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 Tokyoâs fall exhibition Future, Former, Fugitive, devoted to âa French sceneâ 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.
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The Roof (2018) by Rayane Mcirdi is one of the pivotal works in âDĂ©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 â 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, jâai effectuĂ© une recherche curatoriale sur lâart contemporain, Ă Paris et Ă Montpellier, en mettant lâaccent sur la dĂ©colonisation et le postcolonialisme, dans le contexte des RĂ©sidences transatlantiques. Pendant mon sĂ©jour en France, jâai eu lâoccasion de participer au Focus arts visuels de lâInstitut français et de visiter de nombreuses expositions et ateliers dâartistes.
Par chance, lâexposition dâautomne du Palais de Tokyo Future, Former, Fugitive, consacrĂ©e à « une scĂšne française » coĂŻncide avec les activitĂ©s du Focus. La visite dans la banlieue, Ă Gennevilliers, dâune autre petite exposition trĂšs intĂ©ressante offrant un regard diffĂ©rent sur la scĂšne française sâest avĂ©rĂ©e rĂ©vĂ©latrice. OrganisĂ©e par lâartiste Mohamed Bourouissa et intitulĂ©e DĂ©solĂ©, elle a rassemblĂ© dix artistes qui sâexpriment Ă travers diffĂ©rents mĂ©diums. Leurs pratiques explorent les questions dâhybriditĂ©, de diaspora, de migration, dâhĂ©ritage et de pĂ©riphĂ©rie (banlieue). Il Ă©tait trĂšs rafraĂźchissant de dĂ©couvrir une autre perspective de la scĂšne artistique française. Les Ćuvres de Sara Sadik et Rayane Mcirdi illustrent la complexitĂ© de lâexposition et lâĂ©nergie qui sâen dĂ©gage.
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The Roof (2018) de Rayane Mcirdi est lâune des Ćuvres centrales de DĂ©solĂ© et une des premiĂšres que lâon voit en entrant dans lâexposition. Elle prĂ©sente quatre jeunes adultes sur le toit dâun immeuble dâhabitation. Ils sont assis, Ă tuer le temps, jouer Ă des jeux vidĂ©o, fumer, observer les allĂ©es. Lâun dâeuxâun narrateur en voix off â fait le rĂ©cit dâune 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 sâintĂ©resse Ă la maniĂšre dont les mĂ©dias imprĂšgnent lâinconscient collectif dans divers environnements sociaux et culturels.
Dominique Fontaine, 2020
Traduit de l’anglais par Elsa Maggion
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, weâll 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 â which have become anonymous to us â 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 Ăcole Nationale SupĂ©rieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2019. He has recently enjoyed his first solo exhibition, Le Croissant de Feu, Ă 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 sâancre dans le local : celui quâil connaĂźt et dans lequel il a grandi, celui des villes de Gennevilliers et dâAsniĂšres-sur-Seine dans lesquelles lui, sa famille et ses amis dâenfance habitent.
Rayane Mcirdi collectionne les paroles et les histoires. TantĂŽt anodines, tantĂŽt incroyables, toujours vraies et personnelles, celles-ci lâont fait rire, lâont Ă©tonnĂ© ou Ă©merveillĂ©, choquĂ© ou amusĂ©. Pourtant jamais nous ne connaĂźtrons ses rĂ©actions. Reproduisant les gestes de lâethnographe, lâartiste collecte, avec toute lâobjectivitĂ© que lui permettent ses outils. Dans une certaine Ă©conomie de moyens, Ă lâaide dâun enregistreur et dâune camĂ©ra, Rayane Mcirdi entreprend de vĂ©ritables enquĂȘtes de terrain.
TĂ©moins de modes dâĂȘtre au monde spĂ©cifiques, ces histoires â pour nous devenues anonymes â dessinent les contours dâune vaste mosaĂŻque humaine que lâartiste nous propose de dĂ©couvrir par fragments.
Les paroles jamais ne sont travesties, coupĂ©es, modifiĂ©es, ni Ă©crites Ă lâavance. Elles sont livrĂ©es telles quelles, toutes chaudes, telles quâon 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 (câest selon), elles livrent la matiĂšre dâhistoires Ă dĂ©crypter et sont matiĂšre Ă leur tour, celle dâune langue dont lâartiste entend dĂ©voiler toute lâampleur poĂ©tique.
Il est diplĂŽmĂ© de lâĂ©cole 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, Ă Fatima Mahli » 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 » en 2017, Ă lâexposition « Hamdoulah ça va » Ă Dada Ă Marrakech en 2019, Ă lâexposition « Dust » au Centre Pompidou en 2020.
Dominique Fontaine is a curator, consultant on contemporary art, media arts and arts management. In 2005, she founded aPOSteRIORi, a non-profit curatorial platform â 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 sâintĂ©resse Ă la recherche « curatoriale », et Ă lâinnovation 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 âLâAir de Rienâ and âSurfacesâ 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 doesnât 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.