Mohamed Bourouissa + Teenage Wildlife videotheque

Site presents the first solo exhibition in the UK of Algerian born photographer Mohamed Bourouissa alongside a self-selection ‘videotheque’ of films which deal with the subject of youth and adolescence, programmed to coincide with Showcomotion, Sheffield’s film festival for young people.

Mohamed Bourouissa’s photo series Périphérique stages moments of tension and the power relationships which exist within the ghetto-like suburbs of Paris (les banlieues). Although skirting a documentary aesthetic and using young inhabitants of the banlieues as subjects, the works are actually highly staged, often referencing painting. He describes his photographs as deriving from an ‘emotional geometry’ – a way of placing a subject in space to create a moment of heightened tension, when anything, or nothing, could happen.

Mohamed Bourouissa is a French artist born in Blida, Algeria, living in Paris.

Teenage Wildlife Videotheque

Teenage Wildlife surveys the rich source of inspiration film and video artists’ have found within the subject of youth. The short films featured in this self-selection videotheque, range from tales of loneliness and confusion, angst, excess, bad behaviour and empowerment to poetic portraits of how some teenagers like to spend their time and lyrical re-workings of existing footage. The works included span from the 1950s when the term ‘teen’ first became widely used, to the present day. Films by Karel Reisz, Lynne Ramsey, Ridley Scott, Asif Kapadia and Bill Douglas are included alongside artists’ film and video by Martin Arnold, Carol Morley, Andrew Kötting and Cordelia Swann, amongst others. The main section of the videotheque has been curated by artist/film-maker, Esther Johnson.

Site has also been working in collaboration with Showcomotion, Sheffield’s young people’s film festival, held at the Showroom Cinema, to include highlights of the festival programme, giving an opportunity to view the work at any time during and after the festival. This includes the unicef uk Awards, Summer Shorts and Philip Ilson’s animation shorts selection. To complete the videotheque, Site has invited musician and patron, Jarvis Cocker, film-maker Lynne Ramsey and artist Mohamed Bourouissa to make their own personal selection of films. Visitors can browse a menu of works, select films to watch and recommend favourite films to others by writing a short review.

Mohamed Bourouissa + Teenage Wildlife videotheque