We knew how beautiful they were, these islands
Younes Ben Slimane
Le violon bleu / Blue Wind Projects, Sidi Bou Said
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- Title
- We knew how beautiful they were, these islands
- Gallery
- Le violon bleu / Blue Wind Projects, Sidi Bou Said
- Year
- 2021
- Duration
- 21 min
- Format & Technical
HD, Single-Channel Video, Colour, Sound
At night, a stranger digs graves, buries the dead and watches over them. In the dark, he reveals the personal belongings of the deceased to us. These objects, separated from their owners, bear their scars and story, while others melt until they become enigmatic.
Nous le savions qu’elles étaient belles les îles, was produced by Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains in co-production with Inside Productions. Younes Ben Slimane won the Prix Studio Collector 2021 with this work.
Stills
Younes Ben Slimane is a Tunisian artist, filmmaker and architect. In 2020, he joined Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains. His training as an architect has a major influence on his approach as an artist. Working through film, video, drawing and installation, he establishes a permanent dialogue between architecture and visual arts, where different mediums coexist and reflect their respective potentialities and limits. He has participated in contemporary art events including Jaou Tunis (TN) and Documenta fifteen (DE). His work has been shown at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris (FR), Selma Feriani Gallery in Sidi Bou Saïd (TN), Mucem in Marseille (FR) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje (MK). His films have been selected in international festivals including Locarno Film Festival, CPH:DOX and DokuFest. In 2021, he received the Studio Collector Award.
Related galleries
Le violon bleu / Blue Wind Projects
- Address
- 16 rue de la Gare, 2016, Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
- Phone
- + (216) 71 743 241
- contact@leviolonbleugallery.com
- Website
- leviolonbleugallery.com
The Violon Bleu gallery was founded in 2003 by Essia Hamdi, with a policy of promoting the modern artists of L’Ecole de Tunis, as well as international artists such as Arman, Sosno and Yves Klein.
The blue wind project is the gallery’s curatorial programme, set up by Khadija Hamdi, to promote contemporary artists from the Mediterranean, in particular by creating a link between Tunisia and Spain.
The gallery has participated in several international art fairs in Paris, London and Abu Dhabi and has been responsible for the acquisition of some artists from the MENA region and in particular from the Tunis School by prestigious museums such as the Guggenheim New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum London.