
Rayane Mcirdi

The artistic work of Rayane Mcirdi firmly takes its roots at grassroots: the local area he knows well and grew up in, that of the cities of Gennevilliers and AsniĂšres-sur-Seine, where he, his family, and childhood friends live.
Rayane Mcirdi collects voices and stories. Now anodyne, now incredible, but always real and personal, these have made him laugh, left him in awe, surprised, shocked, or amused him. However, we’ll never know his reactions. Imitating the action of the ethnographer, the artist collects, with all the objectivity his tools will allow. With a certain economy of means, using an audio recorder and a camera, Rayane Mcirdi undertakes genuine inquiries in the field.
Attesting to specific modes of being in the world, these stories – which have become anonymous to us – form the contours of a vast human mosaic that the artist suggests we discover in fragments.
The words are never deformed, cut off, modified, or written in advance. They are delivered as they are, hot off the press, as they have been entrusted to him and as one would share with a friend. Stammering, seasoned, slang-filled, typical, or stereotypical (it depends), they deliver the material of stories to be deciphered that thus become a new material in turn: that of a language whose full poetic scope the artist aims to reveal.
He graduated from the École Nationale SupĂ©rieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2019. He has recently enjoyed his first solo exhibition, Le Croissant de Feu, À Fatima Mahli at the Galerie Edouard-Manet in Gennevilliers in 2021; notably participated in the thirteenth Sharjah Biennale in Beirut, Lebanon, An unpredictable expression of human potential in 2017; in the Hamdoulah ça va exhibition at Dada, Marrakech, in 2019; in the Dust exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in 2020.

Le travail artistique de Rayane Mcirdi s’ancre dans le local : celui qu’il connaĂźt et dans lequel il a grandi, celui des villes de Gennevilliers et d’AsniĂšres-sur-Seine dans lesquelles lui, sa famille et ses amis d’enfance habitent.

Rayane Mcirdi collectionne les paroles et les histoires. TantĂŽt anodines, tantĂŽt incroyables, toujours vraies et personnelles, celles-ci l’ont fait rire, l’ont Ă©tonnĂ© ou Ă©merveillĂ©, choquĂ© ou amusĂ©. Pourtant jamais nous ne connaĂźtrons ses rĂ©actions. Reproduisant les gestes de l’ethnographe, l’artiste collecte, avec toute l’objectivitĂ© que lui permettent ses outils. Dans une certaine Ă©conomie de moyens, Ă  l’aide d’un enregistreur et d’une camĂ©ra, Rayane Mcirdi entreprend de vĂ©ritables enquĂȘtes de terrain.

TĂ©moins de modes d’ĂȘtre au monde spĂ©cifiques, ces histoires – pour nous devenues anonymes – dessinent les contours d’une vaste mosaĂŻque humaine que l’artiste nous propose de dĂ©couvrir par fragments.

Les paroles jamais ne sont travesties, coupĂ©es, modifiĂ©es, ni Ă©crites Ă  l’avance. Elles sont livrĂ©es telles quelles, toutes chaudes, telles qu’on les lui a confiĂ©es et comme on les partagerait Ă  un.e ami.e. Balbutiantes ou assurĂ©es, argotiques, typiques, stĂ©rĂ©otypĂ©es (c’est selon), elles livrent la matiĂšre d’histoires Ă  dĂ©crypter et sont matiĂšre Ă  leur tour, celle d’une langue dont l’artiste entend dĂ©voiler toute l’ampleur poĂ©tique.

Il est diplĂŽmĂ© de l’école nationale supĂ©rieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris en 2019. Il a rĂ©cemment bĂ©nĂ©ficiĂ© de sa premiĂšre exposition personnelle, « Le Croissant de Feu, À Fatima Mahli Â» Ă  la galerie Edouard-Manet Ă  Gennevilliers en 2021, et a notamment participĂ© Ă  la 13Ăšme Biennale de Sharjah Ă  Beyrouth au Liban, « An unpredictable expression of human potential Â» en 2017, Ă  l’exposition « Hamdoulah ça va Â» Ă  Dada Ă  Marrakech en 2019, Ă  l’exposition « Dust Â» au Centre Pompidou en 2020.

Dominique Fontaine
Dominique Fontaine

Dominique Fontaine is a curator, consultant on contemporary art, media arts and arts management. In 2005, she founded aPOSteRIORi, a non-profit curatorial platform – researching, documenting, developing, producing and facilitating innovation in diverse contemporary art practices.

Dominique Fontaine est commissaire, expert-conseil en art contemporain, en arts mĂ©diatiques et en gestion des arts. Elle dirige, depuis 2005, aPOSteRIORi, une structure Ă  but non lucratif qui s’intĂ©resse Ă  la recherche « curatoriale Â», et Ă  l’innovation dans les domaines de la documentation, du dĂ©veloppement, de la production et de la promotion de diverses pratiques artistiques contemporaines.

The paintings from the series ‘L’Air de Rien’ and ‘Surfaces’ are evocations of a fluid world. It seems as if paint and support have briefly solidified before the paint continues to drip, curve and flow. For Robbe, fluidity represents freedom. He doesn’t want to control the creative process but prefers letting things run their course and to leave things to drift. Not one sketch precedes these paintings. It arises in the here and now by anticipating what happens with the material.

JĂ©rĂŽme Robbe, Nanda Janssen