Sole Crushing

For her solo exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations, Meriem Bennani is presenting a monumental orchestra which will transform the Fondation into a vast sound box.

Spread throughout the floors of the building, the sound installation Sole Crushing brings together over two hundred flip-flops which play a musical composition mixing symphony and riot.

The footwear comes to life, striking different surfaces with its soles and creating an unusual array of percussive sounds. Meriem Bennani xplores ways of being together and the individual’s place within the community. 

Whether as a chorus, or as soloists, in unison or in response to each other, these flip-flops evoke the individuals that make up a moving crowd, whether in a protest, a stadium, or a dakka marrakchia, a traditional Morrocan musical ceremony. The simple, banal clapping of a flip-flop unites the group in a single pulse—that of a force that transcends the individual.

For this reinterpretation of the work originally presented in the exhibition “For My Best Family” at Fondazione Prada in 2024–25, the artist has invited Reda Senhaji (Cheb Runner) to compose a new soundtrack and designed a site-specific installation for the Lafayette Anticipations spaces.