- 2 days ago
De Dubaï à New-York, en passant par la Tunisie, ce documentaire suit la trajectoire du graffeur eL Seed entre ses projets, commandes, et vernissages.Derrière les oeuvres, ce sont plusieurs facettes de l’artiste qui apparaissent dans chacun des lieux visités : à Dubaï, dans son atelier avec son équipe ; en Tunisie, à ’occasion de la présentation de son film à Gabès, la ville de ses parents ; à New-York au MoMA pour la présentation de son livre Perception sur invitation de Glenn Lowry ; à Amsterdam, avec une installation au Tropenmuseum ; à Londres où il doit exposer en janvier 2019 ; et enfin à Paris où il a grandi. Quelques mois dans la vie d’un homme en perpétuel mouvement et constamment sollicité, dans un documentaire qui s’attache à explorer les multiples facettes d’eL Seed, de ses racines tunisiennes redécouvertes à son avénement en tant qu’artiste jusqu’à la reconnaissance unanime de son travail dans le monde entier.
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00:54I put a pencil on the guy who controlled the machine, the machine didn't work
01:00and so on the console in the bottom he tried to make me climb, he inclined the machine
01:04to 60 degrees, he didn't hear me, I cried, so to stop him, I sent a pencil on the machine.
01:11I'm not on him, I'm on the other side.
01:14I always write the names of my children and my wife
01:18and on a certain angle, if you place it somewhere
01:23you can see the reflection just in the bottom, I cover it with the pencil
01:28just to see if I don't see him, he's missing somewhere
01:53at the bottom of this point.
02:03Dubaï, it's a step in my life.
02:06Dubai, it's a step in my life, I know I don't do my life here, but it's been an important step in my artistic parcours.
02:23I arrived here in 2013 to make an artistic residence at Tashkil, which is a sort of hub for art and culture.
02:33I stayed for a little more than a year, and that's where I started to develop my sculptures.
02:39I remember Shifra Latifa, the director of Tashkil, said to me,
02:46I want you to come to our residence, but when you finish your residence, you have to come out with something you've never done before.
02:52So I was challenged, and I had this idea of sculpture already from the time.
02:56I made an expo temporary, ephemeral, called The Declaration, which is a sort of declaration of love to my wife.
03:08The expo lasted 5 weeks, and then we destroyed everything.
03:14And that's how I started to develop my sculptures.
03:18Well, calligraphy, of course, in the Middle East has a very important history and perhaps a more embraced history than graffiti does in North America, which is always seen as defacing something.
03:41And for El Cid, I don't think it's ever about defacing.
03:45It's actually about creating and doing something that leaves a trace in the place, but also with the people involved in the project.
04:11Also, I have to look at it for one of the previous years.
04:14So I'm able to get a trace of it for the first time.
04:17Now, I'm beat.
04:18Well, I'm a guy who has taken care of all I could assume.
04:21And I was about to be able to show the company, who has taken care of all things in the past, as well as well as well as the lockers.
04:24And there's nothing I am going to show.
04:26But I am able to show what I need to do for a little bit.
04:28And there's nothing but at least for the second time.
04:29I feel like I'm afraid of giving my ruptured and honorable, or whatever, I could be able to do the job, for the time.
04:33It's a great fund as well and the зар as well as I give a kid.
04:36I'm happy and honored to have an oeuvre just in front of Bouch Khalifa.
04:43It's, let's say, the symbol of Dubai.
04:45There are plenty of memories.
04:47It was very difficult when you look at the project.
04:49It was my first installation, first sculpture that I placed in the public space.
04:54And I know that for a lot of people, we see the final result.
04:58But...
04:59We were morphing.
05:01You forget the problems once it's finished.
05:04If you know, I always know.
05:06I'm trying to complain during the project.
05:08It's true, there are nerves that come up.
05:10And then you lose patience.
05:12There are things that don't work.
05:14There's a big level of stress.
05:18Not only at my level, but also at my level of the team.
05:20And you know that once it's finished,
05:22you forget everything.
05:24And you know that it's part of the project.
