Soufiane Ababri. NON MERCI!!!

About

Ababri’s practice provokes activism through literary, sociological and political texts, attributed to queer individuals, but not exclusively queer in cultural impact, with previous exhibitions siphoning from Jean Genet, Frank O’Hara, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Didier Eribon and Yukio Mishima. NON MERCI !!! refers to Cyrano de Bergerac’s tirade, where he refuses to participate in the Bourgeois world, preferring to keep his pride and marginality. De Bergerac, that is to say, refuses to sell himself to society for a career. NON MERCI !!! is painted over the main walls of the gallery, while four yellow carpets in the shape of stars remain on the floor, activated by the four performers on opening night.

Ababri’s installation includes a new series of coloured pencil-on-paper drawings. Created in Paris and during his residency in Berlin, leading up to the exhibition, reclining in bed, Ababri’s series of Bedworks is conceptually in line with de Bergerac’s state of mind, the refusal to change or stop being subversive.