PARIS.- “The Enemy of my Enemy” [l’Ennemi de mon Ennemi] is a project by Ne飈 Beloufa (b. 1985 in Paris, lives and works in Paris), commissioned by Palais de Tokyo. It consists of a scenographic dispositive that represents a chaotic and fragmented vision of the ways in which history is written and in which power is legitimized in the contemporary era.

Drawing inspiration from official communication, memorials, war museums, and political propaganda as well as current events, advertising, and video games, the exhibition explores the interchangeability of strategies and discourses. In doing so, it plays upon the permanent ambiguity between good and evil, heroes and villains, postures and impostures.

The scenographic dispositive, specially created by the artist for this exhibition, integrates works of art, documents, images, artefacts, reproductions and objects that are constantly moved around by robotic elements according to an algorithmic programme. The dispositive thus allows for a constant reappraisal of possible associations, perspectives and meanings.

“The Enemy of my Enemy” envisages the world as a field of contradictory yet comparable strategies. In doing so, it subtly questions the place of the artist within the multiplicity of powers that it evokes, between desires of autonomy, servitude, and propaganda.

After “The unforgettable assumptions of autonomy” [ Les inoubliables prises d’autonomie ] in 2012, “The Enemy of my Enemy” is Ne飈 Beloufa’s second exhibition at Palais de Tokyo. This project offers a new means of apprehending the work of this young artist who has continuously questioned his own artistic practice as well as his means of production.

The elements presented were selected by the artist in collaboration with the curator, with external third-parties advising on particular subjects.

With: Anahi Alviso-Marino, Camille Blatrix, Barbara Bloom, Gregoire Beil, Johannes B黷tner, Colectivo Acciones de Arte, Ellen Cantor, Gr間oire Chamayou, Gustave Courbet, Christian Courr鑗es, LouisAuguste D閏helette, Eversim (France), Jean-Luc Godard, ECPAD - 蓆ablissement de Communication et de Production Audiovisuelle de la D閒ense (Ivry-sur-Seine), Massimo Grimaldi, Thomas Hirschhorn, Holy Defense Museum (T閔閞an, Iran), Alfred Janniot, Jon Kessler, Elizabeth Lennard, Vann Nath, National Army Museum (Londres, Royaume-Uni), Katja Novitskova, Pablo Picasso, Sigmar Polke, William Pope L., Hito Steyerl, Joseph Tcha飇ov…

Curated by Guillaume D閟anges, with Marilou Thi閎ault and Noam Segal.

Ne飈 Beloufa (born in 1985 in Paris) is a French-Algerian artist who lives in Paris. He studied at the 蒫ole nationale sup閞ieure des beaux-arts and the 蒫ole nationale sup閞ieure des arts d閏oratifs in Paris, the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (USA); Cooper Union, New York and Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporain, Tourcoing (France).

He was nominated for the Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2015, the Artes Mundi Prize (Cardiff, UK) and the Nam June Paik (Essen, Germany) in 2016. He was awarded the Prix Meurice for contemporary art in 2013, the Audi Talent Award in 2011 and the agn鑣 b. Studio Collector Prize in 2010.

Palais de Tokyo put on his first major solo exhibition in a French art centre in 2012 (“The unforgettable assumptions of autonomy” [ Les inoubliables prises d’autonomie ], curated by Daria de Beauvais and Ga雔 Charbau).

Since then, many renown institutions in France and abroad have organized solo shows of his work, in particular K11 (Shanghai, 2016), the MoMA (New York, 2016), the Schinkel Pavillon (Berlin, 2015), the Institute for Contemporary Arts (London, 2014), and the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, 2013).

Ne飈 Beloufa also took part in the Shanghai Biennale for contemporary art in 2014, the 55th International exhibition of contemporary art at the Venice Biennale in 2013, as well as the Lyon Biennale d’art contemporain in 2013.

His work appears in many prestigious collections, such as the Mus閑 national d’art moderne Georges Pompidou and the MoMA, as well as the Sammlung Goetz and the Julia Stoschek collections.

Ne飈 Beloufa is currently represented by the galleries Balice Hertling in Paris, Mendes Wood in New York and Sao Paulo, the Galleria Zero in Milan and Fran鏾is Ghebaly in Los Angeles.

“If there once was a time when artists came up with images that the powers that be didn’t want to see, the powers now incite, desire, consume, and paradoxically represent freedom in this way. so, how to make something which is unusable?” --Ne飈 Beloufa

“‘The Enemy of my Enemy’ is a snake that bites its own tail, while going around the wall that splits the geopolitical world in half.” --Marilou Thi閎ault