05:28If everything was easy,
05:30we wouldn't appreciate the final result.
05:34And...
05:35And that's it.
05:36It's part of the challenge, too.
05:37If everything had worked like it was planned,
05:42I think I wouldn't be attached to the project like I am today.
05:48Well, I'm very impressed with El Cid and his work.
05:58I've known about him for several years,
06:00but I didn't get to meet him until, I think, two or three years ago.
06:04And what impresses me is the way in which he engages the communities around him.
06:09His projects are really interventions.
06:12You can even think of them almost as performances.
06:15Where he really thinks about how to look at an area,
06:21look at a group of people, look at a problem,
06:23intervene with his calligraphic graffiti,
06:29and then transform the way a community thinks about itself.
06:33Of course, what he did in Cairo is perhaps the most important work he's done today.
06:38But it's typical of the way he functions,
06:42which is to use his own journey of discovery
06:46as a means of engaging people around him.
06:50And I think he's very good at that.
06:52He's got an ebullient personality.
06:54He's interested in other people.
06:56He knows how to mobilize colleagues and friends to help him.
07:00But most importantly, he knows how to think about the way in which art
07:03can galvanize a conversation within a community.
07:07What is this doing?
07:09It's extraordinary.
07:11There's an opportunity to learn for the world.
07:13The stars came in the world.
07:15But there's a young people who are interested to learn,
07:17and that's why it's fascinating.
07:19But it's not half the world,
07:21it's really a beautiful thing.
07:23What do you think about the stars?
07:28The stars are really coming after.
07:31It's more coming...
07:34I had a question.
07:36People asked if we could have stars.
07:38Because I was painting in the street.
07:40And then...
07:42It grew up.
07:44And we see an evolution.
07:45Even if I can show stars from 4-5 years ago.
07:48The trace is different.
07:50The shape of the letters is different.
07:52There's an evolution.
07:53There's an evolution.
07:54There's an organic evolution.
07:56And sometimes I try to get out of it.
07:58I have a style that's imposed.
07:59So people recognize that.
08:01But there are more and more reflexes.
08:05And it doesn't become more reflexes.
08:08I feel like it's imposed.
08:14Okay.
08:22It's
08:23It's
08:24It was
08:25It's
08:26Oh
08:56I'm trying to find this, I don't know, sort of innocence.
09:26That's what's most important.
09:28When you start to paint, there's something innocent, very naive that you feel.
09:33And you feel it in your works.
09:35And sometimes you try to find this little thing that there was at the beginning.
09:38No, l'étincelle, it's still there, thank you.
09:41But in fact, l'étincelle, you're nourishing it
09:45by making projects that come out of the ordinary.
09:48And then, l'étincelle, it's a small flame
09:51that becomes more and more small.
09:54If I leave a delay too long between each project,
09:58I feel that it will work.
09:59And then, I really need to go on a project.
10:02And then, I'm going to work on a 5-to in the same time.
10:09And then, I'm going to work on a 5-to in the same time.
10:14And then, I'm going to work on a 5-to in the same time.
10:18I feel that today, with art, with my practice,
10:25it's become a pretext, in fact,
10:29to enter certain places where no one can enter.
10:32and no one comes in and it's not the work that is extraordinary,
10:39I think it's the experience that is created around the work that is extraordinary.
10:43I'm not in the production at all, I don't like to do things just for the...
10:49For the fun it's important to do it, but after it's...
10:53You know, it's got to have a sense.
10:55I'm not going to say, if someone tells me that I love you so much your gold or your rose,
10:59I can't produce 200 and tell me that it works and I'll be able to sell it.
11:03It doesn't matter.
11:20In fact, what I'm doing is...
11:23I'm writing something that I wrote in London, not in London but Cambridge.
11:28I've written it a few months ago.
11:30It's a citation of an English poet,
11:37who's called Rebecca Thompson Forrest,
11:44who said,
11:46to follow the reader and the writer.
11:53You know?
11:55And...
11:56What's funny in this phrase is that...
11:59It tells you that, as an artist...
12:02I don't know, it's my personal opinion.
