younes baba-ali visual & sound artist
Contents
1. younes baba al VPS rer So Cre e 37 te Gol MM Cover Untitled megaphones 2014 Exhibition view Art Contest Centrale for Contemporary Art Brussels Be Younes Baba Ali eno Younes Baba Ali makes art that is unconventional intelligent and critical mostly in public space or places uncommon to art practice He is a sharp observer and raises pertinent questions aimed at society the institution and above all his audience As a free thinker he holds a mirror up to society and confronts it with its ingrained habits and dysfunctions Baba Ali s work often assumes the form of the readymade but underneath its facade of simplicity there is a complex exercise in balance at work As an artist alchemist he measures and mixes technology objects sound video and photography with political social and ecological issues The resulting installations discreetly coerce the unsuspecting viewer into taking a stand Baba Ali shuns no controversy and often finds himself negotiating his art and its rationale with his environment His works are context specific and take their final form in dialogue with its spectators This at times disruptive intervention art confronts the viewer in an ironical way with himself and his environment Baba Ali presents people dilemmas and taboos and challenges them to rejact In this way he makes them his accomplices in acts of artistic guerrilla that unite the establishment and the common man Born i2. curator Kisito Assangni Kunsthalle Sao Paulo Br 2013 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni Motorenhalle Dresden De 2013 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni Malmo Konsthall Malmo Se 2013 Focus Hors Pistes invited by Simohammed Fettaka Centre Pompidou Paris Fr 2012 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni Centro Arte Contemporanea Ticino Bellinzona Ch 2012 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni National Centre for Contemporary Arts Moscow Ru 2012 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni Pori Art Museum Pori Fi 2012 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni Torrance Art Museum Torrance California USA 2012 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni Lu C C A Lucca It 2012 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni Arena 1 Gallery Santa Monica Los Angeles USA 2012 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni AIVA Angelholm Se 2011 Proyector curator Mario Guti rrez Cru Visual Container Milan It 2010 Festival linternational d Art Vid o de Casablanca 17th edition curated by IRISSON Casablanca Ma 2009 FIAV 9th edition curated by Fatima Mazmouz Zoo Center Catania It Organisation Curating 2014 Here Now Where co curator with Anna Raimondo 5th Marrakech Biennial Marrakech Ma 2012 Moroccan Mix Sound art selection from Morocco co curator with Anna Raimondo Victoria amp Albert Museum London UK Mobile Radio 30th S o Paulo Bienal S o Paulo Br Centrale for Contemporary Art Brussels Be
3. 2012 PLPAC co organizer with Simohamed Fettaka French Institute 4 Le Cube Rabat Ma 2012 DVD Project Morocco International Video Art Platform co curator with Simohamed Fettaka 2010 Paysages Intimes curatorial proposal of video art Art Space of Soci t G n rale Casablanca Ma 2010 Dialogue curatorial proposal of video art Proyector 3th edition Madrid Es 2009 Saout Meeting co organisation amp coordination with In Sonora Sound Art Meeting Tetouan Ma 2009 White Night of Burgos curator for the French selection of the DVD Project Espacio Tangente Burgos Es 2009 Proyector Curator for the French selection of the DVD Project Espacio Menos Uno Madrid Es 2009 DVD Project Curator for the French selection Le Syndicat Potentiel Strasbourg Fr 2009 In Sonora Jury for the sound and interactive art festival In Sonora V Madrid Es 2008 Festival de Coutures Co organisation Halle des Chars Strasbourg Fr Education 2011 Master of Fine Arts Ecole Sup rieure d Art Aix en Provence Fr 2008 Bachelor of Fine Arts Ecole Sup rieure des Arts D coratifs Strasbourg Fr 2008 2009 Erasmus exchange in the Fine Art Academy of Wroclaw PI 2005 Technical French Baccalaur at in Visual Communication Highschool la Joliverie Nantes Fr 2003 Professional Certificate in Visual Communication Highschool La Joliverie Nantes Fr Catalogue produit par la Ville de
4. 2013 Traduction tradition trahison curator Anna Raimondo amp Maria I igo Clavo Le Cube Rabat Ma 2012 Travail mode d emploi curator Charles Olivier Gohy Centrale for Contemporary Art Brussels Be 2012 Retour de Biennale Galerie Ch teau de Servi res Marseille Fr 2012 Disorder Fabrica del Vapore curator Marco Trulli amp Claudio Zecchi Milan It 2012 WEYA New Art Exchange curator Marco Trulli amp Claudio Zecchi Nottingham UK 2012 PLPAC French Institute Gallery Rabat Ma 2012 Between Walls curator Yasmina Naji Rabat Ma 2012 Arrivi e partenze Mole Vanvitelliana curator Elletra Stamboulis Ancona It 2012 A5x2 curator Nancy Suarez amp Mehdi Georges Lahlou MAAC Brussels Be 2011 6 Heures de Vid os curator Sandrine Wymann amp Val rie Perrin Kunsthalle Mulhouse Fr 2011 Von Tieren Elektronen und anderen L gen curator Katharina Dunst Haus f r elektronische K nste Basel Ch 2011 Regionale 12 curator Sophie Kauffenstein amp Philippe Lepeut Acc lerateur de Particules Strasbourg Fr 2011 A time to migrate a time to nest curator Cl ment Stehlin FabrikCulture H genheim Fr 2011 lle Flottante curator Valentina Barbagallo amp Tiziano Perugini Abadir Catania Farm Cultural Park Favara It 2011 Surveill e s curator Abdellah Karroum La Halle Pont en Royans Fr 2011 Studio Dispatches curator V
