Studio visit, 2016

Single-channel video installation, Color, sound, 6 min.

I made this video after visiting the studio of an artist known in Morocco as « the artist that does not want to sell his work » and who works with fragile materials which disappear after a while. The video recalls the common practice of the studio visit between artist and art professional, where the artist is looking to inscribe her/his work in a specific system and discourse. Throughout the film, I’m interested in the status of art that does not inscribes itself in such a system. I wanted to put my own practice (and that of my generation) to question, and to confront it with another, fairly singular practice. The film cultivates and communicates this doubt, and instead of formulating stable truths and critiques, I wanted to question the process of art making, studio practice, the presentation of art, the discourse in art, art critique, the art market, … Throughout the video the artist and his work remain anonymous, to remind us of the art world system that often excludes anything that does not adhere to its norms or codes. The anonymity in this film seeks to show our difficulty to recognize and name that which escapes our context and perception.