0:00:01.020,0:00:02.940 [COMPUTER MOUSE CLICKING] 0:00:08.080,0:00:10.280 ["New York Close Up"] 0:00:18.480,0:00:19.400 [SNEEZES] 0:00:19.400,0:00:21.620 I feel like I have a hard time[br]connecting to 0:00:21.620,0:00:24.160 anything that doesn’t have humor 0:00:24.160,0:00:26.340 because for me, humor is like survival. 0:00:27.920,0:00:31.300 I can't imagine a state of no humor. 0:00:35.580,0:00:38.640 [Meriem Bennani's Exploded Visions] 0:00:43.780,0:00:45.579 I grew up in Rabat, Morocco 0:00:45.579,0:00:48.460 and I've lived in New York for nine years. 0:00:48.460,0:00:53.390 I had my first museum exhibition[br]at PS1 last summer. 0:00:53.390,0:00:56.530 I couldn’t believe it,[br]and I tried to stay cool. 0:00:56.530,0:00:58.140 But I was so excited. 0:01:01.120,0:01:04.360 I had about a month and a half to prepare. 0:01:05.640,0:01:08.050 I had tickets to go to Morocco the next week. 0:01:08.050,0:01:11.689 And I just decided I would observe[br]and film everything 0:01:11.689,0:01:15.040 and kind of have this almost diaristic archive 0:01:15.040,0:01:17.020 of my two weeks there. 0:01:18.490,0:01:20.000 I wanted to take on this challenge 0:01:20.000,0:01:22.630 of using it in a way that I had never seen. 0:01:23.280,0:01:25.060 [MUSIC BEGINS PLAYING] 0:01:32.020,0:01:34.760 [FLY SINGS RIHANNA'S "KISS IT BETTER"][br]♪ Kiss it, kiss it better, baby ♪ 0:01:34.760,0:01:37.600 I made a 3-D fly in the video. 0:01:38.440,0:01:40.840 And so she's taking you on this tour. 0:01:40.840,0:01:43.360 She's kind of like the storyteller. 0:01:47.680,0:01:49.260 One characteristic of the fly is 0:01:49.260,0:01:52.240 that compound vision just formally felt like 0:01:52.240,0:01:56.899 a direct analogy with the room that had, like,[br]twelve channels 0:01:56.900,0:01:59.640 and all these different[br]points of views of video. 0:02:01.580,0:02:03.060 Video for me is new. 0:02:04.560,0:02:06.340 What I've always done is drawing. 0:02:08.060,0:02:10.080 I like that, with a video, 0:02:10.080,0:02:12.040 within one second, you know where you are. 0:02:18.340,0:02:20.920 I use footage as material, 0:02:20.920,0:02:22.819 and not for its real content, 0:02:22.819,0:02:24.340 but really using it as material 0:02:24.340,0:02:28.310 in the direction that is completely disconnected[br]with its reality. 0:02:29.720,0:02:31.880 So I started making these little videos 0:02:31.890,0:02:35.390 where I would see something and then imagine[br]what could be added 0:02:35.390,0:02:37.100 or removed or manipulated. 0:02:37.860,0:02:39.700 It would be really quick,[br]like a fifteen-second video-- 0:02:39.700,0:02:42.970 which was the time on Instagram before it[br]became a minute-- 0:02:42.970,0:02:45.560 and there was a freedom that was[br]really fun in that. 0:02:45.860,0:02:47.080 [MUSIC BEGINS PLAYING] 0:02:57.520,0:03:00.820 This past spring,[br]I was commissioned by Art Dubai 0:03:00.820,0:03:02.930 to make an installation. 0:03:02.930,0:03:05.060 And so I made these four sculptures 0:03:05.060,0:03:07.480 that were actually viewing stations. 0:03:09.000,0:03:11.980 They reference design in a way[br]that makes you want to sit in them-- 0:03:11.990,0:03:13.520 like, they feel comfortable, 0:03:13.520,0:03:16.420 but then you kind of are tricked[br]because when you sit in them 0:03:16.420,0:03:20.340 your head ends up inside[br]with a video that you are viewing. 0:03:29.260,0:03:30.020 [WOMAN] Action 0:03:34.340,0:03:36.860 --There is this Egyptian couple[br]and the guy says: 0:03:37.140,0:03:39.220 --"Have you seen the stars habibti?" 0:03:39.220,0:03:41.260 --And the girl: "Oh habibi I have[br]seen them indeed!" 0:03:41.260,0:03:42.400 [Isn't the Residence beautiful?] 0:03:45.220,0:03:46.240 [Me?] 0:03:46.620,0:03:48.260 [BENNANI] When I go to Morocco, 0:03:48.260,0:03:52.580 I am surrounded by these women that are[br]powerful or very charismatic. 0:03:54.000,0:03:58.800 I filmed four women that are family members. 