Artist Nassim Azarzar invites workshop participants to explore themes of displacement, identity, and collective narrative through a collaborative creative process.
Working with the ‘cut-up’ technique first used by Dadaists in the 1920s, and associated in particular with writer William Burroughs, participants will work with fragments of migration testimonies shared during the production of Azarzar’s soundscape alongside abstract visual motifs found in the painted mural; remixing and rearranging text and image to create new layers, interpretations and meanings.
The workshop is organised within the context of Azarzar’s Showroom Mural Commission: Hayat al Noujoum / La vie des étoiles.
About the Mural Commission
French-born Moroccan artist Nassim Azarzar offers a reflection into the nature of migration explored through the lens of transnational experience. Hayat al Noujoum / La vie des étoiles constellates visual and aural elements, combining the artist’s distinct painterly style with a sound installation of oral testimonies of personal migratory experiences from the Church Street Ward, at the heart of London’s Westminster borough, and the wider community.
Expanding his practice from painting to sound, Azarzar attempts to chart the effects of migration from different perspectives; documenting his conversations with various individuals and inviting others to give voice to these through studio recordings. Through this process, he examines the nature of displaced identities and culture blending among communities, unveiling multiple layers of personal experience. Azarzar’s interest in the subject is deeply rooted in his background as a French-born child of Moroccan parents. His relationship with the notion of home and belonging resonates with a deep complexity that many of us can relate to.
The work is conceived as a living, breathing artwork that echoes the community’s diverse voices, woven into the very fabric of the building as a sonic experience. In the artist’s words, ‘Murals are typically seen, but this project for The Showroom also aims to make people’s voices heard through sound. Their voices express personal relationships to identity, belonging, and integration and are reshaped in collaboration with sound artists to activate The Showroom’s facade throughout the year.’
About the artist
Nassim Azarzar (1989, France) derives his painterly language from uniquely Moroccan imagery, transposing their forms and interrogating their meanings across contexts. This research has led to the creation of his visual language, reflecting the complexity of defining his identity as a person born in France to Moroccan parents. Nassim’s aesthetic exploration encompasses decorative arts, painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic design, and experimental cinema.