5. curator Victoria Brooks Sketch Gallery London UK 2009 Diff rence R znica Wro Art Center Wroclaw Pl Group Exhibitions 2014 Between us curator Sabrina Amrani Etopia Zaragoza Es 2014 YICCA Lugano Innovation Lab Lugano Ch 2014 Celeste Prize Assab One Milan It 2014 Art Contest curator Val rie Boucher Centrale for Contemporary Art Brussels Be 2014 1914 2014 cent ans de cr ation curator Mohamed Rachdi Museum Mohammed VI Rabat Ma 2014 Digital Africa The Future is Now curator Christine Eyene Southbank Centre London UK 2014 Marseille R sonance curator Samar Khedy MuCEM Marseille Fr 2014 Strange Paradoxe curator Florence Renault Darsi Hassan Darsi 4 Jean Roch MuCEM Marseille Fr 2014 Strange Paradoxe Off curator Florence Renault Darsi 8 Hassan Darsi Masna Casablanca Ma 2014 If You re So Smart Why Aren t You Rich curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung amp Pauline Doutre luingne L ESAV Marrakech Ma 2014 Nass Belgica curator Marie Papazoglou Botanique Brussels Be 2014 Prix M diatine curator Solange Wonner La M diatine Brussels Be 2013 Augmented Spatiality curator Mar a Andueza Konstapoteket Stockholm Se 2013 Big Bang Gallery Arte Boccanera Trento It 2013 Not a group show Gallery Arte Contemporanea Brussels Be 2013 Carte Blanche Ker Thiossane Dakar Sn
6. Bruxelles dans le cadre de l exposition Brussels Background Exposition personnelle comissari par Hicham Khalidi du 21 11 2014 au 20 12 2014 a la Maison d Art Actuel des Chartreux Bruxelles Be Une initiative de Faouzia Hariche chevine de l Instruction Publique de la Jeunesse et de la Petite enfance de la Ville de Bruxelles Remerciements Nancy Su rez Directrice de la Maison d Art Actuel des Chartreux Mohamed Ikoubaan Directeur du MOUSSEM Centre d Art Nomade Co production Cr dits textes Kathleen Weyts Alya Sebti R dition et correction des textes Anna Raimondo Pascal Nicolas Mise en page Philippe Henrard Younes Baba Ali Contacts info younesbabaali com www younesbabaali com Younes Baba Ali est un artiste r sident au Moussem Centre d Art Nomade Anvers Be et repr sent par la Voice Gallery Marrakech Ma RUE DES CHARTREUX 26 28 BRUKELLES 1000 IST KARTUIZERS MAISON ART ACTUEL GHARTREUK HEDENDAAGSE KUNST KARTUIZERS MAISON ART ACTUE IS KUNST KARTUIZERS MAISON ART ACTUEL CHARTREUR HUIS HEDENDAAGSE KUNST KARTUIZER ART ACTUEL CHARTREUX HUIS HEDENDAAGSE KARTUIZERS MAISON ART ACTUEL CHARTREUX HUIS HEDE IGSE KUNST KARTUIZERS MAISON ART ACTUEL CHARTREUA HUIS HEDENDAAGSE KUNST MAISO DIR NANCY SU REZ 32 0 2 513 14 69 maac brucity he www maac be e BRUx E FEDERATION NALLONHE BEAT Ry M x 40 B RUS diteur responsable Faouzia Hariche H tel de Vill
7. Gallery Arte Contemporanea Brussels Bolzano It Residencies 2014 15 Moussem Nomadic Arts Center Antwerp Be 2014 MAAC Maison d Art Actuel des Chartreux Brussels Be 2014 Le Maroc et ses cultures L ESAV Marrakech Ma 2014 Le Maroc et ses cultures Le Cube Rabat Ma 2014 Strange Paradoxe La source du lion Casablanca Ma 2013 Pas de deux Villa Romana Florence It 2013 Vives voix Dakar Sn 2008 Wro Art Center New Media Art Center Wroclaw Pl 2009 Potsdam Fabrik for the solo dance project Mimesis of Simona Ferrar Potsdam De 2009 La Casa Encendida for the solo dance project Mimesis of Simona Ferrar Madrid Es Art Prize 2014 Art Contest 1st Prize Boghossian Brussels Be 2014 F d ration Wallonie Bruxelles Prix M diatine 2014 Brussels Be 2012 L opold S dar Senghor 1st Prize of Dak Art 2012 10th Biennial of contemporary African Art Dakar Sn 2010 The Glocal Rookie of the Year 2nd Prize Kunstart 10 Bolzano It Screenings 2014 1 54 Film Screenings Somerset House London UK 2014 Moussem in Hetbos Hetbos Antwerp Be 2014 Videonomad curator Alina d Alva and Tobi Ayedadjou Raw Material Company Dak Art Off Dakar Sn 2014 SFIP curator Kisito Assangni TBC Marrakech Ma 2013 Videonomad curator Alina d Alva and Tobi Ayedadjou Art Studio Souterrain La Marsa Tn 2013 SFIP
8. conventionnel intelligent et critique ll travaille de pr f rence dans l espace public ou dans des lieux peu communs Fin observateur il pose des questions pertinentes la soci t l institution mais aussi surtout son public C est un libre penseur qui tend la soci t un miroir et lui renvoie ses r flexes conditionn s et ses dysfonctionnements L oeuvre de Baba Ali se pr sente souvent sous la forme de ready made mais cette apparente simplicit dissimule un d licat exercice d quilibre la mani re d un alchimiste l artiste dose et combine les techniques les objets du quotidien les sons la vid o et la photographie et adresse des questions politiques sociales et cologiques Les installations qu il en distille poussent le spectateur prendre position malgr lui Baba Ali ne recule pas devant la controverse et est m me souvent contraint a de subtiles n gociations avec son environnement pour revendiquer sa pratique artistique et son droit l existence Son art est toujours sp cifique un contexte et ne prend vraiment sa forme que dans le dialogue du public C est de l art d intervention d rangeant et qui adopte parfois un ton ironique pour confronter le public lui m me et son environnement Baba Ali soumet au spectateur des dilemmes et des tabous et le d fie d agir et de r agir en fait ainsi son complice dans une gu rilla artistique clandestine qui r unit l establishment et l homme commun N en
