Catalogue > At random

Written upon testimonies, rumors and fake news, this film questions the architectures of energy shaping the Algerian territory from its colonial history to the rise of Chinese extractivism, underlining the multiplicity of reality in a post-truth era. Since 2006, thousands of Chinese workers have been arriving daily in Algeria to build new cities across the country. Refusal of taking care of the dead by construction companies led to rumors about the disappearance of worker’s bodies, therefore questioning the collective memory of these workers expunged from history. Memories of an Unborn Sun aims to articulate a metaphysical query around light as a form of memory, blending archives from French nuclear tests in the Sahara, viral footage of an artificial sun rising in the sky and verses from Tuareg poet Hawad. As this nightless world embodies the capitalist utopia of infinite growth, how to remember those made invisible? Exiled workers and ghosts of an energetical quest.

Marcel Mrejen (FR/DZ) born in 1994 (Paris, FR) is a visual artist and filmmaker exploring the articulation of technology within living and economic metabolisms. The form of his work spans various time-based media — installations, filmmaking, sound, and machine-learning. He graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2018, before being a resident of Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains. His work has been exhibited in various cultural institutions, including the Stedelijk Museum, Laurel Project Space, De Brakke Grond, or the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Parallel to his artistic practice, he co-curated the first edition of REFRESH: Future-Proof. In collaboration with Eliott Déchamboux, his book: L’Europe c’est Deutshland quand tu rate laba tu est foutue mon frère, le reste c’est du fouma-fouma, was published by Jungle Books in 2019. His debut film Memories of an Unborn Sun was awarded the Jury Prize at Visions du Réel in 2024.