Mounir Fatmi

Mounir Fatmi
Mounir Fatmi in 2015
Born	1970 (1970) Tangier, Morocco
Nationality	Moroccan
Known for	Contemporary art

Mounir Fatmi (born 1970 in Tangier, Morocco) is a Moroccan artist who lives and works in Paris. He studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. His multimedia practice encompasses video, installation, drawing, painting and sculpture. He works on obsolete materials and their uncertain futures, he criticizes the illusory mechanisms that bind humanity to technology, ideologies and their influences in a society in crisis.

In 2006, he won the Uriöt prize, Amsterdam, the grand prize of the Dakar Biennial and the Cairo Biennial Award in 2010.

Biography

Childhood

Mounir Fatmi was born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1970. He spent his childhood in the district of Casabarata, playing in the giant flea market, where his mother sold clothes for children. The flea market, a chaotic world where everyday consumer goods, images and sounds abound, it is seen by the artist as an open-air museum in ruins, full of obsolete and abandoned objects and becomes soon his first art school.

In 1975 his family moved to Casablanca, first in the district of the Old Medina, street of the consulate of England, district called La Croix-Rouge. During his adolescence he discovers the city and its architecture: the Sidi Bousmara square, the Sidi Allal Karouani mausoleum, the Zaouiat Darkaouia, the Imperial cinema, the Central Hotel, the fortifications of the Sqala, the Zerktouni garden.

Artistic education

In 1987, he leaves Morocco and his family environment to go to Italy. He enrolled as a student at the Free School of Nude and Engraving at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. During the years of his artistic studies he questions the issue of individual identity and begins to reflect on the role of the artist in a society in crisis.

In 1989, back in Casablanca, he attended the art school for one single term. When he returns to Tangier in 1990, he is interested in the architecture of his childhood home and some decorative elements that will mark him visibly: a photograph of King Mohammed V, an Arabic calligraphy and a copy of the Koran that he was forbidden to touch when he was a child.

Here, he meet the Moroccan writer Mohamed Choukri who introduces him to the American writer Paul Bowles, thanks to whom he discovers the writings of Brion Gysin, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Jean Genet. The discovery of the Beat Generation literature is a great source of artistic and intellectual inspiration and it is what opens the door to the desire to travel and experiment.

The same year, he make his first installations and research in video, as well as his first major series of paintings, Fragile / Communication (1990-1996).

Professional career

1990-1995

In 1990 he works as artistic director in an advertising agency in Casablanca. By promoting consumer products, he experiments the rhetorical power of advertising and the influence of images on the consumer public and he develops a critical awareness of the aesthetic strategies of communication and information flow. He begins the iconographic project The Fourth Cover, inspired by his professional experience and advertising rhetoric.

In 1993 he receives the first prize at the 3rd Biennial of Young Moroccan Painting, for the serie Fragile / Communication and on this occasion he meets Catherine David, president of the jury. Immediately after, he begins The Antibiotics, evolutionary series of 141 paintings, which he shows to witnesses in exchange for their photographic portrait.

In 1995, he becomes known outside of Morocco thanks to his work with videos. He is selected at the international videokunstpreis at the ZKM3 in Karlsruhe.

1996-2000

Fatmi at Dakar Biennale in 2000 (with Goddy Leye and Sandrine Dole)

In 1996, he left his position as artistic director in advertising and he multiplies his artistic projects. He begins the series of paintings No Witness and Obliteration Memorizing. Spectators are invited to contemplate the works done before they are covered with several layers of white paint. The performance establishes a clear line of separation between "Those who have seen" and "Those who have not seen" the works before their erasure. The witnesses of the paintings are finally photographed and their portraits are placed alongside the works stamped Painted, Seen, Erased. A year later, he realizes the Coma performance, during which canvases were shown to witnesses before being wrapped and packed in clear plastic covers. In the meantime, he finishes the video Arabesque, a tribute to Jackson Pollock, and he wins the Audience Award at the 4th Casablanca Video Art Festival.

