Meriem Bennani – Life on the CAPS

A catalog for an exhibition of the latest chapter in Miriem Bennani’s CAPS film project.
 
This first monographic book on the New York-based artist Meriem Bennani is built around her ongoing filmic project CAPS. Life on the CAPS is the latest chapter in the trilogy, set in a supernatural, dystopian future surrounding a fictional island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Layering live-action footage and computer-generated animation, Bennani adapts editing techniques that evoke documentary film, science fiction, phone footage, music videos, and reality TV. Her solo exhibition at the Renaissance Society marks the debut of this work considering what it is to live in a state of limbo.
 
The first of the book’s two parts focuses on the making of the work in the exhibition and features aspects of Bennani’s process, her inspirations, and research around the diverse worlds of island societies, science fiction, and vernacular music. This section will also feature essays by the writers Emily LaBarge and Elvia Wilk, along with a conversation with writer and curator Omar Berrada. The second part is rooted firmly in the world of CAPS and includes conversations with Bennani’s cast of motley characters, as well as a piece of fan fiction by the writer Anand Balakrishnan.