0:03:59.460,0:04:02.160 But, at the same time, they're always in between 0:04:02.160,0:04:05.120 being a family member and becoming a character. 0:04:05.860,0:04:08.700 [WOMAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH][br]--I work as a medical representative. 0:04:09.820,0:04:12.140 --I am divorced, no kids. 0:04:12.200,0:04:14.500 [BENNANI] There's these two extremes,[br]you know. 0:04:14.580,0:04:17.970 On one side, I almost feel[br]emotionally like a monster 0:04:17.970,0:04:21.720 who traps family members[br]into this digital world. 0:04:23.400,0:04:25.000 And then the other extreme is like 0:04:25.000,0:04:25.640 [CAMERA CLICKS] 0:04:25.640,0:04:28.500 fully loving and celebrating family. 0:04:29.130,0:04:30.960 I feel like they're both necessary 0:04:30.970,0:04:33.710 and between the friction of both of them 0:04:33.710,0:04:36.500 is created all this potential for storytelling. 0:04:42.430,0:04:44.940 If you think that the time spent on a piece 0:04:44.940,0:04:48.090 is a hundred hours, 0:04:48.090,0:04:52.120 I spent maybe one hour with them 0:04:52.120,0:04:54.560 and ninety-nine hours editing-- 0:04:54.560,0:04:56.940 looking at their face[br]and tracking it frame by frame. 0:05:00.460,0:05:03.340 They have no idea that[br]I'm spending so much time with them 0:05:03.340,0:05:04.440 while I'm in New York. 0:05:05.500,0:05:06.360 I like that. 0:05:13.160,0:05:15.530 I was invited by Public Art Fund, 0:05:15.530,0:05:20.340 and I made a video piece for[br]the Barclays Center oculus screen. 0:05:21.520,0:05:24.060 The media portrays very extreme, 0:05:24.060,0:05:26.760 one-dimensional portraits of Muslims. 0:05:28.040,0:05:31.040 Because I knew this video would[br]exist in a public space, 0:05:31.040,0:05:35.220 I felt the necessity to be more thoughtful 0:05:35.220,0:05:38.120 and reflect on women who wear the hijab. 0:05:39.860,0:05:41.900 The video was called "Your Year" 0:05:41.900,0:05:46.740 and it was showing a timeline of secular[br]and Muslim holidays in America. 0:05:49.480,0:05:51.620 I wanted it to be not jokey, 0:05:51.620,0:05:54.710 but to be obviously in support of 0:05:54.710,0:05:58.700 women wearing the hijab in the neighborhood[br]where they would see the video. 0:06:01.520,0:06:02.800 I had a different approach, 0:06:02.800,0:06:05.970 which was to actually do way more research, 0:06:05.970,0:06:07.480 to talk to women who wear the hijab-- 0:06:07.480,0:06:09.500 who think about it,[br]who write about it-- 0:06:09.500,0:06:11.060 in today's America. 0:06:13.800,0:06:15.280 Being in New York-- 0:06:15.280,0:06:18.080 with Trump, after this election-- 0:06:18.540,0:06:20.960 is actually affecting me in deep ways. 0:06:22.440,0:06:25.480 Growing up in Morocco,[br]I never really thought of myself, 0:06:25.490,0:06:26.990 for example, as an Arab. 0:06:26.990,0:06:28.200 Although I am, you know? 0:06:29.080,0:06:30.760 I never thought in those terms. 0:06:31.180,0:06:32.640 And being here, 0:06:32.640,0:06:37.760 with the travel ban uniting seven countries[br]into this shitty situation, 0:06:38.380,0:06:40.280 for the first time I have felt it. 0:06:40.800,0:06:44.520 I don’t want to be a Moroccan[br]or a Muslim woman artist. 0:06:44.520,0:06:46.740 I just want to be an artist 0:06:46.740,0:06:49.360 who is making a project about trees. 0:06:49.920,0:06:51.160 --Can I touch her? 0:06:51.160,0:06:52.160 --She's friendly? 0:06:52.160,0:06:53.260 --She doesn't bite? 0:06:53.260,0:06:55.520 What this political climate does 0:06:55.520,0:06:59.180 is that it asks you to think about[br]your identity constantly. 0:07:00.620,0:07:03.000 And I feel like my reaction to that 0:07:03.000,0:07:04.940 has been to make work that 0:07:05.920,0:07:09.440 itself doesn’t stick to a genre or one identity. 0:07:10.080,0:07:12.400 It has to do with me not wanting to 0:07:12.400,0:07:14.700 define myself into one thing.