12:05But as an artist, you create because you have an audience in front of you,
12:12who's ready to look at your work.
12:14A writer, he writes because he knows that someone's going to read it.
12:17A cuistot, I think.
12:19A cuistot, when he cooks at home, he doesn't make...
12:23He doesn't make...
12:24He doesn't make...
12:25He doesn't make...
12:26And...
12:27There are people who tell me,
12:28there are artists who create for themselves.
12:30But it's not true.
12:31Because if you create just for you,
12:32for that no one's see,
12:33you won't tell others that you're an artist.
12:36In a certain way,
12:37you want us to know that you're an artist.
12:39So there's always this rapport to the other.
12:41And I like it in this phrase,
12:42because it puts it in front of the reader before the writer.
12:45And for me, it's important.
12:47And I know that today,
12:48if I create works,
12:49if I play, especially in the street,
12:50it's because I want my work to be seen.
12:53And if people don't react in a positive or negative way,
12:58you're looking for a reaction.
13:03And if people don't react to your art,
13:05I don't know,
13:06it's a sort of a deception.
13:08But it's my personal opinion.
13:17Alright,
13:32I love this.
13:42I love this virus.
13:45We'll see you next time.
14:15Immobile.
14:45Sa chorégraphie équilibre ses propres formes.
14:48Plaisir de l'œil, elle s'adresse à l'âme dans un discours d'une élégance universelle.
14:52Elle invite à parcourir les cultures et les peuples dans une danse,
14:55emportant avec elle les souvenirs d'une génération.
14:58Souffle.
15:01Le Tropon Museum, il se présente comme le musée des peuples.
15:07Il y a une expo sur l'Afrique, une expo sur l'Indonésie,
15:11il y a une expo un peu plus haut sur l'esclavage.
15:17C'est sur les peuples, sur l'histoire des peuples.
15:20C'est plus un musée historique.
15:22Je suis content qu'on inscrive mon travail dans cette dynamique-là.
15:26Je pense qu'il y a aussi une grosse communauté arabe ici en Rolorde.
15:33C'est peut-être un moyen de se connecter avec cette communauté.
15:37J'essaie, avec mon travail, de me connecter avec le monde.
15:41Je me rends compte qu'avec le travail que j'ai pu réaliser dans des pays non-arabes,
15:47j'ai réussi à créer des relations fortes avec des personnes
15:52qui n'avaient aucune relation avec ma culture.
15:55C'est sûr.
15:56C'est sûr.
15:57C'est sûr.
15:58C'est sûr.
15:59C'est sûr.
16:00C'est sûr.
16:01C'est sûr.
16:03I don't want to appreciate it, so I think I'll have to come back to my opinion.
16:30I've asked to make an artwork, an installation that we're currently painting,
16:36which will be a room that will be exposed for five years here in the museum,
16:43where people will be able to enter.
16:46So my artwork will envelop the space and a part of their collection will be exposed.
16:53There is also an interactive artwork.
16:56There is a screen where people will be able to reproduce my work.
17:00The only time I wrote a verse of the Quran, it was Agabès,
17:03because it was a mosque, so I thought it was pertinent.
17:06Here, I thought it was... I don't know, it didn't work.
17:11So what I did, I wrote a poem myself.
17:14These are my words that I'm putting in calligraphy.
17:18I thought it was a book, so I thought I wrote a book.
17:24So I thought it was a book that I wrote a book,
17:27and I think it's a book that I love to be able to use for my work.
17:30In fact, he has his plan of work, and he knows about what color he wants to adopt for his sketch.
17:48He has several colors.
17:49In this case, for today's project, the dominant color is blue.
17:53And then, you have to decline the blue.
17:55You can't always do the same blue.
17:56So, here, we've declined about 3-4 colors of blue.
18:00And we've divided according to what he wants to have as a final result.
18:05For example, he can change a color that will be blue here.
18:08And then, on the next one, it will be more orange, more yellow.
18:12All this to give an effect, in fact.
18:14I think he has evolved, because I've known Fauzi.
18:17Artistically, he started with Posca.
