Meriem Bennani, photo by Valentina Somma.
Join us for an afternoon Visual Arts talk with artist Meriem Bennani, whose debut film Bouchra played at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
The creator of ground-breaking video installations and sculptures, Bennani combines elements of reality TV, documentary films, telenovelas, and animated cartoons. Bennani exaggerates media tropes to describe what she calls a “hyperactivity of genre,” with her work frequently being rooted in Moroccan life, online and off. In her talk, Bennani will discuss her practice as it relates to the theme of the Nomadisms residency, for which she’s on faculty.
Nomadisms provides mentorship and studio time to visual artists working with a wide range of possible mediums, including ceramics, digital media, painting, performance art, and sculpture.
The residency invites artists to engage with the theme of nomadism as both a critical and aesthetic framework. Across their collaborations and creations, participants approach nomadism as a site of inquiry and a form of attentiveness to the earth.
This event is part of the Visual Arts Open Lecture Series, which presents talks by leading Canadian and international artists, curators, and academics.
Visual Arts is supported by Fondation DRG and the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Outstanding Artist Program.
About Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani
Meriem Bennani makes groundbreaking video installations and sculptures informed by the circulation of global cultures online. Frequently rooted in Moroccan life off and online, her work speaks to the hybrid nature of contemporary cultural flows. Bennani combines elements of reality television, documentary film, telenovela, music videos, science fiction, and animated cartoons in her videos. Exaggerating media tropes in what Bennani describes as a “hyperactivity of genre,” her works reflect the disjointed state of contemporary mediation, an effect she amplifies in installation settings where her moving images are mapped to sculptural projection structures or viewing stations. Using strategies of immersion, duplication, multiplicity, and remix, Bennani blends a powerful mix of humor and critique, reaffirming the power of family and home while analyzing larger systems of power across a networked world.