9. he usually uses to guide his donkey Pulizia 201 3 Younes Baba Ali Installation amp performance work in progress Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist amp Voice Gallery Ma The logo of Italian police Polizia shifts into the visual identity of an invented illegal cleaning enterprise called Pulizia literally in Italian cleaning Pulizia becomes a new brand printed on white uniforms to be worn by immigrants based in Italy who would clean public and private spaces This linguistic manipulation metaphorically problematizes Italian migration politics questioning who has to clean and what has to be cleaned Shalom Aleikoum 2013 Younes Baba Al Printed doormat Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist amp Voice Gallery Ma Shalom Aleikoum literally peace upon you is a form of bilingualism mixing the common origins of the Arabic and the Hebrew greetings The proposition beyond the orthographic differences or the antagonistic relationship between both cultures becomes a peace message written on a doormat at the entry of the exhibition space This choice also questions the physical relation towards the art object itself and the moral position towards the sacred aspect of those two languages _ PR Barriers 201 2 O Younes Baba Ali Installation Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist amp Voice Gallery Ma Barriers is an installation of barriers transenna hand made in Morocco
10. installation suddenly starts sounding as the visitor steps in generating an overwhelmingly noisy environment In so doing the visitors are involved into an exploration of the power of sound and its physiologic and psychological effects Hairdryers 2009 sound installation Courtesy of the artist Sound Painting 2009 sound installation Courtesy of the artist w nn zu BEN Intrusion 2008 video 13 51 courtes i s Untitled Locker 2010 installation Courtesy of the artist 2 ind installation Courtesy of the artist Sound Neon 2009 interactive sound installation Courtesy of the artist AS Mer GC Ta 8 s am _ TV Beug 2009 video installation Courtesy of the artist and Arte Contemporanea Be Diff rence R znica 2009 6 channel video installation Courtesy of the artist curriculum vitae Younes Baba Ali b 1986 Oujda Morocco lives amp works in Brussels amp Casablanca www younesbabaali com Solo Exhibitions 2014 Brussels Background curator Hicham Khalidi MAAC Brussels Be 2013 L MAR9A Voice Gallery Marrakech Ma 2012 Transaction Complete Fama Gallery Verona It 2012 Land e scape Gallery Aperto Montpellier Fr 2012 Desencuentros Sabrina Amrani Gallery Madrid Es 2011 No Signal Found curator B r nice Saliou Gallery Arte Contemporanea Brussels Be 2009 Taverna Especial
11. s an everyday activist he proposes a form of moral and political resistance through the mechanisms by which individuals become autonomous subjects An everyday which according to the words of Certau invents itself with thousand ways to poach 1 Oxford Dictionary 2 Wittgenstein On Metaphysical Everyday use 3 Nietzsche 4 Michel de Certeau The practice of Everyday Alya Sebti Arte East october 2012 Alya Sebti independent curator artistic director of the Marrakech Biennale V she is co curator of Mons 2015 european capital of culture She curated several exhibitions in North Africa and Europe amongst them the Moroccan pavilion at the Photography Biennale Grid Amsterdam 2012 Of other spaces Casablanca 2013 Floating equilibrium Berlin 2014 Since 2012 she initiated and co curates the Arte East cycle of online exhibitions on Morocco Algeria and Tunisia Her latest publications include Pas de Deux Villa Romana February 2014 POSITION Social changes through Art in the Arab World 2014 She is board member of the International Biennale Association and is a consultant on visual art and cultural initiatives in North Africa vounes baba all artworks Maroc de demain 2014 O S Mellon HD video 16 9 Lenght 3 56 in loop Courtesy of the artist Maroc de demain or Future Morocco is a video based on a series of billboards simulating one of the biggest on going estate projects in the context o
12. van de Ecole Sup rieure des Arts D coratifs de Strasbourg Fr in 2008 en van de Ecole Sup rieure d Art d Aix en Provence Fr in 2011 krijgt Younes Baba Ali de prijs L opold S dar Senghor ter gelegenheid van de Afrikaanse Hedendaagse Kunst Bi nnale van Dakar Sn in 2012 en de prijs Boghossian in het kader van de Belgische Kunstprijs Art Contest in Brussel BE in 2014 Hij neemt deel aan verschillende internationale tentoonstellingen en bi nnales waaronder Digital Africa The Future is Now Southbank Centre London UK Strange Paradoxe MuCEM Marseille Fr Nass Belgica Botanique Brussel Be Where are we now 5de Marrakech Bienniale Marrakech Ma U MAR9YA Voice Gallery Marrakech Ma Travail mode d emploi Centrale voor Hedendaagse Kunst Brussel Be Transaction Complete FaMa Gallery Verona It Dak Art 10de Afrikaanse Hedendaagse Kunst Bi nnale van Dakar Sn Regionale 12 Haus f r elektronische K nste Basel Ch Taverna Especial Sketch Gallery London UK Brick amp Mortar International Video Art Festival Greenfield USA Loop Video Art Festival Barcelona Es No Signal Found Arte Contemporanea Gallery Brussel Be Flowers Animals Urbans Machines Appartement 22 Rabat Ma en Desencuentros Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery Madrid Es younes baba all art on the eage oy kathleen weyts My art finds its rational
13. 1986 Oujda Ma Younes Baba Ali vit et travaille Bruxelles Be et Casablanca Ma Dipl m de l Ecole Sup rieure des Arts D coratifs de Strasbourg en 2008 et de l Ecole Sup rieure d Art d Aix en Provence en 2011 il a t r compens par le prix L opold S dar Senghor lors de la Biennale d Art Contemporain Africain de Dakar Sn en 2012 et du prix Boghossian lors du Concours d Art Belge Art Contest Bruxelles Be en 2014 ll a particip plusieurs expositions internationales et biennales parmi lesquelles Digital Africa The Future is Now Southbank Centre Londres UK Strange Paradoxe MuCEM Marseille Fr Nass Belgica Botanique Bruxelles Be Where are we now 5 me Biennale de Marrakech Marrakech Ma LMAR9A Voice Gallery Marrakech Ma Travail mode d emploi Centrale for Contemporary Art Bruxelles Be Transaction Complete FaMa Gallery Verone It Dak Art 10 me Biennale d Art Contemporain Africain Dakar Sn Regionale 12 Haus f r elektronische K nste B le Ch Taverna Especial Sketch Gallery Londres Uk Brick amp Mortar International Video Art Festival Greenfield USA Loop Festival d Art Vid o Barcelone Es No Signal Found Arte Contemporanea Gallery Bruxelles Be Flowers Animals Urbans Machines Appartement 22 Rabat Ma and Desencuentros Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery Madrid Es all Younes Baba Ali ma