18:21But he started with Tag.
18:23And then, he made it evolve.
18:26And then, he incorporated the Arabic graph.
18:30I think that Fauzi is a human.
18:33He tries, through projects like this, to connect with people,
18:40for maybe a personal enrichment.
18:43I think that's fine with Fauzi.
18:45Because he's also a friend.
18:47And when you work with a friend, it's different.
18:51And he wants a little bit to enjoy his friend,
18:54in giving the best.
19:00You haven't seen the control?
19:02You haven't seen my control?
19:04You haven't seen the control.
19:05I've had to do it completely different from others.
19:06Unfortunately, the material I was using, was a stock.
19:11And so we had to go to B and that's why I was on the floor.
19:14I had to do something completely different, unfortunately the material that I had used was
19:28a rupture of stock and so we had to go to the B and that's why it was on the ground.
19:34Now it's a dynamic to have them standing. The idea is that the poem starts here,
19:39so it turns and then it ends at about here. In fact, there are a few letters that will connect
19:46so there is this movement and you enter into the place and then you parkour.
19:51So it's a bit of pressure but in fact it's always like that I have the impression.
19:55I've never had the time to visit Amsterdam and what's funny is that when I come to an
20:02place, I spend my time, I paint, I create what I have to create and then I repars.
20:07But it's a good atmosphere, you see, the environment is fabulous, we're there and then
20:11the evening it's at 5 hours there's no one. So it's an atmosphere pretty special.
20:17You see, it's very spontaneous the way I work, so it's difficult to planify.
20:23And then, even if I planify, there's always something that changes in the last moment.
20:27Like I told you earlier, I decided to write a poem and then it's what I put on the wall.
20:33So now I'm going to tell you, ok, ok, and then it was cool with the idea.
20:37I know that like this, like this 10 years ago, it would have been 10 days.
20:41After I think that your mind has the reflexes that you have and it will be visioned.
20:47After I do this kind of work in my workshop, I do this kind of work in my workshop.
20:50And I also do this kind of work in a lot bigger, in a mural, it's an artwork in a circle.
20:55So it's... Yeah, we're in the time, I hope.
20:57There, I'm going to focus on the black and then I'll come back.
21:01I hope Kamal will finish at the same time.
21:03And then there's the last touch at the end.
21:06Well, here, the challenge we had, it was to make sure that the first letter of the poem,
21:14that the last letter of the poem, will be next to the first letter.
21:18So that it will be perfect.
21:20And, well, on y'a, en fait, j'ai dû retirer un truc, pas retirer,
21:26mais j'ai modifié, pour y passer, en fait, hier,
21:29mais sinon, on tombe pile poil dessus.
21:31Donc ça, c'est cool.
21:38On va y arriver.
21:50On y arriver.
22:20It was in June 2014.
22:36I remember that it took 6 days to do.
22:41But in fact I took almost the double.
22:44Every time I had friends, cousins who passed.
22:47I descended from the nacelle, I went to drink coffee from the other side.
22:52And what's funny is that we had inaugurated it before I finished the work.
22:56They planned an event, the Institute of the Arab Institute,
22:58and the work wasn't finished.
23:00So the people were coming and taking pictures.
23:07I remember that morning I was at home,
23:09and one of my cousins rode here.
23:11And he saw me from the distance and he said,
23:14I was like,
23:16I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
23:17And he said,
23:18I'm sorry,
23:19I'm sorry.
23:20I'm sorry,
23:21I'm sorry,
23:22I'm sorry.
23:23I'm sorry.
23:24I'm sorry.
23:25I'm sorry.
23:26And then I'm sorry.
23:28And I'm sorry.
23:29And I'm sorry.
23:31After all the rest,
23:32I'm cool.
23:33You're always happy to come back and see an artwork.
23:35And it's interesting.
23:36Après...
23:37Ouais,
23:38j'ai appris en fait à me détacher de...
23:39à me détacher de l'oeuvre.
23:41Puis ce qui est marrant,
23:42c'est quand tu reviens ici comme ça,
23:43tu vois plein de petites erreurs.
