Monnaie de Paris presents Mohamed Bourouissa All-in new video by Mohamed Bourouissa featuring the making of a medal representing the French rap artist Booba, on 6 October, 7pm–7am.
Token by Mohamed Bourouissa for Monnaie de Paris. Courtesy of the artist and Monnaie de Paris
Two worlds are colliding: the world of Monnaie de Paris, the oldest French institution, and the world of rap music. All-in is the portrait of an image in the making, Booba’s portrait as drawn by Mohamed Bourouissa, transposed into metal thanks to the techniques and crafts of Monnaie de Paris’s finest engravers. The movie is an invitation to look behind the scenes into the creation of coins. The video is slow-paced and thorough, not unlike the craftsmanship and care necessary to produce them. Mohamed Bourouissa’s proposal to address such a brief event is to include Booba into the industrial process of Monnaie de Paris in a way that the place, full of heritage, where money is still minted everyday, becomes the playground of the famous French rapper.
Emerging international artist, Mohamed Bourouissa arose to fame with a photographic series about the young people living in the suburbs of Paris. The way they were staged was reminiscent both of the news broadcasts and motifs from old masters like Gericault, Caravaggio or Vermeer. Using a wide variety of artistic practices, his work continues to strongly capture topics often put in the margin of society, like with his film Temps mort, an SMS dialogue between the artist and an inmate. Caught between poetry and realism, the scenarios imagined by Mohamed Bourouissa explore the social and economical problems at stake in the so-called inner cities while addressing the relationship between these populations and the figures of authority with a very personal empathy.
Elected best actual French rap artist by 2Kmusic and best French rapper of all time, Booba already sold more than a million records with LPs like Ouest Side, 0.9 and Lunatic. Self-proclaimed materialist, he wittingly describes his life according to the American rap canon: expensive cars, gangs of girls, jewelry and tatoos. But Booba isn’t all looks: his raspy flow supports a very personal songwriting made of metaphors and daring neologisms.
For Nuit Blanche, Monnaie de Paris will produce two editions created by Mohamed Bourouissa: a token with Booba’s effigy, and a medal that will be worn in forthcoming music videos.
Monnaie de Paris, a new cultural institution
As soon as it will reopen, Monnaie de Paris will resume a cultural program of exhibitions and events focused on contemporary creation. The venue already presented projects from Tadashi Kawamata (2008), Daniel Buren (2009 and 2010), Willy Ronis (2010) and Steidl (2010).
Monnaie de Paris
11 quai de Conti
75006 Paris, France
monnaiedeparis-art.tumblr.com
