Out of Place: El Kazma in Tunis
A Contemporary Art Exhibition
La Presse — La Boîte, a contemporary art space, will host the exhibition "Out of Place-El Kazma in Tunis" from November 13, 2025, to January 8, 2026, in an exceptional edition presented in partnership with the Gabès Cinéma Fen festival and Focus Gabès.
About El Kazma
Born in Gabès, on the Corniche, near the World War II bunker from which it takes its name, "El Kazma" is an international video art exhibition that originated from the Art Video section of the Gabès Cinéma Fen festival. Every year, artists and curators are invited to reflect on a unifying theme and a selection of works that question our relationship with images.
The Exhibition
Presented in containers (contemporary metaphors of the original bunker), El Kazma explores the political, social, technological, and environmental resonances of images from around the world. During its stop in Tunis, the exhibition will retain its experimental spirit and unique scenography, with containers transformed into immersive and reflective spaces.
Curatorial Statement
"...Out of place is an attempt to convene and invoke places that are both imaginary and real. It is a space of production and mobilization. Books, images, and songs that have defined global perspectives around thoughts and forms emanating from the continent...", writes Hamedine Kane, the exhibition's curator. A Senegalese artist and filmmaker, Kane shares his life between Dakar, Brussels, and Paris. His work explores themes of exile, memory, and post-independence political heritage, articulating a sensitive reflection on Afro-nostalgia and Afro-utopia.
The Artists
The exhibition brings together a group of artists with multiple perspectives:
- Azeedine Saleck, with his work "Dune", invites a sensitive journey through landscapes and memories. Through video, this Mauritanian artist explores notions of territory, displacement, and belonging.
- Cheikh Ndiaye from Senegal and Laurence Bonvin from Switzerland, with their work "Ghost Fair Trade" (2022), explore the traces left by the history of trade and globalization in urban space and collective memory.
- Fabrice Pichat (Belgium), through "Interno" (2021), pursues research where gaze, sound, and matter meet. His work explores the relationships between the visible and the invisible, between what we perceive and what escapes immediate perception.
- Frank Mukunday and Tétshim from the Democratic Republic of Congo exhibit "Machini" (2019), where they explore the impact of machines on our lives and imaginations. Between irony and gravity, "Machini" stages a humanity caught in the mechanical movement it has itself generated: somnambulant beings, oscillating between resistance and abandonment.
- Justin Randolph Thompson presents "Every Thrust From Within or Without" (2023). By retracing the journey of black soldiers from American, French, and British armies, the artist examines the gaps in the ideals of freedom inscribed in the monuments of World War II.
- Other works will also be on display, including those by Kapwani Kiwanga, Kent Chan, Léonard Pongo, Mbaye Diop, Moïse Togo, and Sammy Baloji.
About the Curator
Hamedine Kane is a co-initiator of the collective The School of Mutants. He has presented his work in numerous international biennales and institutions, where he questions the imaginaries of the African continent and the place of contemporary creation within it. "El Kazma is a space that is both physical and symbolic, a place of exile and memory, where the sand keeps the trace of what passes. It is a territory of waiting, resistance, and imagination," he writes in his curatorial text.
