Meriem Bennani

Join artist Meriem Bennani for a screening of her works Party on the CAPS (2018), Guided Tour of a Spill (2021), and 2 Lizards (co-directed with Orian Barki, 2020).

Presented in partnership with the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, in conjunction with the exhibition Meriem Bennani, on view February 26 to April 17, and the Open Practice Committee in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.

Free for SAIC and University of Chicago students, $5 for SAIC/AIC faculty and staff, and $12 for the general public.

Visitors must provide proof of vaccination (or negative PCR test) and wear a mask at all times. For more information, please visit the Gene Siskel Film Center’s COVID-19 page.

The Film Center is fully ADA accessible. Theaters are hearing loop equipped. CATE events are presented with real-time captions (CART). For other accessibility requests, please visit saic.edu/access or write cate@saic.edu.

In her genre-bending and often absurdly funny videos, Rabat-born, New York–based artist Meriem Bennani fuses the languages of reality television, social media, and 3D animation to explore such weighty topics as biopolitics, virtuality, and globalism. In conjunction with the exhibition of her latest film Life on the CAPS at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Bennani presents a selection of related works. Party on the CAPS (2018) and Guided Tour of a Spill (2021) introduce viewers to a speculative future where teleportation has replaced air travel and a small island in the Atlantic is a creolized megacity populated by detained migrants. 2 Lizards (2020), her collaboration with filmmaker Orian Barki, chronicles the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolded in real time. Originally released bi-weekly on Instagram, the series captures the surreality of lockdown and the growing social fissures exacerbated by systemic inequities and racism.

2018–2021, USA, Morocco, ca. 64 minutes plus discussion
Digital video
In Arabic, English, and French with English subtitles

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ABOUT

Spanning video, sculpture, multimedia installation, drawing, and social media, Meriem Bennani’s often satiric and humorous works draw from globalized popular culture and Moroccan history. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at C L E A R I N G, Brooklyn; The Kitchen, New York; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Art Dubai; MoMA PS1, New York; and SIGNAL, Brooklyn. Her work has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial, New York; Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Geneva/Turin; Public Art Fund, New York; Shanghai Biennale; Jewish Museum, New York; Saatchi Gallery, London; MANA Contemporary, New Jersey; and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Bennani’s work is part of the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris; Kadist, Paris; and FRAC Ile-de-France, Paris.