0:00:09.140,0:00:12.400 We're in the middle of installing[br]"Party on the CAPS". 0:00:14.150,0:00:16.180 So this curved wall that we[br]picked up in three parts, 0:00:16.180,0:00:17.630 it's going to be put together, 0:00:17.630,0:00:18.630 painted, 0:00:18.630,0:00:19.980 and then eventually installed. 0:00:19.980,0:00:22.280 That will be, actually,[br]a screen. 0:00:27.560,0:00:29.480 I have these parameters, 0:00:29.490,0:00:30.849 which is the sound, 0:00:30.849,0:00:32.880 the editing,[br]the animation. 0:00:34.300,0:00:36.620 Everything is designed for the film. 0:00:38.960,0:00:40.540 Then I add the space-- 0:00:40.559,0:00:41.860 how many screens, 0:00:41.860,0:00:42.740 the scale. 0:00:43.580,0:00:46.120 So, everything is coming together, 0:00:46.130,0:00:47.320 and then the final touch is: 0:00:47.320,0:00:51.840 the video finally makes it onto[br]the surfaces that we built for it. 0:00:54.970,0:00:58.040 The problem is,[br]things that are level never look straight. 0:00:58.040,0:01:01.150 This is the step where I get to edit my film, 0:01:01.150,0:01:03.320 but using space instead of time. 0:01:03.900,0:01:06.820 I go shot by shot, 0:01:06.820,0:01:10.060 and for each shot,[br]decide what do you see where. 0:01:11.580,0:01:12.580 I can make cuts, 0:01:12.580,0:01:14.760 but I can also show something[br]in different places. 0:01:14.760,0:01:17.960 That has an effect on[br]how you experience the film. 0:01:20.160,0:01:26.380 ["Meriem Bennani: In Between Languages"] 0:01:29.280,0:01:32.820 The sculptures started happening[br]with the films in mind. 0:01:34.300,0:01:37.920 So I never made a sculpture that's not[br]paired with a film. 0:01:40.380,0:01:42.940 You bring into it things that are 0:01:42.940,0:01:46.360 characteristics of another way of thinking. 0:01:50.560,0:01:53.940 You learn something from animation 0:01:53.940,0:01:55.400 that has to do with humor. 0:02:02.460,0:02:04.620 And then you can make sculptures[br]that are funny. 0:02:06.800,0:02:09.539 So I'll have the master version of the video-- 0:02:09.540,0:02:11.660 that is what you would watch as a film-- 0:02:15.020,0:02:16.720 and then the sculptures, 0:02:16.720,0:02:19.520 they come from a digital world 0:02:19.520,0:02:20.760 that I imagine. 0:02:24.080,0:02:25.780 Then they're fabricated. 0:02:26.120,0:02:29.380 So they all come from opposite places[br]and they meet in the middle. 0:02:32.940,0:02:34.960 [SOUND OF SCHOOL BELL RINGING] 0:02:36.240,0:02:39.180 I went to the high school I went to[br]in Rabat, Morocco, 0:02:40.620,0:02:43.580 and I filmed a group of teenagers. 0:02:45.400,0:02:47.280 ["Mission Teens"] 0:02:52.440,0:02:57.120 The subject of "MISSION TEENS" is[br]the French-speaking culture in Morocco. 0:02:57.139,0:03:00.569 [WOMAN, IN FRENCH][br]--So I've been in the French system 0:03:00.569,0:03:02.040 --since... 0:03:02.060,0:03:03.580 --basically since kindergarten. 0:03:03.600,0:03:04.800 [BENNANI][br]The biggest tool for the way 0:03:04.800,0:03:06.290 that French maintain this power 0:03:06.290,0:03:07.290 is education. 0:03:07.290,0:03:09.980 [SHEEP, IN FRENCH][br]--Having your kids at the Mission is... 0:03:10.580,0:03:12.020 --is prestigious! 0:03:12.040,0:03:13.240 [BENNANI][br]The film is not about how 0:03:13.249,0:03:15.129 French is not a Moroccan language, 0:03:15.129,0:03:18.409 but it's more so about why French is political 0:03:18.409,0:03:19.939 and also a soft power tool. 0:03:21.340,0:03:24.260 [TEACHER, OFF-SCREEN, IN FRENCH][br]--So, the definition of Third World is 0:03:24.260,0:03:25.600 something you need to master! 0:03:26.560,0:03:28.240 [BENNANI][br]I was French educated. 0:03:28.660,0:03:31.580 I learned about French history, 0:03:31.580,0:03:32.580 French geography. 0:03:32.580,0:03:33.819 The ways that I thought are 0:03:33.819,0:03:36.360 like the way that I developed[br]being able to be critical-- 0:03:36.360,0:03:39.280 all these things are[br]complete products of French school. 0:03:40.480,0:03:42.640 I had to emancipate myself from that 0:03:42.650,0:03:44.130 to be able to talk about it. 0:03:44.130,0:03:46.340 [WOMAN, IN FRENCH][br]--The French Mission it's that we don't focus 0:03:46.340,0:03:48.549 --so much on the country we live in. 0:03:48.549,0:03:51.380 --Knowing that, even if it's a French school,[br]but it's like, 0:03:51.380,0:03:54.340 --we're in Morocco and I would like it if 0:03:54.340,0:03:59.200 --they focused more on Morocco and Islam and everything. 