Rayane Mcirdi

Rayane Mcirdi,
Le Bord de l’Oise, 2022

Rayane Mcirdi
Le Croissant de feu, 2021
video
35’46”

“Le croissant de feu” is a family story. The series of films presented in Rayane Mcirdi’s first solo exhibition is a collection of micro-stories collected by the artist from different generations of his entourage. Through a series of films and archival images that he has compiled, his relatives tell stories of migration from Algeria to France, of settling in the Mourinoux neighborhood, of gentrification and of the transmission of memories from one generation to the next.

The ensemble draws, in hollow, the intimate and collective portrait of a family, of a neighborhood, but also of a global society in constant evolution, made of plural identities and experiences.
text Horya Makhlouf

exhibition view “Le Croissant de feu”, 2021, galerie Edouard Manet, Gennevilliers.
© Photo : Margot Montigny

Rayane Mcirdi
Le Jardin, 2021
video
22’29’’

In a park, a lunch on the grass, by the water and with the family. Rayane Mcirdi’s aunts and mother, born in the 1960s, recount their childhood memories, their passage from the slums of Sartrouville to the Mourinoux district, and their attachment to the city in which they grew up.

Rayane Mcirdi
Le Toit, 2018
video
6’41”

“Les princes de la ville” is a series of five documentary films based on stories collected from residents of the cities of Asnières-sur-Seine and Gennevilliers, in the Hauts-de-Seine.

From the Roof to Asnières-Gennevilliers, through Love Will Come Later, Legba and One Two Three, these short films are the filmic transcriptions of personal and anecdotal stories entrusted to the artist in the form of confidences by his relatives – friends, cousins, neighbors. They are the material of a collection, in the ethnographic sense of the term, which, put together, form a collection, drawing the contours of a community made of heritages, histories and cultures sometimes distant but constitutive of singular identities.

The political and sociological dimensions of this collection are mixed with cinematographic and poetic ones; between the authenticity of the story and the heroisation of the protagonists who try to give an almost cinematographic rhythm to their adventures, it is the way in which the stories can be written that is finally questioned here. At the heart of the very language in which the stories are expressed, their implicit components are revealed: in them, touches of French, Arabic, Mina, slang of the three and Derija are mixed, and raise to the rank of poetry this “language of the suburbs” everywhere else stigmatized.

text Horya Makhlouf

Le toit, 2018
exhibition view Désolé, Galerie Edouard Manet, Gennevilliers
© Photo : Margot Montigny

Rayane Mcirdi
La Légende d’Y.Z., 2016/2017
video
14’09”

This film explores the links between fiction and reality. It features Yacine Zerguit, an action movie fan who has always imitated the stunts and performances of his favorite stars: Bruce Lee or Jean-Claude Van Damme, until he makes them his own.
Seeing his cousin imitate his icons gave Rayane Mcirdi the desire to allow him to become one in his turn, in his own film. Yacine was thus entrusted with writing the script of the action film in which he is the hero. Becoming “Y.Z. “He embarks on a quest for revenge for the death of his brother, murdered by the terrifying Brali. The hero begins a quest and adventure film, worthy of a blockbuster. He must learn the rudiments of the art of combat from three legendary sages in order to master the secret techniques that will allow him to accomplish his mission.

A game about remaking and staging oneself, The Legend of Y.Z. also portrays the construction of oneself with regard to the models and principles that each person decides to give himself. In this fictional quest, as in his real life, religion and sports allow Yacine-Y.Z. to achieve personal absolution and fulfillment. He learned the rigor with which he performs every action from the action movies he watched on TV, almost all of which were of Asian origin. Or how fiction can become life, and vice versa.
text Horya Makhlouf

Rayane Mcirdi
You’ll Never Walk Never Alone, 2014/2015
video
15’24”

Samir, a Liverpool fan since he was a child, has watched so many soccer games and played FIFA – the world’s best-selling soccer video game – that he has learned the language, including grammar, speech patterns, and other elements of speech that make it up.

You’ll Never Walk Alone captures and retransmits live the manifestations of the linguistic codes he has made his own while playing FIFA on the network. An actor’s game is then created, which makes the borders of the realitý of his room and the virtuality of his position as a player porous. As the game progresses, Samir is in turn – and all at once – player, commentator or coach. The quasi-schizophrenia to which the protagonist succumbs stages and plays out the links that unite real and virtual, image and language, hobby and “real life.”
text Horya Makhlouf

Rayane Mcirdi was born in 1993 in Paris.

A graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 2019, after attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Angers, Rayane Mcirdi creates video works that blur the lines between documentary and fiction. The actors in his films are family members or close friends filmed in their homes or in familiar places. His films capture intimate or collective events rooted in everyday life.

Rayane Mcirdi presented his first solo exhibition in 2021 at the Galerie Édouard-Manet, Gennevilliers. He has participated in several group exhibitions: in 2021, “100% L’expo”, curated by Inès Geoffroy, at La Villette (Paris); in 2019, “Désolé”, curated by Mohamed Bourouissa, at the Galerie Édouard-Manet, Gennevilliers; “Écuries Nord”, curated by Clément Cogitore, at 104Centquatre, Paris; in 2018, “Par amour du jeu”, curated by Anna Labouze and Keimis Henni, at Magasins Généraux, Pantin; and “La Fureur du Dragon”, curated by Mohamed Bourouissa, at the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

In 2022, “Le Croissant de Feu” was presented at the Passerelle Art Center in Brest as part of the exhibition “À fleur de peau”, curated by Loïc Le Gall. His film “Le Jardin” was shown at the Palais de Tokyo as part of the screening “L’ami intérieur”, curated by Stéphanie Cottin. He also held a solo exhibition at Galerie Anne Barrault.