23:44Les trucs que j'aurais pas fait.
23:46Si je faisais ce mur aujourd'hui,
23:48j'en ferais une deuxième fois.
23:50Moi, il y a plein de trucs que je ferais pas de la même façon.
23:52Je les trouve...
23:53Les lettres, je les trouve un petit peu compact.
23:55Tu sais, je sais pas, il y a un truc...
23:58C'est bizarre.
23:59Je pense que c'est mon oeil aussi qui change.
24:02Mais elle est belle, j'aime bien.
24:04Il y a beaucoup de boulot en fait.
24:06Quand je regarde là...
24:07Ça, avec les contours noirs,
24:09c'est une belle prise de tête.
24:11En fait, je crois qu'il faut du courage, vite de rien.
24:14Des fois, je me dis,
24:15quand je regarde le taf qu'on fait,
24:17ce que je dis on,
24:18c'est parce que je suis jamais tout seul.
24:19Quand je peins,
24:20il y a toujours quelqu'un qui m'aide.
24:22Un membre de mon équipe.
24:23Et c'est que...
24:27Des fois, t'as l'impression, tu sais,
24:29tu dis qu'il fallait vraiment être un petit peu fou à un moment donné
24:31pour accepter de faire ça.
24:34C'est vrai.
24:35C'est vrai.
24:36C'est vrai.
24:37C'est vrai.
24:38Le premier mur que j'ai peint, c'était exactement ici.
24:40À l'époque, on appelait ça...
24:41C'est le petit parc.
24:42Dernier, chez moi.
24:43D'ici, où j'ai grandi à Boulogne-Villancourt.
24:44Et le petit parc, en fait...
24:45Je sais pas pourquoi on l'appelle le petit parc.
24:46Je sais pas, peut-être parce qu'on est pas loin du parc.
24:47Et donc, c'est le petit parc.
24:48C'est le petit parc.
24:49C'est le petit parc.
24:50C'est le petit parc.
24:51C'est le petit parc.
24:52C'est le petit parc.
24:53C'est le petit parc.
24:54Dernier, chez moi.
24:55D'ici, où j'ai grandi à Boulogne-Villancourt.
24:57Et le petit parc, en fait...
24:58C'est le petit parc.
24:59Dernier, chez moi.
25:00D'ici, où j'ai grandi à Boulogne-Villancourt.
25:02Et le petit parc, en fait...
25:03Je sais pas pourquoi on l'appelle le petit parc.
25:04Je sais pas.
25:05Peut-être parce qu'on est pas loin du parc des princes.
25:07Et donc, c'est le petit parc des princes.
25:09J'ai jamais su pourquoi on appelait ça le petit parc.
25:10Tu vois.
25:11Et ça s'appelle ça le square Jean-Guillon.
25:13Bref.
25:14Mais c'est là qu'elle arrivait plus tard.
25:15Et donc, pendant qu'on jouait...
25:16En fait, pendant qu'on jouait au foot.
25:18En...
25:19Je crois, avril 98 avec mes potes.
25:21J'avais acheté des...
25:22J'avais acheté des bombes de peinture chez les trois foiriens.
25:25Et...
25:26Et je me rappelle, pendant qu'on peignait.
25:28Pendant qu'on jouait, en fait.
25:29Je suis venu et j'ai...
25:31Et j'ai peint un petit personnage juste ici.
25:34Exactement là.
25:36Et...
25:38Et en fait, il a été effacé juste après.
25:40Mais ce qui est marrant, c'est pas ça.
25:41C'est que...
25:42Pendant que je le peignais.
25:43A l'époque, il y avait pas ces barrières.
25:45Et il y avait une dame qui habite au 3ème.
25:47J'ai oublié son nom.
25:48D'origine espagnole.
25:49Elle est sortie par le balcon.
25:50Elle a commencé à crier.
25:51En me demandant ce que je faisais.
25:52Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?
25:53Je vais te prévenir.
25:54Je vais le dire à ta mère.
25:55Et...
25:57Et voilà.
25:58Et puis...