14. a visibly counterfeit assemblage of symbols of interdiction and capitalist economic pervasiveness in a country and a whole continent struggling with underdevelopment Simultaneous being excluded from affluence and included in the global market the Mc Donald label Moroccan people typically experience a condition of psychological instability and structural precariousness which is aptly embodied by the fragile and rudimentary products of its essentially manual and artisanal economy The transenna recycled objects quite common within the country s material and social landscape totter on their unstable base are crippled and patched suggesting a feeling of uneasiness although of a reflexive rather than polemic kind Kamikaze 2013 O Younes Baba Ali Installation Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist amp Voice Gallery Ma Heady made objects are de contextualized and de constructed so that a hand cart overloaded with old and deteriorated gas bottles as shown by Kamikaze becomes a metaphor for multiple meanings and or reflections from the questioning of a presumption of safeness which patently clashes with human negligence in handling dangerous wastes from everyday life to an ironic look on the permanent paranoia of the Islamic terrorist threat affecting some western countries A daily object turns into an alien one thus evoking unexpected reflections on the local as well as global context Jouteya 2012 O Gianpaolo Lauret
15. ace but in this proposal it presents an overview of the contemporary radio and audio creations Soundscapes musical compositions sound poetries documentaries interactive pieces and implicitly becomes a tool of awareness to listening e E we ES 3 e Ti ZU DAS Mrs mA Are ha ER rcu SENT BAR 5a Pd d Le Carroussa Sonore in public space of Rabat Ma 2012 Youssef Ouchra Untitled Speed bump 2012 O Younes Baba Al Installation In Situ Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist In Morocco s upscale neighborhoods local inhabitants are building non standard speed bumps and the object itself becomes in the artist s view a sort of social barrier By recreating a glant speed bump at the entrance of an exhibition space the artist recuperates the object and gives it a new conceptual frame in challenging the public to trample the artwork in order to gain access to it In this intervention the object becomes a ready made which questions the notion of accessibility to art Ending your life under the sun 2012 O Younes Baba Al Installation Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist Ending your life under the sun is an installation sculpture made up of a wooden coffin into which a solarium system has been integrated This work questions migratory fluxes if the immigration from the South to the North is often stigmatized sometimes fatal and always spectacular in Western media s universe t
16. akt kunst die onconventioneel intelligent en kritisch is meestal in de openbare ruimte of op niet voor de hand liggende plaatsen Hij is een scherp observator en stelt pertinente vragen aan de maatschappij het instituut maar ook en vooral aan zijn publiek Als een vrijdenker houdt hij de samenleving een spiegel voor en legt zo haar vastgeroeste gewoontes en dysfuncties bloot Baba Ali s werk presenteert zich vaak als readymade maar onder deze ogenschijnlijke eenvoud schuilt een complexe evenwichtsoefening Als een kunstenaar alchemist doseert en combineert hij techniek gebruiksvoorwerpen geluid video en fotografie met politieke sociale en ecologische vraagstukken De resulterende installaties bewegen de nietsvermoedende toeschouwer tot stellingname Baba Ali schuwt de controverse niet en wordt daardoor vaak gedwongen om zijn kunst en haar bestaansrecht subtiel te onderhandelen met zijn omgeving Ze is steeds context specifiek en krijgt pas haar echte vorm in dialoog met het publiek Het is ontregelende interventiekunst die op een soms ironische wijze de toeschouwer met zichzelf en zijn omgeving confronteert Baba Ali schotelt mensen dilemma s en taboes voor en daagt hen uit tot reJactie Zo maakt hij hen tot zijn medeplichtigen in een verdoken artistieke guerrilla die zowel het establishment als de gewone man in de straat verenigt Younes Baba Ali geboren in 1986 in Oujda Ma leeft en werkt in Brussel Be amp Casablanca Ma Afgestudeerd
17. consumption Exhibition view Nature et Paysage 2010 Art Space Soci t G n rale Casablanca Ma Younes Baba Ali Tic Nerveux 2 0 0 9 Carlos Casteleira 3 channel video installation Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist The row of three videos showing the nervous clicking of three pens produces sound and rhythms in a non synchronised temporal sequence The pen clicking is a normal and common gesture as the simple object itself which the artist re use to emphasise the general obsession and prevailing neurosis of contemporary everyday life The work is a metaphor for a Western understanding of time increasingly determined by haste and obsessively repeated processes Careful observation reveals that despite the simple realisation of the images each one is slightly preceded by its acoustic effect thus enabling the viewer to anticipate what is about to happen on screen This amplifies the sense of danger and discomfort and gives the installation an extra dimension by directly communicating with and involving the public Everything seems obsessive and repetitive in this work which undoubtedly demonstrates a subtle irony in its intimations of a paradoxical and absurd mechanical sensuality Horn Orchestra 2009 a Sound installation Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist Horn Orchestra is an installation of several car klaxons hanging within a closed space Though looking silent and sculptural at first sight the