He starts traveling all over Europe, winning prizes and special mentions for his videos. In 1998, he wins the Special Mention of the 3rd International New Film Festival in Split in Croatia, the Prize for the best video creation at the International Video Festival in the Canary Islands and the special Jury Prize at the 16th Video Art Festival, in Estavar-Llivia in Spain for the video Survival signs.

In 1999 he meets the curator Jean-Louis Froment and takes part in the exhibition "L'objet désorienté" at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, where he made the sculpture Connections, tribute to Jackson Pollock using over five hundred meters of antenna cables on walls and floors.

In 2000 he receives two fellowships and residency in France and He participates in several exhibitions in Europe and in the United States: Art Video TV Biennal in Bologna, Italy, MAMAC Auditorium, in Nice, France and Society for Cinema Studies, in Chicago, USA. He is invited by Tarik el Haik and Edith Cramer at the University of California at Berkeley California and at the San Francisco Pacific Film Archive for the projection of his videos grouped under the title Rehearsing Arab Identity. He is selected at the 5th Dakar Biennale, where he meets the curator Simon Njami.

2001-2010

In 2003, the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art in Zürich devotes a personal exhibition to him under the title Obstacles. He meets Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden, from the conceptual group Art & Language.

The following year, he is invited by Simon Njami and Jean-Hubert Martin to participate in the exhibition Africa remix, at the museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, the Hayward gallery in London, the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, the Mori art museum in Tokyo, the Moderna musset in Stockholm, and the Johannesburg Art Gallery in Johannesburg.

In 2006 he receives a scholarship from the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam where he receives the Uriôt Prize and exhibits the installation "Out of History" using the Black Panthers archives and FBI documents. He also participates in the 7th Dakar Biennale and he receives the Grand Prix Leopold Sedar Senghor for his installation Out of History.

He starts a series of trips to the United States where he has his first solo exhibitions in American galleries: "Fuck architects, chapter I" at the Lombard-freid project in New York and "Something is possible" at Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Santa Monica.

The video Embargo, made in 1997, is part of the programming "Paradise Now! Essential French Avant-garde Cinema 1890-2008", at the Tate Modern in London.

In 2010, he is selected for several biennials and he receives the Cairo Biennial Prize at the 12th International Biennale in Cairo.

2011-Present

From 2011 begins a period of censorship for the artist. The installation The Lost Springs is removed from the selection of the 11th Biennale of Havana, and censored after only three hours of exposure to the International Fair Art Dubai. Only one year later, the installation Technology, inspired by Marcel Duchamp and Arabic calligraphy, is censored during the event "L'Histoire est à moi!", organized on the occasion of the Spring of September in Toulouse. Also the video Sleep - Al Naim, where the writer Salman Rushdie is represented sleeping through a computer graphic work, is censored in several Arab countries and in Europe. To respond to the attacks of censorship, he collaborates with the philosopher Ariel Kyrou for the writing of the book Ceci n'est pas un blasphème.

His work Modern Times, a History of the Machine is selected for the Jameel Prize 3 of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, in 2013, and is exhibited in group shows related to this award at the [[Hermitage-Kazan]] in Kazan, at the Moscow Manege in Moscow, at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization in Sharjah and at National Library, Singapore in Singapore.

In 2014 Modern Times, A history of the Machine is projected on the facade of the Grand Palais in Paris, on the occasion of the event Art Paris.

In 2016, he launches the project of traveling exhibitions The Exile Pavilion and he organizes the first stage at the National Archives Museum in Paris. He is selected for the exhibition Fundamental at the 5th Mediations Biennale of Poznan and for the Triennial of Setouchi Awashima Community Area in Japan. In 2017, he participates in the exhibition The Absence of Paths: 1st Tunisian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.

Work

Mounir Fatmi’s work deals with the historical matters, religious objects and their desecration, dismantling dogmas and ideologies and the relation of death with the subject of consumption. His installations and films have the specificity to be produced with archaic and outdated material, such as VHS tapes.

