Formed at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin (HEAR, 2015), Ouissem Moalla (born in 1990 in Stockholm) explores themes of space and memory in his work, drawing inspiration from the research
of historian Frances A. Yates. He draws from popular and literary culture, myths, and major texts, with language as a recurring thread. This takes shape through performances, installations, and
paintings in which he questions space, our relationship to places, cosmogony, and beliefs.
Whether in Mulhouse, where his studio is located, or during residencies (Motoco&co Tokyo 2018; CEEAC - Basis E.v. Frankfurt 2023; Villa Salammbô Institut français Tunisia 2024), he
works with the remnants of industrial ruins (G.O.L.D, 2017), explores myths and representations of urban gateways (Impressions d’Espaces, 2024), wanders around a Shinto shrine
carrying chairs strapped to his back to form the character 目 (mù / eye) (Monkey, 2018), or reinterprets mystical texts by intertwining language and the body (Clavis Tabula,
2023). His work, enriched by multicultural influences, flirts with the human and social sciences, questioning archives and communities.
Ouissem Moalla classifies his works into «series», each forming a universe that he continuously expands with new projects exploring the same themes.
On the occasion of the closing of Jérémie Descamps' studio, after five years of residency at Motoco, an exhibition, a performance, and a public display took place to mark his departure from the space. Under the theme "The Street Peddler," Jérémie Descamps paid tribute to the many peddlers he encountered during his time in Beijing, who gradually disappeared as the city expanded and transformed.
PROCESSUS is an art-science duo created with Jérémie Descamps, urban planner and doctor of geography, whom I met during a residency at MOTOCO (an artistic production space in Mulhouse). Since 2023, we have been exploring together the mental representations of space and territory, and their collective memory, through dedicated research-creation protocols. Notably, through the prism of urban gates, we probe notions of thresholds, passages, and borders, leading us to question ideas of territory,...