Humanities: Neïl Beloufa at the Renaissance Society

Neïl Beloufa is an artist whose polymorphous practice spans film, sculpture, installations, as well as social and collective experiments. In a constant flirtation with failure, his work insistently interrogates the art field–its institutions and formats, its capacities and limitations–while also now exploring the digital world and the novel forms of community that coalesce there. 

While riffing on the gamification of society and the trend of immersive art experiences, Growth is an interactive multimedia system that guides each visitor through the process of becoming the center of their own success story, creating a company, a cult, or a political party and thus highlighting the incongruous likeness between those. The new commission is presented in conjunction with Beloufa’s existing piece Global Agreement (2018) which examines modern warfare discourse through the vantage point of its direct personnel since Beloufa conducted lengthy interviews with soldiers stationed around the world, extracting from their testimonies a characterization of war that resists accounts from Hollywood or the army itself. The two pieces merge in a dialogue (or cacophony) which uncannily reflects our current moment’s tension between extreme individualism and global discord. Curated by Myriam Ben Salah.

Related Events
Opening Reception
Sat, Sep 14, 2024 – 4pm–7pm
Artist Talk at 4pm in Swift Hall
Exhibition Walk-through
Led by Myriam Ben Salah
Wed, Sep 25, 6 PM
Discussion
Neïl Beloufa with Patrick Jagoda, and Gary Kafer
Wed, Oct 16, 1PM
Zoom
For this online program, two scholars from the University of Chicago offer their
reflections on Neïl Beloufa’s interactive exhibition at the Ren before joining the artist
in conversation. Patrick Jagoda is a specialist in media theory and game studies in the
Department of English, whose research has explored network aesthetics and the rise
of gamification in American culture, among other subjects. Gary Kafer, from the
Department of Cinema and Media Studies, examines the politics of twenty-first
century digital culture, with a focus on surveillance systems and how data-based
processes reproduce existing power relations.

About the Artist
Neïl Beloufa (b. 1985, Paris, France) studied at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux- Arts and at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, USA; Cooper Union, New York; and Le Fresnoy National Contemporary Arts Studio, Tourcoing, France. He has exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, including at Secession, Vienna; Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Schirn Künsthalle, Frankfurt; Pejman Foundation, Tehran; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin; and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. He participated in the Venice Biennale in 2013 and 2019, the Shanghai Biennale and Taipei Biennale in 2014, and the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2013. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; François Pinault Collection; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, among others. He lives and works in Paris.

HUMANITIES is presented in conjunction with a related project at Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland, October 4, 2024–January 19, 2025.