With Sole crushing, the artist Meriem Bennani proposes an installation that explores the notion of being together and the individual’s place in the community. Unfolding across the full height of the Fondation, the work stages some 200 fip-fops that are animated by a pneumatic system, performing a score composed in collaboration with the musician Reda Senhaji (aka Cheb Runner).
These fip-fops embody a multitude of characters and evoke collective moments where bodies are united by the rhythms of footsteps, songs, or political uprisings — whether at a protest, football stadium, or musical ceremonies. Fascinated by such contagious collective energies, the artist takes further cues from dakka marrakchia, a Moroccan ritual in which participants play music while reaching a peak of spiritual intensity.
She likewise refers to the notion of duende: a mysterious force, described by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca in the 1930s, that seizes the bodies of famenco dancers, with a concomitant hold on their spectators.
The work’s title plays o the expression “soul-crushing” with the materiality of the sandals’ soles, which both keep time and rhythmically sync up with what can become an overwhelming sonic power. First exhibited at the Fondazione Prada in Milan in 2024–25, Sole crushing has been completely readapted for Lafayette Anticipations with new instruments and a new musical composition. Meriem Bennani invites visitors to wander through the space, absorbing an experience of collective joy or uprising.
