Formed at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin (HEAR), 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.

Performance by Jérémie Descamps,« Le Colporteur de Rue » ("The Street Peddler") produced by our duo PROCESSUS.

"An urban planner and sinologist, Jérémie Descamps works at the intersection of space and language in an un-disciplined manner. With a PhD in geography, his work focuses on the ethos of urban professions and actors, the sociology of organizations related to urban professions, and the artistic and scientific, visual and narrative languages through which the space of societies can be sensitively understood.

 

 

Along with Ouissem Moalla, he is part of the art-science duo PROCESSUS. Since 2023, they have been exploring mental representations of space and territory, as well as their collective memory, through dedicated research-creation protocols."

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.

 

More about : Le Colporteur de Rue, procession urbaine, 2023.

Le Colporteur de Rue : Vanneries & Chapeaux (Procession Urbaine), Ouissem Moalla & PROCESSUS, 13'25'', 2024