18. e Grand Place Bruxelles IM a eU o s SERVICE JEUNESSE AVEC LE SOUTIEN DE Ze EI E MOUSSEM 5 0 JEUGDDIENST MET DE STEUN VAN D EI ben cane nord D p t l gal D 2014 11 800 6 N AF
19. e in the society it emerges from That s its ground and its subject function as a mediator as a philosopher who shares a form of awareness with others measure the temperature of society and contribute to its interpretation and development Visual artist Younes Baba Ali summarizes his artistic d marche in a nice way He makes art that is unconventional intelligent and critical often in public space or places uncommon to art practice He is a sharp observer and raises pertinent questions aimed at society the institution and above all his audience As a free thinker he holds a mirror up to society and confronts it with its ingrained habits and dysfunctions His art originates rarely in the atelier It is context specific and takes its final shape in dialogue with its spectators Context oome of Baba Ali s works function almost exclusively in a specific environment Moroccan Anthem for example a video in which a donkey driver clucks out the Moroccan national anthem using the sound he normally makes to command his animal Other installations get their meaning in relation to the place where they are shown Like Ending your life under the sun a coffin with a tanning bed inside it The idea for this work emerged during his stay on the Erasmus exchange program in Poland where people frequently visit tanning salons Presenting the work at the 4th Marrakesh Biennial where visitors were primarily Western the installation was perceived as d
20. e speed bumps are installed To me this manipulation of urban space is very bourgeois and on top of that it s immediately related to power People in these quarters permit themselves to plump down speed bumps that are totally out of proportion And so I decided to introduce these objects in their own living space the bourgeois villa Baba Ali does this fully aware that the audience that will visit the exhibition are the same people responsible for this phenomenon By confronting them with it in the form of a work of art he also lends it a social dimension My interventions are to me also social even political interventions that are coloured by their local context In the exhibition he developed for MAAC Baba Ali takes his personal relation to Brussels as a starting point He confesses he has a love hate relationship with this city which he perceives as very complex Brussels proves to be an ideal laboratory for the artist to develop his oeuvre He presents works that are on the one hand representative of how he experiences the city as a French Moroccan immigrant and on the other provide an insight in how the artist experiences living with the many residing nationalities there Brussels is a city that is distinctly multicultural ranging from the European community to all the other immigrated nationalities and at the same time marked by community issues Baba Ali is constantly surprised by the resulting linguistic melting pot en the ong
21. ealing with North South migration when it was exhibited in Europe however the interpretation shifted more toward the idea of eternal beauty Art as intervention Ambiguity and humor are recurring elements in the work of this young artist don t want people to stay indifferent want to confront them and at the same time want them to participate want to dispose art of its elitist and sacral status and to accomplish that I use certain strategies As an artist alchemist he measures and mixes technology objects sound video and photography with political social and cultural issues The resulting installations discreetly coerce the unsuspecting viewer into taking a stand His work is constantly on the verge it s provocative but never insulting or cheap always inviting It is the starting point for a conversation a polemic a thinking process a rejaction In a subtle way the artist plays the conventional social codes and at the same time the codes of art itself Baba Ali s work often assumes the form of the readymade He uses common objects and phenomena and introduces them in an artistic environment But he prefers the public space to spaces intended for art Making art accessible is almost a given in his oeuvre In reaction to the extreme theorizing of art where the audience is as it were assessed on its insider knowledge and to the art institute that in the way it presents the artwork raises obstacles rather than remove them
22. f Casablanca s general urban restructuration plan A long traveling of images simulacrum reflects a Western style of life in proposing an immersion in the phenomena of wild capitalism spreading in the country In between fiction and documentation the artist s point of view suggests an imminent archive of the sociopolitical context in which a new perspective of Morocco is shaping Untitled megaphones 2014 Younes Baba Al Sound installation Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist A series of megaphones installed on the ground sonically reproduces the universe of bargaining and street trading evoking Dakar markets soundscapes Each megaphone diffuses a recorded voice the one of a local peddler selling his or her product The artist decontextualizes these voices in recreating a sonic atmosphere in where the megaphone itself remains central This Chinese electronic object almost intrusive and omni oppressive testifies here the traces of the migratory flow of the Chinese population installed in Senegal Moroccan Anthem 2013 A HD video 16 9 Lenght 2 11 in loop Courtesy of the artist amp Voice Gallery Ma Moroccan Anthem proposes an alternative national anthem with a video portrait of a donkey driver sitting on his cart driven by the animal Referring to the very popular and common job in Moroccan merchandise s transport here the protagonist reproduces the melody of local anthem with a particular sound the one
