NG is excited to announce its first exhibition, Life on the CAPS Trilogy by Meriem Bennani, which will be on view in Essaouira, Morocco, from December 13th, 2025 to February 8th, 2026. It will be the artist’s first exhibition in her home country.
Life on the CAPS (2018–22) is a compelling film trilogy encompassing Party on the CAPS (2018–19), Guided Tour of a Spill (CAPS Interlude) (2021) and Life on the CAPS (2022).
The narrative unfolds on a fictional island floating in the mid‑Atlantic, known as the CAPS—short for “capsule.” In this imaginative dystopian world, teleportation has replaced traditional air travel. Migrants attempting illegal teleports are intercepted and detained on the island, eventually forming a makeshift society with its own vibrant hybrid culture, rituals and resistance movements in opposition to the troops that patrol the CAPS.
Bennani’s playful aesthetic defies traditional genres, merging live-action footage, computer-generated animation and stylistic elements from reality TV, music videos, documentary and phone-camera aesthetics. Her videos on contemporary realities make serious themes much more approachable and compelling.
The trilogy deftly pivots between the intimate (personal stories) and the expansive (surveillance, diaspora), highlighting themes of displacement, identity and the tension between individual experience and collective life.
Life on the CAPS has traveled internationally to the following venues : Renaissance Society (2022), Nottingham Contemporary (2022), The Power Plant (2022), Fondation Kamel Lazaar (2023), Art Gallery of New South Wales (2023). The series is part of renowned collections such as MoMA, the Guggenheim, Art Gallery of South Wales, Qatar Museums, Julia Stoschek Collection, Hartwig Art Foundation, the Vega Foundation.
Press release from NG
Image: Meriem Bennani. Life on the CAPS. Film Still. 2018-22. Image courtesy of the artist, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles/New York, Lodovico Corsini, Brussels and Sadie Coles HQ, London © Meriem Bennani
