“BLAME US”: Nabil Aniss and the body as a collective instrument

The independent gallery CYPHER presents BLAME US, the solo exhibition by Nabil Aniss, on view from 19 February to 29 March 2026. Curated by Eva Vaslamatzi, BLAME US unfolds as a synchronized video installation across the gallery’s three levels, creating a fully immersive spatial experience.

For the first time, Aniss presents a site-specific, five-screen montage composed of excerpts from earlier works alongside previously unseen footage. The exhibition functions as an idiosyncratic retrospective, tracing the artist’s ongoing research and the thematic concerns that have shaped his practice over recent years.

At the core of Aniss’s work lies an exploration of the human and non-human body, and the rituals it undergoes or willingly submits to. A central point of reference is the Jebda trance tradition, practiced within mystical brotherhoods in Morocco particularly in Meknes, the artist’s city of origin. Drawing on archival material, contemporary recordings of his own, and choreographed reenactments, Aniss investigates the genealogy and significance of these rituals, deliberately distancing them from the constraints of a Western gaze.

Concepts such as ecstasy or catharsis give way to processes in which violence, exhaustion, and pain operate as transitional stages of transformation. Through a choreographed and disciplined system, the individual body is reshaped into a collective instrument. The historical depth of these traditions, dating back to the 12th century and linked to practices of resistance and defiance by enslaved bodies against hegemonic powers intersects with contemporary quests for alternative systems of knowledge and justice, sought within the codes and symbols of the past.

Nabil Aniss (b. 1990, Meknes, Morocco) is a moving-image artist living and working between Brussels and Meknes. His practice weaves together documentary, poetry, archival material, and self-shot footage to explore political emancipation, revolt, and the mystical rituals of Morocco’s brotherhoods.