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Still of video titled ‘Party on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image of a view of the Earth from outer space. Lands on the blue sphere are outlined in red. In the ocean area off an orange spot on the shore is a hemisphere outlined in orange, above which is the name CAPS in orange.

Meriem Bennani:
Life on the CAPS Trilogy

Details
Programme: Afterimage
Director: Meriem Bennani
Format: Digital / 75 min.
Language: Multiple (with English subtitles)
Audience: Everyone
Location: House 2
Accessibility: Wheelchair
More Info:

Ticket Information

Standard: HKD 85

Concession: HKD 68

Still of video titled ‘Party on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image of a view of the Earth from outer space. Lands on the blue sphere are outlined in red. In the ocean area off an orange spot on the shore is a hemisphere outlined in orange, above which is the name CAPS in orange.

Meriem Bennani:
Life on the CAPS Trilogy

Celebrating the playful yet incisive use of digital media and docu-fiction, artist Meriam Bennani takes audiences on a speculative, three-part worldbuilding project to explore issues around displacement, biotechnology, and digital culture. Capsule (CAPS), a fictional island located in the Atlantic Ocean, began as an internment camp for people who were apprehended while they attempted to cross international borders. Held captive and monitored by the state, subsequent generations—who are sometimes represented by digital crocodile avatars—have since thrived in a megalopolis where teleportation and changeable bodies are commonplace and diasporic folk traditions reemerge as forms of resistance.

Developed and completed during the recent pandemic, the CAPS film trilogy expands and deepens Bennani’s long-time preoccupation with creating virtualised approximations of contemporary realities. Working with friends and family who played versions of themselves, the artist creates a screen-based distance between experiencing forms of alienation, anxiety, and oppression, exerted by established geopolitical powers, bodily limitations, and the globalised media landscape. As an ultra-current allegory of the world, the Life on the CAPS trilogy offers alternative modes of movement within perpetual in-between states.

Still of video titled ‘Party on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image of a humanized crocodile standing upright in front of a mud-colour building. It has skin with embossed scales, protruding eyes, and a thin neck. With it looking into the camera with its mouth opened, the subtitle reads, ‘The CAPS is a place where having a body is never taken for granted!’

Meriem Bennani. Party on the CAPS, 2018–19. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Party on the CAPS’. Close-up shot of two women sitting on a sofa. The middle-aged woman on the left wears big gem earrings and a tall hair bun, leaning over to talk to the older woman beside her. The older woman wears pearl necklaces and a shiny sequin top. One of her ears radiates swirling purple light.

Meriem Bennani. Party on the CAPS, 2018–19. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Guided Tour of a Spill’. A computer-drawn image in red tone of five humanized crocodiles riding on an inflatable boat. Behind them is a huge ship painted with the word U.S. and splashing waves in orange. Some of the crocodiles are wide-eyed, appearing scared.

Meriem Bennani. Guided Tour of a Spill, 2021. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Guided Tour of a Spill’. On an exterior wall of a crude house hangs a light-blue cloth drawn with a green crocodile. At the front is a standing young man who is lifting up his tank top, showing the dark-green crocodile pattern on his chest.

Meriem Bennani. Guided Tour of a Spill, 2021. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Life on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image in red tone. In a mall-like space with signs that reads ‘fast food and pizza’, some humanized crocodiles sit at the tables, and one is walking with a food tray. A half-length portrait of a crocodile is hanging from the ceiling.

Meriem Bennani. Life on the CAPS, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Life on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image of a modern building under dim light, where a dozen of men stands side by side with a serious expression. In the front stands a young boy frowning and shouting at the camera. The subtitle reads, ‘Croco!’, where each character gets larger than the last one.

Meriem Bennani. Life on the CAPS, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Life on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image of a dim beach where ocean waves glows under the sunlight. Under a parasol sits two humanized crocodiles on chairs snuggling. Two other crocodiles are nearby, one of which is holding a surfboard. The subtitle reads, ‘where my parents grew up.’

Meriem Bennani. Life on the CAPS, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Party on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image of a humanized crocodile standing upright in front of a mud-colour building. It has skin with embossed scales, protruding eyes, and a thin neck. With it looking into the camera with its mouth opened, the subtitle reads, ‘The CAPS is a place where having a body is never taken for granted!’

Meriem Bennani. Party on the CAPS, 2018–19. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Party on the CAPS’. Close-up shot of two women sitting on a sofa. The middle-aged woman on the left wears big gem earrings and a tall hair bun, leaning over to talk to the older woman beside her. The older woman wears pearl necklaces and a shiny sequin top. One of her ears radiates swirling purple light.

Meriem Bennani. Party on the CAPS, 2018–19. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Guided Tour of a Spill’. A computer-drawn image in red tone of five humanized crocodiles riding on an inflatable boat. Behind them is a huge ship painted with the word U.S. and splashing waves in orange. Some of the crocodiles are wide-eyed, appearing scared.

Meriem Bennani. Guided Tour of a Spill, 2021. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Guided Tour of a Spill’. On an exterior wall of a crude house hangs a light-blue cloth drawn with a green crocodile. At the front is a standing young man who is lifting up his tank top, showing the dark-green crocodile pattern on his chest.

Meriem Bennani. Guided Tour of a Spill, 2021. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Life on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image in red tone. In a mall-like space with signs that reads ‘fast food and pizza’, some humanized crocodiles sit at the tables, and one is walking with a food tray. A half-length portrait of a crocodile is hanging from the ceiling.

Meriem Bennani. Life on the CAPS, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Life on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image of a modern building under dim light, where a dozen of men stands side by side with a serious expression. In the front stands a young boy frowning and shouting at the camera. The subtitle reads, ‘Croco!’, where each character gets larger than the last one.

Meriem Bennani. Life on the CAPS, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

Still of video titled ‘Life on the CAPS’. A computer-drawn image of a dim beach where ocean waves glows under the sunlight. Under a parasol sits two humanized crocodiles on chairs snuggling. Two other crocodiles are nearby, one of which is holding a surfboard. The subtitle reads, ‘where my parents grew up.’

Meriem Bennani. Life on the CAPS, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

About the Artist

Meriem Bennani (b. 1988, Morocco) is a Brooklyn—based artist whose practice ranges from video art to sculpture and installation. Often referencing globalised popular culture and the fractured states of modern society, Bennani’s works question individual agency and the pervasiveness of digital technology. Offering both critical and humorous perspectives around media and politics, Bennani’s diverse experiments in 3D animation, documentary films, music videos, and soap operas have been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, Fondation Louis Vuitton, and the Shanghai Biennale, among others.

Image at top: Meriem Bennani. Party on the CAPS, 2018–19. Photo: Courtesy of the artist; CLEARING, New York/Brussels; and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York

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