Younès Ben Slimane is a Tunisian artist and filmmaker based in Paris, France. Initially trained as an architect, he uses the camera as a tool to capture the ‘spirit of places.’ ZHF commissioned Ben Slimane to research and create new work that relates to cultural hybridity and interdisciplinarity in architecture and the built environment. The exhibition brings together three of his films exploring the meaning of images and architectural legacies in Tunisia. It includes Images de Tunisie (2024), a newly commissioned film by ZHF.
Images de Tunisie is an intimate portrayal of Tunisia’s architectural landscape and its atmospheres, memories and traditions. It appropriates ethnographic documentaries on architecture and rural life in Tunisia, sourced from France’s national audiovisual archive (INA). Scenes from 1940s newsreels produced by Les Actualités Françaises are combined with new footage from the same sites, including Matmata, Douiret and Tameghza.
The exhibition also features Parallel (2018), which presents the interplay between steam and natural light inside of interior of a hammam in Hammamet, where the first public baths in the city were built by the Romans, and All Come From Dust (2019), an exploration into the preservation of the craftmanship of bricklaying in Tozeur, where Ben Slimane’s ancestors lived and worked.
Curator: Johan Deurell
Graphic design: Offshore
Project team: Serena Lawrance, Rosie Martyr, Phil Sofer, Wilson Yau
Johan Deurell's website 
You must be logged in to post a comment.