23. he ingeniously intervenes in everyday life with his work Carroussa Sonore is a beautiful example of this A caroussa is a stroller with a sound system built on top used for selling CD s with Quranic recitals A very common view in urban Maghreb streets this object is a simple but extremely intelligent piece of technology Baba Ali uses it for his own purposes With Caroussa Sonore I bring sound pieces to people in a democratic way It is both a creation and a medium use as an art curator since invited other international artists to distribute their pieces via this module It circles in the city we built several interventions around it In this way it becomes part of public life This intervention also denounces pertinent fallacies that circulate in the art world such as the conviction that the Moroccan and in extension Maghrebi art scene limits itself to marketable objects Baba Ali proves the opposite by creating a platform for artists that are definitely active but have difficulty in accessing the established European art scene not in the least due to strict visa regulations But as Baba Ali puts it sound doesn t need a visa only a medium And rather than presenting his work to the establishment he brings it to the people This attitude is an implicit critique of both the art world and it s critics Baba Ali addresses not just the art loving elite but the people in the street With this attitude he shows great affinity with art
24. he inverted one is quite ignored In this proposal the artist problematizes and opens a reflection on the North to South migration by questioning its traces and signs Exhibition view Higher Atlas 4th Marrakech Biennial 2012 Th tre royal Marrakec LI 2 Younes Baba Ali N 8 Untitled Social Landscape 2012 O Younes Baba Al Installation In Situ Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist This installation is formed by a series of plastic birds spinning repeatedly and franticly over the heads of the viewers These objects made in China metaphorically lead to the notion of migratory fluxes of goods and people In the art work the absence and the void that come out of these birds induce in a latent manner the geographical comings and goings among communities from the South to the West Parabole 2011 O Max Tomasinelli Installation In Situ Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist and Arte Contemporanea Be Parabole is a parabolic antenna installed at a walls juncture endlessly moving right and left looking for an unreachable signal and bumping in vain against the plasters The parabolic dish an everyday object for immigrant families becomes a metaphor of their experience the one of a people between two cultures Western and Arabic The dish located between two walls triggered by a mechanism evokes this delicate position between two cultures the strained existential condition of Arab migran
25. ictoria Brooks amp Andrew Bonacina The Island Art Dubai Dubai UAE 2010 Flowers Animals Urbans Machines curator Abdellah Karroum Appartement 22 Rabat Ma 2010 Nature et Paysage curator Mohamed Rachdi Art Space of Soci t G n rale Casablanca Ma 2010 R22 Bruxel o Ndra curator Abdellah Karroum Bozar Museum Brussels Be 2009 De ci de la Media organized by the Ceaac amp Frac Alsace ESAD Strasbourg Fr 2009 Desastres Cotidianos Espacio Menos Uno Madrid Es 2008 Interference organized by Stichting Idee fixe amp In Sonora Electron Building Breda NI 2008 3 days exhibition concept curated by Franck Bragigand CEAAC Strasbourg Fr Art Biennials 2014 Where are we now Sth Marrakech Biennial curated by Hicham Khalidi Marrakech Ma 2012 Dak Art 10th Contemporary African Art Biennial curated by Christine Evene Nadira Laggoune amp Riason Naidoo Dakar Sn 2012 Higher Atlas 4th Marrakech Biennial curated by Carson Chan amp Nadim Samman Marrakech Ma 2011 Biennial of Young Artists of Europe and Mediterranean 15th edition Thessaloniki Gr 2009 A Proposal For Articulating Works and Places 3rd Marrakech Biennial curated by Abdellah Karoum Marrakech Ma 2009 Biennial of Young Artists of Europe and Mediterranean 14th edition Skopje Mk 2009 Wro 09 13th Biennial of new media art gallery BWA Awangarda Wrocla
26. ists such as Hassan Darsi and Francis Alys Like them he makes disruptive intervention art that confronts the viewer whether or not ironically with himself and his environment Baba Ali presents people dilemmas and taboos and challenges them to reJact In this way he makes them his accomplices in a disguised artistic guerrilla that unites the establishment and the common man Brussels Younes Baba Ali was born in Oudja Morocco but grew up and studied in France Since 201 1 he lives and works in Brussels This double cultural background marks his life his points of view and obviously his art His affinity with both European and Maghrebi culture grants him the freedom to critically assess both worlds and to process this in his art practice As an artist can afford to be critical It s my nature above all Critique is a language that I learned to use raise questions and I want to involve the public When observing Belgian society I notice that Moroccan immigration in France presents itself differently from that in Belgium France is Moroccos big brother the ideal that Moroccan society and its elite try to attain observe the consequences of these phenomena and translate my findings into critical interventions An example of this is the installation Untitled Speedbump that he made for a group exhibition organised in a luxurious villa in the diplomatic district of Rabat In that area as in comparable wealthy areas in Morocco hug