25:59Et en fait, moi, je savais pas que se peindre sur les murs, c'était...
26:01C'était illégal pour moi.
26:02J'avais acheté ma peinture.
26:04Le mur, il était gris.
26:05Et puis je suis venu ici.
26:06Et j'ai pas...
26:07Et je pense que voilà.
26:08J'étais pas en train de dégrader.
26:09Et puis plus tard, un ami à moi qui s'appelle...
26:12Tufik Danoun, paix à son âme, il m'a dit que t'avais pas le droit, en fait, de...
26:17C'était pas...
26:18C'était pas...
26:19C'était pas légal de faire ça.
26:20Et que voilà, je pouvais me faire arrêter pour ce genre de dégradation, on va dire.
26:24Mais voilà.
26:25Et en fait, c'est ici, il y a 21 ans que tout a commencé, on va dire.
26:29J'avais un boulot avant.
26:30Un boulot...
26:31Je travaille beaucoup plus aujourd'hui en tant qu'artiste.
26:34Mais j'avais un...
26:35J'étais consultant.
26:36Et donc, j'avais l'impression de mourir dans mon travail à l'époque.
26:38Et...
26:39Et la peinture, c'est ce qui me permettait, en fait, je sais pas, de...
26:42On va dire, de...
26:43De rester vivant d'une certaine manière, en fait.
26:46J'ai grandi ici.
26:47Donc après, quand je reviens, voilà, j'ai ma famille ici.
26:50Mes amis d'enfance aussi.
26:51Donc, il y a toujours une connexion.
26:53Après, ça a beaucoup changé, en fait.
26:56Cette partie de Boulogne.
26:57À l'époque, il y avait l'île Seguin qui était ici.
27:00Mon père, il travaillait dans l'usine Renault.
27:02Je crois jusqu'en 93, après, il est parti à Flins.
27:04Et ils ont fermé cette usine.
27:06Et puis, moi, j'ai quitté Paris en 2006.
27:09Et puis après, l'idée, c'est pas...
27:11Ce que je fais, c'est par essence éphémère.
27:14Donc, c'est pas grave si ça dure pas.
27:16Tu vois, il y a une trace, il y a des souvenirs.
27:18Et puis, c'est ce qui est important pour moi.
27:20Le reste, ce que je dis souvent, c'est que les...
27:22Au-delà, en fait, au-delà du...
27:26Au-delà de l'œuvre, tu vois, et du challenge artistique,
27:29des fois que je me donne, c'est en fait les...
27:31Les souvenirs, tu vois, et toutes les histoires qu'on partage
27:33avec les gens qu'on rencontre dans un quartier.
27:35Tu vois, à l'époque, ici, c'était plus un...
27:37Voilà, c'était un délire de jeune.
27:39Je viens, je pense sur un mur, je faisais un personnage.
27:41Je mets petit jeu au foot.
27:42Et puis, j'avais écrit la dédicace.
27:43J'ai fait une dédicace à tout le monde.
27:45C'était rigolo.
27:46Après, aujourd'hui, je pense que la démarche a évolué.
27:48Et là, on est plus dans une...
27:49Je sais pas.
27:50On est à la recherche d'expériences humaines.
27:52Et c'est ce qui me plait le plus.
27:54C'est les gens, ils sont excités, en fait,
27:56parce que t'apportes quelque chose de nouveau.
27:58Tu montres un intérêt.
28:00Et puis, il se passe pas forcément quelque chose d'excitant
28:02tous les jours, là-bas.
28:03Donc, voilà.
28:04Je pense que tu partages plus d'expériences humaines,
28:06plus d'histoires humaines.
28:08Et tu rencontres plus de chaleur humaine, en fait,
28:10quand tu vas dans des quartiers un petit peu isolés et marginalisés.
28:14Voilà.
28:19Ça, c'est pas moi.
28:22Pourquoi est-ce que ça va là?
28:24Il y a des petites bâques qui arrivent.
28:26Il y en a une qui va arriver là la fin de la...
28:52I don't know.
50:51Hello.
54:21Hey.
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