Neil Beloufa: Humanities

Neil Beloufa is an artist whose polymorphous practice spans sculpture, installations, and social and collective experiments. In a constant flirtation with failure, his work insistently interrogates the art field: its institutions and formats, its capacities and limitations. His critical stances, experimental openness, and ongoing search for alternative solutions have led him to explore the digital world and the novel forms of community that coalesce there.

For his exhibition at the Renaissance Society, Beloufa considers the power of individual storytelling in building large-scale propaganda while riffing on the gamification of society and the trend of immersive art experiences. A custom, interactive multimedia system guides each visitor through the process of becoming the center of their own success story, creating a company, a cult, a political party. In the end, are those really any different?

Curated by Myriam Ben Salah.

Major annual support for the Renaissance Society is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional annual support is provided by The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at Prince and The Provost’s Discretionary Fund at the University of Chicago. This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. All Renaissance Society publications are made possible by The Mansueto Foundation Publications Program.

About the Artist

Neïl Beloufa (b. 1985, Paris, France) studied at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux- Arts and at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, USA; Cooper Union, New York; and Le Fresnoy National Contemporary Arts Studio, Tourcoing, France. He has exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, including at Secession, Vienna; Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Schirn Künsthalle, Frankfurt; Pejman Foundation, Tehran; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin; and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. He participated in the Venice Biennale in 2013 and 2019, the Shanghai Biennale and Taipei Biennale in 2014, and the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2013. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; François Pinault Collection; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, among others. He lives and works in Paris.