27. levendita 2012 O Younes Beta Ai HD video 16 9 Lenght 29 25 Courtesy of the artist and FAMA Gallery It Televendita is the result of an interesting though quite unusual performative collaboration between the artist and Alessandro Orlando one of the most popular Italian TV salesmen The video consists in a TV sale simulation of some of Baba Ali s works introduced in a commercial purpose by Alessandro Orlando The language used is that typical of television but a sort of discrepancy is obtained in the very moment in which it becomes a work of art The artist s idea is not that to criticize TV sales but to play on the art discourse and language and to analyze the process of standardization of the interpretation and presentation of artworks in order to adapt them to a TV commercial format that can be broadcasted and received by the spectator Younes Baba Ali Carroussa Sonore 2012 Sound installation Project of broadcasting sound art in public space Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist Initially the carroussa is a precarious module of street trading in the Moroccan urban landscape with a precise function to sell and spread Coranic cd s by diffusing them in the streets This module is composed by a cart made of recyclable materials provided by a battery for supplying an audio player an amplifier and two speakers In Carroussa Sonore the object retains its appearance and function of sound diffusion in urban sp
28. n 1986 in Oujda Ma Younes Baba Ali lives and works in Brussels Be amp Casablanca Ma Graduating from l Ecole Sup rieure des Arts D coratifs de Strasbourg in 2008 and from l Ecole Sup rieure d Art d Aix en Provence in 2011 he was rewarded by the prize L opold S dar Senghor during the African Contemporary Art Biennial of Dakar Sn in 2012 and the prize Boghossian during the Belgian Art Prize Art Contest in Brussels Be in 2014 He has participated in several international exhibitions and biennials among them Digital Africa The Future is Now Southbank Centre London UK Strange Paradoxe MuCEM Marseille Fr Nass Belgica Botanique Brussels Be Where are we now 5th Marrakech Biennial Marrakech Ma L MAR9A Voice Gallery Marrakech Ma Travail mode d emploi Centrale for Contemporary Art Brussels Be Transaction Complete FaMa Gallery Verona It Dak Art 10th African Contemporary Art Biennial Dakar Sn Regionale 12 Haus f r elektronische K nste Basel Ch Taverna Especial Sketch Gallery London Uk Brick amp Mortar International Video Art Festival Greenfield USA Loop Video Art Festival Barcelona Es No Signal Found Arte Contemporanea Gallery Brussels Be Flowers Animals Urbans Machines Appartement 22 Rabat Ma and Desencuentros Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery Madrid Es Tr Younes Baba Ali pratique un art non
29. nship in the world This artist everyday activist creates twice first by diverting the object from its original function he manages to get rid of the submission subject spectator Second by desecrating the artwork which is now reduced as an autonomous object he frees the spectator from the submitted relationship to the artwork To divert the everyday his favorite procedure is the game that he often recalls as attentat artistique He interferes with the flaws in our system to expose the fragilities of the world to the spectator who becomes a willing hostage and witness As Michel de Certeau asserts the game as a disjunctive operation producing events that differentiate is a popular tactic to overcome the imposed everyday codes Besides a reflection on the object nature and status his work questions the relationship between art audience and institution YBA is indeed driven by the desire to democratize access to art He uses the means in hand to make art accessible at two levels Through irony he involves the spectator as witness of these diverted objects to expose flaws of our everyday In desecrating the artwork he manages to abolish the submission relationship between the spectator and the artwork and reminds us that one does not exist without the other YBA instills his artwork and subverts the system from within the base through the art a serious game that diverts objects and codes reclaims space and use their own way
30. oing intercultural negotiation that so clearly marks the Brussels public space Since he came to Brussels he has been living in Molenbeek a district he calls a border zone The invisible but very distinct borders in Brussels and the way they divide the communities are shocking to the artist This observation leads to an artistic mental process my work originates in my head not in my studio That process eventually comes into shape in the interaction with the audience hope that people feel concerned with what I do Positively or negatively as long as it gets to them need the audience Without it my work doesn t function Kathleen Weyts was for ten years the Head of Communications and Mediation in M HKA Museum for Contemporary Art Antwerp In this position she worked with several international acclaimed artists and art institutions In 2013 she started PANACHE an independent agency for visual artists specializing in strategic advice communication tactics and art management She was responsible for the international PR of the oth Moscow Biennial curated the exhibition Trenches in Africa 1914 1918 and contributed to several art publications She is board member of S C a workspace for professional audiovisual artists Theater aan Zee the annual theatre festival in Ostend and The University for the Common Good younes oaba ali everyday activist oy alya sebt Defined as what is happening or used daily the everyday shape
