Meriem Bennani: For My Best Family

Utilizing mediums as diverse as mechanized flip-flops and animated film, Bennani takes a playful, ultra-contemporary approach to the representation of global cultures on social mediaThis publication documents, analyzes and comments on new works by New York-based Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani (born 1988) in relation to her previous production and the cultural context in which she works. Bennani's works explore the potential of storytelling while amplifying reality through a strategy of fantastical imagery and humor, juxtaposing and mixing the language of YouTube videos, reality TV, documentaries and animation. Throughout her career, she has developed a shape-shifting practice of films, sculptures and immersive installations questioning contemporary society and its fractured identities, gender issues and dominance of digital technologies. Combining a new site-specific, large-scale installation with an art film codirected with Orian Barki, the project documented here, her most ambitious, explores ways of being together in public and intimate sociopolitical settings.