0:04:02.980,0:04:05.540 [HOUSE, SINGING][br]--I'm a fancy house in Rabat... 0:04:05.540,0:04:07.940 [BENNANI][br]Also, I filmed houses from the neighborhoods 0:04:07.940,0:04:11.040 where most people who[br]go to French school live. 0:04:11.200,0:04:13.760 [HOUSE, SINGING][br]--Got me up a golden door. 0:04:14.400,0:04:17.500 --I'm very much what everyone admires. 0:04:17.500,0:04:18.900 [BENNANI][br]From the architecture, 0:04:18.900,0:04:21.600 you can see what lifestyle people aspire to. 0:04:22.640,0:04:23.720 "MISSION TEENS," 0:04:23.720,0:04:25.940 it's first been shown here at[br]the Whitney Biennial, 0:04:25.940,0:04:28.080 inside these sculptures on the terrace. 0:04:29.340,0:04:30.680 I called them "viewing stations." 0:04:31.960,0:04:33.680 [HOUSE, SINGING][br]--Palm trees. 0:04:33.680,0:04:35.380 --Marble floors. 0:04:37.860,0:04:40.039 [BENNANI][br]When you press the button, 0:04:40.040,0:04:42.120 it actually steals the video[br]from the other side. 0:04:43.200,0:04:45.420 The other person on the other side[br]presses the button as well. 0:04:45.420,0:04:48.160 So it becomes about having to coexist. 0:04:48.160,0:04:48.660 [LAUGHS] 0:04:52.660,0:04:54.180 The themes I choose for my work, 0:04:54.190,0:04:56.360 I don't make a conscious choice of being like, 0:04:56.360,0:04:58.580 "I want to talk about post-colonialism." 0:04:58.580,0:04:59.720 I try to... 0:05:00.520,0:05:04.880 follow what I spontaneously am drawn to. 0:05:22.700,0:05:24.320 In "Party on the CAPS," 0:05:25.940,0:05:29.880 I imagined a world where[br]teleportation is possible. 0:05:29.960,0:05:32.840 [ALLIGATOR][br]--Remember when teleportation replaced airplanes? 0:05:33.780,0:05:37.440 [BENNANI][br]It's kind of like thinking about[br]immigration in the future. 0:05:37.440,0:05:38.880 ["America's bouncer"][br]--You can't come in. 0:05:38.880,0:05:40.560 --You can't come in. 0:05:42.120,0:05:44.440 [BENNANI][br]Europe and America would freak out[br]about their borders 0:05:44.440,0:05:46.000 if teleportation was possible. 0:05:54.569,0:05:57.370 The Caps is an island[br]in the middle of the Atlantic. 0:05:57.370,0:06:00.490 That is a place where American troopers-- 0:06:00.490,0:06:03.289 which is like a new version of I.C.E.,[br]kind of-- 0:06:03.289,0:06:09.389 has put people that have been intercepted[br]from Africa trying to teleport to America. 0:06:09.389,0:06:12.240 And then the place has become[br]a place of its own. 0:06:15.060,0:06:17.300 The whole island of The Caps 0:06:17.300,0:06:20.469 is a physical analogy[br]for the idea of diaspora-- 0:06:20.469,0:06:24.330 how people think of diaspora as either[br]having to fully assimilate 0:06:24.330,0:06:26.530 or return to the land they come from. 0:06:26.530,0:06:28.930 But that actually there's a third alternative, 0:06:28.930,0:06:30.920 which is in that in-between. 0:06:32.340,0:06:35.700 --Can you have the starting point be where[br]the lens would be? 0:06:38.320,0:06:40.180 --See, the screen should come here. 0:06:42.240,0:06:44.040 Usually when something interests me, 0:06:44.040,0:06:47.500 I'm not able to clarify at first[br]why I'm interested in it. 0:06:47.860,0:06:51.340 So that effort to articulate that interest, 0:06:51.340,0:06:52.460 that's the work. 0:06:52.920,0:06:55.600 I haven't been able to express myself 0:06:55.600,0:06:58.540 or articulate myself with words[br]as well as I would like to. 0:06:58.920,0:07:02.020 I think that has to do with[br]being here for ten years 0:07:02.020,0:07:04.120 and being English-as-a-second-language, 0:07:04.720,0:07:07.700 and feeling like I'm losing[br]a bit of my first language, 0:07:07.700,0:07:09.300 which is a very strange feeling. 0:07:09.940,0:07:12.539 I've always been in between languages. 0:07:12.540,0:07:17.580 I found that developing this practice[br]that pulls from so many different languages-- 0:07:17.880,0:07:18.800 of TV, 0:07:19.200,0:07:20.220 cinema, 0:07:20.229,0:07:22.039 sculpture and installation-- 0:07:22.040,0:07:26.700 mixing it all together has allowed me[br]to hit the right note, 0:07:26.700,0:07:27.740 in my own way.