31. s of Younes Baba Alis work imply he uses and diverts everyday objects but he also stands up against an elitist art hence his artworks target the everyday man der Jedermann He undertakes to democratize the access to art through his unwavering smirk definitely irony is his favorite weapon to reinvent the practice of everyday life in order to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use Younes Baba Ali uses this language as a tactic to divert imposed space and to disrupt our relation to the everyday Irony which aim is to address a wider audience was born in the XVI century literature in the northern countries tallying with modern democratic aspiration Through this everyday language YBA manages to reintegrate art into the everyday use owaying hairdryer uninterrupted horns orchestra or parabola abutting against two walls YBA tinkers and invents a new rhythmic of gestures and sounds that inhabit the object Newly freed from his everyday use they become a quasi human subject almost neurotic Decontextualized these everyday objects become autonomous therefore unusable by the incredulous spectator who is then aware of the entities with which he coexists By creating a disturbance the spectator transforms him herself as an active witness involved in the underlying discourse of YBAS artwork a denunciation of the fragility of our system When irony is able to generate a new equilibrium it can trigger a new positive relatio
32. ta Multi channel video Installation Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist A series of videos of DIY chains are simultaneously presented in a dark room showing tools products work accessories which can be described as frankly superfluous The superposing of these videos creates a continuous hubbub evoking the souks of several Maghrebian s urban scape Jouteya A parallelism between these two different contexts opens a space of criticism toward overconsumption dogmas which lead people to buy more and more regardless the objects usefulness Ae ING Re Relev d Identit Bancaire IBAN r serv au destinataire du RIB EUR YOUNES BABA ALI IBAN BE21 3770 3709 9103 BIC ADRESSE SWIFT BBRUBEBB ING Belgique SA Agence Molenbeek Karreveld Mecenat Alternatif 2012 Dario Lasagni Wall Painting Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist M c nat Alternatif is a wall painting in the finest tradition of Italian fresco but instead of colorful representation it shows the artist s bank detail In so doing the artist invites the public to interact with the proposal and to support him by making a money transfer to his bank account offering to them at the same time the possibility to access to the prestigious status of patron of art This intervention resonates with the precarious economic situation which leads artists to explore alternative ways to finance and realize their projects Ww TEL E VE EE Te
33. ts confronting the appeals of their culture conveyed by the parabola and the one of Western society each with its own charm but which tends to propose often very different behaviours Call for Prayer Morse 2011 Younes Baba Al Sound installation Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist and Arte Contemporanea Be Call for Prayer Morse is a sound installation consisting of a megaphone broadcasting in Morse code the Muslim call to prayer five times a day according to the geographic location The object problematizes here the close relationship between religious practice and the absence of spiritual experience Ihe Morse translation makes it an alert signal against the dangers of proselytizing Untitled Landscape 2010 Younes Baba Al Installation In Situ Variable dimension Courtesy of the artist Untitled Landscape is an installation made of black plastic bags hanging from orange branches and floating in a fascinating dance poisoning the nature By approaching the work the visitor triggers industrial fans which are activated to move the bags on the trees branches This installation is a direct confrontation to the ecological situation in Morocco while the opaque black plastic bags evoke the possibility to conceal what has been consumed in a country where social disparity is still significant The work acts as a revealer that can directly link the develooment of industrialization and human behaviour to a faster growing
34. w Pl Festivals 2014 Moussem Sound curated by Moussem Nomadic Art Center 4 Bozar Music Bozar Brussels Be 2013 Proyector video art festival curated by Paloma Garcia Valdivia y Mario Guti rrez Cru Madrid Es 2013 Sth Cairo Video Festival curated by Mohamed Allam amp Dia Hamed Cairo Eg 2011 Nouzah Fennia curated by G raldine Paoli Cath drale du Sacr Coeur Casablanca Ma 2009 Brick Mortar International Video Art Festival curated by Natasha Becker Greenfield MA USA 2009 Loop Video Art gallery Miscelanea Barcelona Es 2008 In Sonora 4th edition of the sound and interactive art festival Madrid Es 2006 Corps Multiples multidisciplinary meeting organized by Rodeo d Ames Strasbourg Fr Art Fairs 2014 1 54 Contemporary African Art Fair represented by Voice Gallery Marrakech London UK 2013 Artissima represented by Voice Gallery Marrakech Turin It 2013 Art Brussels 31st edition represented by Voice Gallery Marrakech Brussels Be 2013 Art 13 London represented by FaMa Gallery Verona London UK 2013 Flash Art Event 1st edition represented by FaMa Gallery Verona Milan It 2012 Just Mad 3rd edition represented by Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery Madrid Madrid Es 2011 Marrakech Art Fair 2nd edition represented by Gallery FJ Casablanca Marrakech Ma 2010 Kunstart 10 7th edition represented by
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