At the invitation of Zineb Sedira, he made a new film about the Chibanis (literally “white hairs” in colloquial Arabic).

As part of the “Cinéma prospectif” cycle, Rayane Mcirdi presented the “Croissant de Feu” trilogy at the Centre Pompidou, Paris in 2023. He also showed “Le Jardin” at the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai as part of “My Mother’s Nose”, a film program curated by Lucas Morin. The same film was also presented at the Maison des Arts in Malakoff within the project “Un centre d’art nourricier: Phase 1 “Eco-luttes”.

For the new Nîmes Triennale “La Contemporaine”, curated by Anna Labouze and Keimis Henni, Rayane Mcirdi will present a new film created for the occasion, which was screened at the Le Sémaphore cinema in Nîmes.

In 2024, Rayane Mcirdi was part of the official selection of the 56th Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival for his short film “Après le soleil”.

In 2025, Rayane Mcirdi’s work was exhibited at the CRAC Alsace in Altkirch and is currently featured in the “Banlieues Chéries“ exhibition at the Palais de la Porte Dorée, curated by Susana Gállego Cuesta Aleteïa, with Aleteïa, aka Émilie Garnaud, Horya Makhlouf, and Chloé Dupont.

Solo exhibitions

2021
Le Croissant de Feu. A Fatima Mahli, curated by Lionel Balouin, Galerie Edouard-Manet, Gennevilliers, (France)

Group exhibitions

2022
À fleur de peau, curated by Loïc Le Gall – CAC Passerelle (Brest)

2021
100% L’EXPO, curated by Inès Geoffroy- La Villette, Paris, (France)

Glad to take height and see the slow-motion world– curated by Mathilda Portoghese, galerie Jeune Création, Romainville, (France)

Mohamed Bourouissa Filmprogram, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Danemark) 71eme Edition, Jeune Création – Fondation Fiminco, Romainville, (France)

2020
The Plates of The Present, So Far, curated by Thomas Fougeirol & Jo-Ey Tang, Centre Pompidou, Paris, (France)

Hamdoulah ça va,curated by Mohamed Bourouissa & Sonia Perrin, DADA, Marrakech, (Maroc)

2019
Detroit City Guide Book Vol.4 Rise From The Ashes, curated by Julien Sirjacq, Galerie P38, Paris, (France)

Désolé, curated by Mohamed Bourouissa, Galerie Edouard-Manet, Gennevilliers, (France)

A.C. Star, curated by Mohamed Bourouissa, Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, (France)

Écuries Nord, curated by Clément Cogitore, 104Centquatre, Paris, (France)

Detroit City Guide Book Vol.3 High-Tech Dream Low-Tech Reality, curated by Julien Sirjacq, Le Point Ephémère, Paris, (France)

Detroit City Guide Book Vol.2 Sport Complex, curated by Julien Sirjacq, Le DOC, Paris, (France)

2018
Par amour du jeu, curated by Anna Labouze & Keimis Henni, Magasins Generaux, Pantin, (France)

I-n-t-o-t-o 6, curated by Thomas Fougeirol & Julien Carreyn, Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, Paris, (France)

2017
La Fureur du Dragon, curated by Mohamed Bourouissa, Centre Pompidou, Paris, (France)

Sharjah Biennial 13 – Act II, An unpredictable expression of human potential – curated by Hicham Khalidi, Christine Tohmé, Beirut Art Center, Beyrouth, (Liban)

Screenings

2024
Après le soleil | Festival Cinémed, Montpellier, mention spécial
Après le soleil |  Stockholm int film festival
Après le soleil | MedFilm, Rome
Après le soleil (وراء الشمس) | Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage, Tunisie
Après le soleil (Despois do sol – After the sun) | Batalha Centro de Cinema, Porto, Portugal
Après le soleil | Les Rencontres cinématrographies de Bejaia, Béjaïa, Algérie
After the sun | Metrograph, New York
Après le soleil | Diffusion Arte
Après le soleil | Centre Pompidou, Paris
Après le soleil | la Cinémathèque, Paris
Après le soleil | Sélection officielle, 56e édition de la Quinzaine des cinéastes | Festival de Cannes

2023
Le Croissant de feu, Le Jardin & Mina | Prospectif cinéma | Centre Pompidou, Paris Projection

2022
Le Saint-André des Arts, Paris

Bibliography

2022
Biennale de Venise: «Le politique doit aussi passer par la joie», entretien croisé avec Rayane Mcirdi et Zineb Sedira, Claire Moulène pour Libération, Avril

2021
Rayane Mcirdi – Guillaume Lasserre pour 02, version numérique, Décembre

2020
“Refus d’obéissance” – Ingrid Luquet-Gad pour Les Inrockuptibles #1254, Mai

2019
“Rayane Mcirdi, une autre image de la banlieue” – Horya Makhlouf pour Jeunes Critiques d’Art/YACI International, Décembre

2018
Portfolio – Entretien, Causette #89, Mai

Collections

Fonds d’art contemporain-Paris Collections
CNAP, Centre National de Arts Plastiques
KADIST
Conseil Départemental de Seine Saint-Denis
FRAC Ile de France

LIBERATION * Claire Moulène, 23 avril 2022
entretien croisé avec Rayane Mcirdi et Zineb Sedira
Biennale de Venise: «Le politique doit aussi passer par la joie»

02 * Guillaume Lasserre, 2021
https://www.zerodeux.fr/news/rayane-mcirdi/

Jeunes critiques d’Arts * Horya Makhlouf, 2019
https://yaci-international.com/fr/rayane-mcirdi-une-autre-image-de-la-banlieue/