Mounir Ayache

Born in 1991, French-Moroccan artist Mounir Ayache’s technological creations invite us to take a fresh look at the political and social realities of the Arab world. Using the codes of science fiction to blend family histories and the imaginary reappropriation of Arab experiences and identities, he is part of the unofficial current of Arabfuturism, influenced by the Afrofuturism of the 1990s, which draws on fiction to propose alternative narratives. Mounir Ayache apes representations of the Other and the Stranger in Western fiction, and uses new technologies to realize and transmit his ideas, blurring the boundaries between contemporary art and entertainment.

His residency project revolves around the character of Hassan al-Wazzan (1494-1555), who became Jean-Léon de Médicis under Pope Leo X, known as “Léon l’Africain”, the main character in the novel bearing his name written by Amin Maalouf in 1986. In 1525, at the Pope’s request, he wrote “La Cosmographia de Affrica”, a reference work describing sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa, and a source of inspiration for the European imagination, for whom this region was unknown. Using the 1525 manuscript as a basis, his writing project consisted in creating a science-fiction story set in the year 2500, in which the main character, inspired by Hassan al-Wazzan, tells the story of Europe/Africa exchanges, conjuring up fictional geopolitical and ecological issues linked to the city of Rome. This narrative will give rise to the production of a series of sculptures activating digital content superimposed on reality, using an augmented reality device.