Moncef Naouar's Exhibition Explores Art as Transhumanized Cosmogony

Moncef Naouar's exhibition at the Cité de la culture offers an experience that challenges the viewer's perceptions and certainties. The artist's work is described as more than just visual; it penetrates and haunts, demanding a re-evaluation of how and why we see. Naouar's art doesn't present a spectacle but an "experience" in the phenomenological sense, testing consciousness through the senses.

The central theme of "roundness" in Naouar's work is not merely decorative but an ontological assertion. This concept echoes the intuition of Rainer Maria Rilke, who believed life inherently takes a round form. This is likened to the matrix womb, the Earth viewed from space, or the natural cycles of seasons and tides. Gaston Bachelard's theories on the spherical form as an archetype of absolute intimacy and inhabited totality also resonate, with Bachelard suggesting "a round being is a happy being."

Naouar's roundness, however, is not self-contained. It is an "open roundness," akin to Umberto Eco's concept of an "open work." This invites the viewer to complete the artwork, projecting their own experiences and becoming a co-creator of meaning. The canvas becomes a space for dialogue rather than a received message.

The artist navigates a "third space," a concept borrowed from Homi Bhabha, existing between figuration and abstraction. This intermediate realm allows seemingly opposing registers to mutually nourish each other. Naouar's work aligns with Paul Klee's idea that art does not reproduce the visible but makes it visible. What Naouar depicts is not just external reality but an internal filtering of that reality, a re-diffraction through a sensitive soul governed by its own laws. This approach also brings to mind Mark Rothko's rejection of pure abstraction, as he was interested in the emotional resonance of form and color rather than their abstract relationships.