At the Montresso* Art Foundation, Nasreddine Bennacer and Roxane Daumas explore the fragile line between human legacy and artificial futures.
Nasreddine Bennacer, La tour de Babel, 2025. Pastel on Japanese paper mounted on canvas, 210 x 140cm. Courtesy of the artist and Montresso Foundation*.
What does it mean for a place—or a people—to be in déshérence? Often translated as abandonment or dereliction, the term evokes a place left without care, suspended between memory and disappearance. It’s also the starting point for the new exhibition ‘DÉSHÉRENCE’, opening this April at the Residents’ Gallery of Montresso* Art Foundation in Morocco.
This thought-provoking duo show brings together French-Algerian artist Nasreddine Bennacer and French artist Roxane Daumas, whose respective practices explore the fragility of human constructs in the face of technological change, urban transformation, and cultural dislocation. Throughout the exhibition, the Foundation’s gallery becomes a contemplative space for reflecting on how societies move forward when their symbols, stories, and shared visions fall into erosion.
At a time when artificial intelligence blurs the boundaries between real and fictional, ‘DÉSHÉRENCE’ considers what remains of human legacy: what is worth preserving, what must be questioned, and what might still be imagined anew.
The Instinctive Gesture of Memory
For Roxane Daumas, architecture mirrors societal evolution—its grandeur reveals our aspirations and its deterioration exposes our failures. In her work, she explores architectural remnants of the 20th century, repurposed through AI-generated imagery. These algorithmically altered forms—snow-covered highways, surrealist housing complexes—act as chimaeras of modernity that never fully materialized.
Yet, her process ultimately resists the machine. Working with Japanese paper, gouache, and black pastel, Daumas slows time through patient mark-making. Her large-scale drawings recall faded memories, while her gum bichromate prints reference early photographic processes—invoking a tangible, textured history that AI can only imitate. In this friction between the automated and the handmade, she questions the foundations of truth, authorship, and human agency.
At the core of her practice lies a fascination with transitional spaces—those on the edge of erasure yet still imbued with human presence. These are not merely ruins but psychological landscapes. Through them, she explores how individual and collective memory shape our sense of place, and how that place, in turn, shapes us.
Between Myth and Exile
In contrast, Nasreddine Bennacer’s work moves between sculpture, drawing, and installation, fusing mythology with contemporary reality. His installations are immersive and often poetic—inviting viewers into dreamlike yet politically charged worlds. Whether depicting satellite dishes as emblems of disconnected globalism or a collapsed Tower of Babel as a warning against hubris, Bennacer confronts us with the contradictions of modern life.
Yet there is tenderness in his vision. Amid the debris, he plants seeds of hope: lush reinterpretations of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or hand-inscribed books bearing words like Hob, Hanan, and Salam—Love, Tenderness, and Peace. These gestures counterbalance despair with resilience, reminding us that creativity and compassion are also part of our inheritance.
For Bennacer, the notion of déshérence is not only spatial but existential. He reflects on the condition of the exiled body—displaced, fragmented, in search of belonging. His art asks how we carry our past when the structures that once held it collapse. And how do we imagine a future not dictated solely by technological acceleration or political conflict?
A Meeting of Minds
Though their approaches differ, Daumas and Bennacer are committed to exploring the complex interplay between human imagination and material reality. They both probe space’s psychological and emotional dimensions—whether in urban environments, mythic histories, or digital simulations.
Their works do not offer answers but open up new questions about authorship, authenticity, and collective memory. As technological systems increasingly shape our visual and conceptual landscapes, the exhibition foregrounds the importance of human gesture, slowness, and reflection.
In doing so, ‘DÉSHÉRENCE’ becomes more than a dialogue between two artists—it becomes a call to reexamine the systems we’ve inherited and the ones we are unconsciously building.
About the Artists
Roxane Daumas (b. 1979) lives and works in Marseille. A École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence graduate, she works across media including photography, painting, and installation. Her work focuses on the socio-political dimensions of space and time, exploring how transformation and decline leave visible traces in our environments. She is represented in public and private collections such as FRAC PACA, the Montresso* Foundation, Dentressangle Initiatives, and PCA-Stream.
Nasreddine Bennacer (b. 1967, Guelma, Algeria) is a self-taught artist in Paris. His multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, painting, and installation, often drawing from mythology and lived history to comment on contemporary fractures. He has exhibited internationally at Palais de Tokyo (France), the Institut Français of Marrakech, and the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. AFIKARIS Gallery in Paris represents him.
About Montresso* Art Foundation
Located near Marrakech, the Montresso* Art Foundation has supported artists since 2009 through residencies, exhibitions, and cultural programming. With its Jardin Rouge as a creative sanctuary, the Foundation promotes dialogue across disciplines and geographies, offering a platform for research-driven and socially engaged practices.
At Montresso*, art is a tool for thinking, feeling, and questioning the world. ‘DÉSHÉRENCE’ is a testament to that mission—an invitation to pause, reflect, and reimagine a shared future.
The exhibition is on view from the 18th of April until the 19th of July 2025. For more information, please visit the Montresso Foundation*.
