Mohamed Bourouissa: Free Trade | Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France

July 1 – September 22, 2019

More information on the exhibition

The retail chain superstore Monoprix forms the backdrop for Mohamed Bourouissa's Free Trade, an exhibition encompassing fifteen years of the artist's output combining photography, video, painting, drawing, and sculpture. The superstore provides a counterpoint to Bourouissa's work, which questions the place of the unemployed members of our society, as well as the circulation of money and knowledge. Similar themes have been explored in two of the artist's photography series, Nous sommes Halles and Périphériques, which addressed the tension between reality and stereotypes surrounding suburban youth as it pertains to their rituals and identity markers.

Free Trade tells the story of commercial and non-commercial exchanges through re-enacted scenes, hidden cameras, stolen and phone photography, with which Bourouissa reveals fragments of reality and brings new stories to the surface. The economic relationships between societies and the people who shape them, from patterns of exchange to the value we assign objects, are at the heart of Bourouissa's work. In Free Trade, the circulation of money and images is analyzed through their control and limitation. By constantly renewing his approach, Bourouissa builds a prolific and complex body of work.

Bourouissa (b. 1978, Blida, Algeria) lives and works in Paris, France. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (2018); Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2018); Musée National Eugène Delacroix, Paris, France (2017); Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA (2017); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2016); Savannah College of Arts and Design, Atlanta, GA (2011); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (2011); FotoRio, Centro Cultural Correios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2009); and the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland (2009); among many more. His work is represented in notable public collections worldwide including the Burger Collection, Hong Kong, China; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Galerie du Château d'Eau, Toulouse, France; Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France; Fonds National d'art contemporain, France; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France; FRAC Franche-Comté, Besançon, France;Fundation Sindika Dokolo; International Art Fund, Grande-Bretagne, France; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; Pinault Collection, Paris, France; Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, Germany; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Weng Collection, Krefeld, Germany, among many more. Bourouissa's work has been commended with numerous prizes including the Nomination for the Prix Pictet, UK; Prix Fondation Blachère, France; Prix Studio Collector, Fondation Antoine de Galbert, France; CNAP - Aide à la première exposition; First Prize - Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d'Arles, France.

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