Mounir Fatmi is largely influenced by September 11 attacks. He produced a series of installations named Save Manhattan. These artworks show the Manhattan skyline including the destroyed World Trade Center towers. Save Manhattan 1 is made with books, Save Manhattan with videotapes and Save Manhattan 3 is a sound installation with speakers. The ultimate contribution to this project is a video where the skyline progressively dissolves itself in distorted liquefied reflection.

Many of Mounir Fatmi’s works are seen as subversive, such as his Brainteaser for moderate Muslim, a series of Rubik's Cubes painted in black with white stripes to imitate the Kaaba in Mecca. As a reaction to the Arab Spring, he exhibited The Lost Spring, an installation composed of 2 brooms of 3 meters and the 22 flags of the Arab league.

Awards

• Shortlisted Jameel Prize 3, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2014
• Prize of the Biennale, International Cairo Biennale, Giza, 2011
• Cairo Biennial Prize, 2010
• Grand Prix Léopold Sédar Senghor at the 7th Dakar Biennial, 2006
• Winner of the Uriôt Prize, Amsterdam, 2006
• Special Mention - 3rd International New Film Festival, Split, 1998
• Winner of the prize for Video-creation, Canarias Mediafest, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1998
• Special Jury Prize ex-aequo - 16th video art festival, Estavar-Llivia, 1998
• 1st prize - 3rd Biennal of young painting, Wafabank Foundation, Casablanca, 1993

Exhibitions

Solo Show (selection)

2015

• Permanent Exiles, MAMCO, Geneva
• History is not mine, Metavilla, Bordeaux
• Art et Patrimoine: C'est encore la nuit, Prison Qara - Institut Français de Meknès, Morocco
• Modern Times, Miami Beach Urban Studios Gallery - Florida International University, Miami Beach
• Constructing Illusion, Analix Forever, Geneva

2016

• The Index and The marchine, ADN Platform, San Cugat del Vallès
• A Savage Mind, Keitelman Gallery, Bruxelles
• Depth of Field, Labanque, Béthune
• Darkening Process, The Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts, Marrakech

2017

• Transition State, Officine dell'Immagine, Milan
• Peripheral Vision, Art Front Gallery, Tokyo
• (IM)possible Union, Analix Forever Gallery, Geneva
• Survival Signs, Jane Lombard Gallery, New York
• Le Pavillon de l’exil, Galerie Delacroix, Tanger
• Fragmented Memory, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
• Inside the Fire Circle, Lawrie Shabibi , Dubai

2018

• The Human Factor, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo
• The Day of the Awakening, CDAN Museum - Centro de Arte Y Naturaleza, Huesca
• 180° Behind Me, Göteborgs Konsthall, Göteborg

2019

• The White Matter, Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière, Paris
• The Process, Wilde Gallery, Geneva
• Keeping Faith - Keeping Drawing, Analix Forever, Geneva

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2015

• Diverse works: Director's Choice, 1997-2015, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn
• Jameel Prize 3, Sharjah Museum, Sharjah
• Jameel Prize 3, The National Library, Singapore
• Fotofest 2014: Views from the inside, ADMAF, Abu Dhabi
• Art et Prison - We only exist when we create, Contemporary Istanbul, Istanbul
• The Migrant (Moving) Image, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam
• Who said tomorrow doesn't exist?, 1st Trio Biennial, Rio de Janeiro

2016

• Cut up/cut out, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek
• Al-tiba9, Bardo National Museum, Alger
• Nothing but blue skies, retour sur l'image médiatique du 11 septembre, Arles 2016 - Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles
• Setouchi Art, Isetan Mitsukoshi, Tokyo
• On the Origins of Art, MONA - Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart
• Setouchi Art, Isetan Mitsukoshi, Tokyo

2017

• 57th Venice Bienale 2017, NSK State Pavilion, Venice
• Cut Up/Cut Out , Huntsville Museum of Art , Huntsville
• Saout Africa(s) - SAVVY Funk - Documenta 14, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin
• Cut Up / Cut Out, Bellevue Arts Museum
• State of the World, H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City
• Diaspora Now, Gifu Museum, Gifu

2018

• Cut Up/Cut Out, Museum of Arts & Sciences, Daytona Beach
• Revolution Generations, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha
• Second Life, Musée d'Art Contemporain Africain Al Maaden (MACAAL), Marrakech
• EXOTIC × MODERN: French Art Deco and inspiration afar, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo
• People Get Ready, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham
• Un œil ouvert sur le monde arabe, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
• Cut Up/Cut Out , Ellen Noël Art Museum, Odessa
• Scripted Reality, 10 Hanover, London
• Le Pavillon de l'Exil - Off de la Biennale de Dakar, Institut Français de Saint Louis, Saint Louis
• Cut Up/Cut Out , Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola

2019

• Silent Narratives, Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan
• Al-Tiba9, MAMA, Algiers
• Prête-moi ton Rêve, Musée de Civilisations noires de Dakar, Dakar
• Miroir collectif, Musée Bank Al-Maghrib, Rabat
• The I is Always in the Field of the Other, Evliyagil Museum, Ankara
• Une collection d'art contemporain, Musée des Beaux-arts de Carcassonne, Carcassonne
• Collecting in the 21st century, If an accumulation reflects a life, Collection Lambert, Avignon
• Cut Up/Cut Out, AMoA-Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo

Biennals and Triennals

2015

• Telling Time, 10eme Biennale Africaine de la Photographie, Bamako
• Between the Pessimism of the Intellect and the Optimism of the Will, 5th Thessaloniki Biennale, Thessaloniki

2016

• Fundamental, 5th Mediations Biennale 2016, Poznań
• Setouchi Triennale 2016, Awashima Community Area, Japan

2017

• Tunisian Pavilion, The Absence of Paths, 57a Biennale di Venezia 2017, Venezia
• 7eme Biennale d'Architecture de Shenzhen, Nantou Old Town, Shenzhen
• Rencontres de Bamako, 11eme Biennale Africaine de la Photographie, Bamako

2018

• Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale, Echigo Tsumari, Niigata
• Biennale Agora d'Architecture de Rabat, Culée Creuse, Rabat
• L'heure Rouge/The Red Hour, 13eme Biennale de Dakar, Dakar

2019

• Setouchi Triennale 2019, Awashima Island, Awashima, Japan
• SCREEN IT - Stadstriennale Hasselt Genk 5, Hasselt, Hasselt

Publications

• Mounir Fatmi (Le Parvis centre d'art contemporain, 2006)
• Hard Head (Lowave, 2006)
• Fuck the Architect (Lowave, 2009)
• Megalopolis (AKBank Sanat, 2010)
• Ghosting (studio mounir fatmi, 2011)
• Suspect Language (Skira Editore, 2012)
• The Kissing Precise (LaMuette, 2014)
• History is not mine (Rencontres de Bamako, 2015)
• Survival Signs (SF publishing, 2017)
• The Missing Show (SF publishing, 2018)
• 180° Behind Me, mounir fatmi, SF Publishing (2019)
• The Day of the Awakening, mounir fatmi, SF Publishing (2019)
• The White Matter, SF Publishing (2019)
• The Process, SF Publishing (2019)
• The Index and The Machine, (2020)
• Keeping Faith, Keeping Drawing (2020)
• Transition State (2020)
• Peripheral Vision (2020)
• Fragmented Memory (2020)
• A Savage Mind (2020)
• They were blind, they only saw images (2020)

External links

• Website of mounir fatmi
• mounir fatmi profile page at Artfacts.com
• mounir fatmi at Analix Forever
• mounir fatmi at Paradise Row
• Edge Of Arabia - Contemporary art and creative movements from the Arab World